Rebekah Doman, an Electrical and Computer Engineering student, presented to state lawmakers on Capitol Hill her research about clothing that is designed to detect cancerous tumors.
Rep. Jim Dunnigan and state Sen. John D. Johnson met with Rebekah in the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday, Feb. 26.
Rebekah told Rep. Dunnigan that her ECE research team hopes “to create something that you can do at home. You can put on the shirt or the tank top … and it can take the measurements and send it to your phone.” From there, the person can set up an appointment for a CT scan or an MRI, Rebekah told Rep. Dunnigan.
Prof. Furse said that the signals are non-ionizing, therefore the radio waves are not cancer-causing, and the time it takes to perform the scan would be almost instantaneous. The signal could be sent to the person’s smartphone, Prof. Furse told state Sen. Johnson.
The origin of the research set out to solve a medical problem: mammograms are not comfortable and the scans are not 100% accurate, and high risk patients may benefit from more frequent monitoring. Existing microwave breast imaging systems use hardware that is expensive and can take several minutes to perform a scan. The University of Utah team proposes hardware that could be integrated into a much less expensive computer chip, and could take tests in under a minute.
Prof. Furse said that receiving an MRI can be expensive. And many people in Utah need to drive a long way to get to a hospital where they can receive the medical scan. The portable detection device embedded in clothing would be more accessible and far less expensive than the traditional MRI.
One option is to provide a way for women and men to do a type of pre-scan that would help them know if it was likely necessary for them to undergo a mammogram.
The student research team sought to create small antennas that could be embedded into clothing. This would allow women to receive in their homes a private breast cancer screening.
Under the direction and assistance of ECE Prof. Cindy Furse, the team had to find a way to test their system. They use 3D-printed breast models, which are filled with canola oil, and 3D printed glandular tissue models, which are filled with a mixture of sugar water. These materials are used to match the electric properties of breast tissue.
Rebekah Doman’s project was to create the mixture of sugar and distilled water that was able to successfully replicate the electrical properties of the glandular tissue.
Before the effort can be used on human patients, the team is running simulations on detecting mastitis, an inflammation like a lump, in dairy animals.
“It’s really exciting,” Rebekah said.
Rebekah also met with Senator Wayne Harper outside of the Senate chamber.
The research team includes Rebekah Doman, Sam Makin, Brent Redhead, and Dr. Cindy Furse. Several other graduate and undergraduate electrical engineering students are also involved in other aspects of this research.
Read more about other students who participated in the Research on Capitol Hill on the @theU website.
