Design of Improved Surgical Scalpel Handles with Optimized Grips

Current designs of scalpel handles are not ideal for hand ergonomics and can lead to difficulties for certain cutting motions or slipping of the tool. A new design was created by Dr. Raymond Dunn at UMass Medical, to improve the shape of the handle as well as adding a rubber material grip portion. The goal of this project is to address the need to limit slipping while taking into consideration comfort and mobility of the instrument. The addition of a texture pattern and choice of material was utilized to increase the friction between the surgical glove and the grip portion of the tool. Testing protocols were created to determine which surface textures provided the highest coefficient of friction, as well as which prototypes were comparable to the precision of the original scalpel design

Silk Nanoparticle Synthesis: Tuning Size, Dispersity, and Surface Chemistry for Drug Delivery

Protein-based nanoparticles have gained interest for traversing different biological (e.g., systemic or microenvironmental, etc.) barriers and enabling targeted drug delivery. Silk protein-based nanoparticles are useful and versatile drug delivery systems for sustained and controlled release due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, accessible chemistries, and ability to stabilize different drugs and other biomolecules. In the present study, silk nanoparticles (SNPs) were engineered using a nanoprecipitation technique with tight control over size (∼45–250 nm diameter) and low polydispersity index by altering variables including stirring speed, reaction bath temperature, silk molecular weight (MW), and silk concentration. Of these variables, stir speed was the most significant contributor toward particle size control. SNPs with positive or negative surface charges and decoration of SNPs with surface antigens were also demonstrated. New mechanistic insights into control of SNP size, cellular uptake using glioblastoma as a model, surface characteristics, and the entrapment of a small-molecule drug (doxorubicin) within the particles were addressed. These insights expand the potential utility of SNPs for medical, environmental, and food applications