Interdisciplinary student collaboration leads to national success

For fourth-year TMU biomedical sciences student Grace Boakye, winning the three-minute pitch competition at the STEM Fellowship (external link)  National Indicium Research Conference was not only a moment of celebration, but the final step in a long research journey, filled with problem-solving, prototyping and collaboration. “It was a bit surreal,” says Boakye. “Actually, it was fun. A very interesting experience.”

The adventure began when Boakye applied to lead a TMU research team for the conference that took place over the summer. Over the next few months, the first task was to gather a team of fellow students and identify a mentor. Then build a project to fit the conference theme: “Aging powerfully: A blueprint for chronic disease management and economic resilience.”

One by one, the pieces clicked into place. Ray Zhu, a biomedical engineering graduate researcher from the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science (FEAS), took on the role of mentor. Faculty of Science and FEAS undergraduate students Lauren Smith (biomedical engineering), Mehar Kaur (biomedical sciences), Fiza Butt (biomedical sciences), Dexter Floreza (computer engineering), and Saba Shahidi (biomedical sciences) made up the final team. They settled on a project combining AI and healthcare, creating a prototype of a wearable device to assist patients in the arthritis community. With a final paper titled “Proactive arthritis care with a multi-sensor wearable knee brace system,” they began their presentation video with a summary of their chosen research challenge: “Imagine managing arthritis before the pain starts.” 

A project becomes a product

Watching the students’ final video presentation (external link) , you can tell that many hours of work went into the project. To begin, the students conducted a meta-analysis of 15 prior studies, which helped them determine how to build their prototype: a smart, low-cost knee brace that tracks joint movement and pressure in real time and uses AI to flag gait changes and stress patterns. Linked to an app, the device would offer personalized care to everyday arthritis sufferers by helping them identify which actions might offer the best joint care based on their movement results, from stretching to massaging their legs to resting. 

The final product was built on a generic knee brace, kitted out with multiple sensors at locations such as the lower thigh, shin, and kneecap to measure joint movement, for example, knee flexion and extension. They trained the model on healthy joints so that it could identify deviations in movements that were outside the ordinary and needed to be flagged for support.

At the output end of the project, the group also programmed an app to capture and visualize the data. After building the prototype, they tested it on both people with arthritis (via a group member’s family) and people without (themselves). Their total budget, minus the hundreds of hours of labour, was around $115 for hard costs, such as the sensors and knee brace.

Brainstorming lofty goals and overcoming self-doubt

In creating the prototype, Boakye says the team discussed wanting to find a solution that helped the average patient (many of the existing studies they analyzed were tailored to athletes) and also would help take the pressure off the medical system by imagining something that could help patients monitor their own chronic condition, with a focus on the rehab phase. “Sometimes patients don't get appropriate post-rehabilitation measures, and so they end up coming back,” she says. She adds that the project reflects the team’s interest in providing a solution that adds another asset to the medical system beyond doctors and nurses. 

While Boakye is proud of her success in leading the project, she almost didn’t apply for the challenge. “I just felt like I was an imposter, I delayed actually applying to the conference,” she says. After making it through and winning an award, she says she would now encourage others to work to overcome their own self-doubt. “Do not let your GPA define you. Because sometimes when you're stuck in that headspace, you think, ‘Oh my gosh, everyone's doing better than I am. Am I even worthy of this?’ Yes, you are actually worthy of participating. At the end of the day, you got into this program. You have what it takes. You just have to believe in yourself.”