Support Biomedical Innovation: BMES Design and Research Projects

Join our Campaign and Unlock a $500 Gift!

The Biomedical Engineering Society at UCLA (BMES) is in the midst of its annual Crowdfunding Campaign to fuel student‑driven innovation in healthcare technology. After months of computer modeling our design and research projects, we’re ready to build real‑life prototypes and advance cancer‑treatment research that could help shape the future of healthcare.

Our goal is $6,000, and every gift, no matter the size, helps bring breakthrough ideas to life. Thanks to the Bruin Bioengineering Community, we’ve already raised 55% of our goal.

A New Challenge to Boost Your Impact

Longtime UCLA supporters Michael Thacher, MBA ’83, and Rhonda Rundle, MA ’74, MBA ’83, have generously backed our campaign with two challenge opportunities. The first a dollar-for-dollar match, has already been met. Now they’re offering a new challenge:

New Challenge: Unlock $500 When We Reach 75 Gifts!

“We are delighted to see BMES reach our first matching milestone. In response, we are pleased to offer an additional $500 in funds to help move the campaign forward. We hope you’ll support these dedicated young students and join this crowdfunding effort.” — Michael and Rhonda

Who are we?

BMES is a student-led organization that gives young engineers the opportunity to gain hands-on experience through our year-long design and research teams. Our team members design original, innovative projects that tackle key biomedical issues threatening local and global communities.

Please support our efforts by donating today! Your contributions will fund the materials we need to construct, implement, and share our innovations.

Design: Engineering Novel Solutions

BMES is committed to developing creative, cost-effective solutions to problems in the biomedical space. Our current design projects focus on user-centered and affordable designs to promote equitable healthcare and hazard prevention. Each design team will identify high-impact solutions, develop working prototypes, and advance their innovations through conferences and design competitions.

Smart Knee Brace for Recovery and Care in Rural Areas

We are developing a smart knee brace with patient-clinician driven analytics that incorporates sensors, soft robotics, and inflammation detection to promote continuous monitoring and assistive support throughout recovery, notably in underserved communities.

Project Managers: Isaac Rodney and Michael Makhoul

Patient-Safe Gastric Feeding Tubes

In collaboration with experts from UCLA Health we are developing a patient-safe securement system designed to prevent accidental dislodgment of gastric feeding tubes in high-risk, delirious patients, ensuring the uninterrupted delivery of essential nutrition and medication while preserving patient dignity and comfort.

Project Managers: Hannah Yared and Nadine Hassanieh

Low-Cost Female Crash Test Dummy

We are designing a frontal-impact female crash test dummy, modeled after the 50th percentile female, to address the gaps in automotive vehicle safety testing using low cost materials. We hope to more accurately represent the different fat distributions, bone densities, spinal geometries, and more of the female body that does not exist in current crash dummy models.

Project Managers: Ellen Zulkarnain and Ellie Lin

Research: Tackling Biomedical Questions

BMES researchers are investigating the scientific questions at the heart of medical innovation. Our current research projects focus on understanding the pathophysiology of cancer and developing novel cancer therapies. Our research teams pursue these goals through rigorous experimental methods and share their findings with the scientific community at local and national conferences.

Investigating Mechanical Confinement of Prostate Cancer Cells

We are studying how mechanical cues, notably confinement, can influence metastatic proliferation in bone pores. We are culturing prostate cancer organoids in microwell plates of defined sizes and quantifying their growth and proliferation under 3D confinement. Differences in organoid size, morphology, protein expression and viability across microwell diameters will be analyzed.

Project Managers: Brianna Gaughan and Iris Sloan

Engineering Therapeutic Cells Adapted to Tumor Microenvironments

We are utilizing gene editing tools to engineer/model therapeutic cells with enhanced resistance to hypoxic tumor microenvironments. We are also improving the persistence and cytotoxicity of current cell therapy technologies (CAR-T, NK-based killing). 

Project Managers: Khanh Tran and Raymond Nova

Please contact us at bmes@g.ucla.edu if you have any questions!

CLICK HERE TO READ THE UCLA FOUNDATION'S DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS FOR DONORS

Should this fund reach the campus minimum required for the establishment of an endowment or quasi-endowment, The UCLA Foundation reserves the right to convert this fund to an endowment or quasi-endowment. Please click here to learn more about how the UCLA Foundation invests and manages its endowments.