The University of Louisville Alumni Magazine: for alumni, faculty, staff, students and anyone that is a UofL Cardinal fan.
Issue link: https://louisville.epubxp.com/i/705015
AMAZING THINGS ARE HAPPENING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE. ADVANCEMENTS IN PROSTHETICS AND SYNTHETIC AND ORGANIC COMPOUNDS ARE CHANGING THE WAY WE THINK ABOUT THE HUMAN BODY. FROM DISEASE AND DISABILITY TO ONGOING HEALTH, U OF L FACULTY AND STUDENTS ARE EXPLORING THE AUGMENTATION OF OUR OWN BIOLOGY, IN THE HOPE OF CREATING A HIGHER QUALITY OF LIFE FOR EVERYONE. BECAUSE OF THE WORK HAPPENING ON CAMPUS, A LITTLE BOY BORN WITHOUT FINGERS ON HIS HAND CAN THROW A BALL. NEW RESEARCH INTO SYNTHETIC COMPOUNDS COULD ONE DAY IMPROVE ORAL HEALTH ALL OVER THE WORLD. AND A NEW APPROACH TO BONE REPLACEMENT CAN HELP REDUCE HEALING TIME AND DISCOMFORT FROM BONE LOSS DUE TO TRAUMA OR DISEASE. IN OTHER WORDS, IT'S A GREAT TIME TO BE ALIVE. With his new robo-hand, Lucas Abraham takes on life like other boys his age. L ucas Abraham was born with a condition known as symbrachydatyly, leaving him with a fused radius and ulna as well as underdeveloped f ngers on his right hand. And while the bright, energetic Lucas never let his disability slow him down, he would still occasionally ask his family for a "robo-hand" that would allow him to play, throw a ball and interact with the world like every other child his age. After Lucas' grandmother sent a letter to Gina Bertocci, PhD, Bioengineering professor and Biomechanics Endowed Chair, asking for help from her and her students in the Bioengineering Department, Lucas got his wish. Bertocci saw in the letter an opportunity not only to help Lucas, but to inspire students in her Rehabilitation Engineering course with a real-world example of what they could accomplish. Having done graduate work in rehabilitation engineering, Bertocci was well-aware of how life- changing her students' work could be. The project would also give her students valuable experience in 3-D printing, rapid prototyping and computer-aided engineering. "I like to choose projects that let students see their impact," said Bertocci. "I want them to be able to demonstrate what they've learned in my class, and from their entire bioengineering and rehabilitation engineering curriculum." For Lucas' project, Bertocci divided her class of 15 into groups of f ve. Each group was to pursue a different design, with the ultimate goal of giving Lucas increased functionality. To make sure the robo-hand would be a perfect f t, Bertocci's students made a plaster mold of Lucas' hand. These molds were then scanned into a computer as a "point cloud," a collection of data points that can be used to create and manipulate a three-dimensional object in computer-aided drafting and engineering software.