Research for good

At the 2025 MSE Research & Industry Showcase, three dozen students representing 14 different research groups presented projects to peers, faculty, alumni and industry mentors. Hear how three MSE students are using their research to improve our health and help our planet!

Dialysis on the go

Kidney dialysis has been a lifesaving treatment since its initial invention 60 years ago, but the procedure is not without its downsides. Patients must typically get themselves to a dialysis center and sit for four-hour sessions, three times a week, diminishing their quality of life and making it difficult to keep a steady job. Having a portable dialysis device would help alleviate some of those burdens, but portability is difficult when dialysis machines require multiple bags of fresh dialysate – the fluid capable of removing waste from blood.

Fifth year Ph.D. student Mingyuan Zhang is working on a portable dialysis prototype that would be able to regenerate spent dialysate. The device relies on a two-loop system: dialysate flows through the first loop, where a filter of activated carbon removes the majority of toxins, then passes to the second loop that contains Zhang’s photoelectrochemical-oxidation urea removal (POUR) device. Using a combination of titanium dioxide and UV light, the POUR circuit removes urea – critically, without producing a toxic ammonium byproduct.

Using whole bovine blood, Zhang demonstrated that his photoelectrochemical-assisted dialysis system was capable of removing 14.2g of daily urea generation and 5.6g of other non-urea uremic toxins, meeting clinical requirements during a continuous 24-hour session. He recently found success in fitting the entire system into a single carry-on suitcase, with the goal of condensing even further to fit inside a backpack!

Building better bioplastics

Plastic waste is taking over our landfills and waterways. One possible solution is developing plastic-like alternatives made from biomatter, rather than petroleum. However, the composition and structure of biomatter can vary, making recipes for these alternatives difficult to perfect and replicate. Fourth year Ph.D. student Ian Campbell felt that if we better understood exactly how these biomatter plastics stick together on a molecular level, we may be able to create better bioplastics.

Campbell created samples modeled on spirulina – a type of algae that has bioplastic potential – with varying ratios of proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. The samples were then put through a series of mechanical tests, and their structures were investigated. Spectroscopy revealed that the lipids in the samples just clung to each other in clumps that offered no structural or mechanical support. Lots of smaller carbohydrates seemed to improve a sample’s flexibility; meanwhile, removing proteins from a sample severely decreased the sample’s strength. The outcome points toward the hydrogen bonding between proteins and carbohydrates being critical to the performance of algae-based bioplastics.

Campbell and his peers in the Roumeli lab hope that these new insights will allow them to tune bioplastics to better perform. “My motivation is solving the plastic problem,” said Campbell. “I’m excited to spend time thinking about how things work at the molecular level and make things better.”

Enamel through the ages

We have age-specific treatments for just about everything these days: face wash for acne versus wrinkles, vitamins for growing bones versus brittle bones, even vaccines only meant for folks over or under a certain age. One thing we haven’t really treated differently is our teeth. Senior Meaghan Capper thinks that could change.

As part of the Arola lab’s Colgate-Palmolive project, Capper investigated the mineral content of tooth enamel – specifically looking for the differences between young adult and old adult age groups – and analyzed how protein composition impacted the enamel. She studied 11 teeth of varying ages that had been subjected to deproteinizing treatments, using Raman spectroscopy and Vickers indentations to analyze both the composition and mechanical properties of the teeth. Her results indicated that enamel thickness is critical for both properties. Additionally, older teeth appeared more brittle than their younger counterparts, the stresses of the testing causing greater damage.

With this new information, Capper hopes to help Colgate create age-targeted treatments for oral health. “Prior to joining engineering, I wanted to be a dentist,” said Capper. “It’s cool to see how materials science has a role in dentistry!”