01Concept design · Laparoscopic
Cryogel adhesion removal
Freeze a post-surgical adhesion band in a dye-loaded gel, then crack it with near-infrared laser pulses instead of cutting it.
Looking for a Summer 2027 engineering internship in medical devices
Biomedical engineering · University of Illinois Chicago · B.S. May 2028
Nora Dabbagh
I turn clinical problems into device requirements, design decisions and test plans.
An animated ECG trace runs across the screen, generated live from the beat model in project 04.
- HR
- —bpm
- RR
- —s
- CV · last 8
- —
Live: the beat model and R-peak detector from project 04, re-run in your browser.
00Introduction
I’m a biomedical engineering student at the University of Illinois Chicago, looking for a Summer 2027 engineering internship in medical devices. Below are four course projects: three device concepts, each taken from a clinical problem to a reviewed design in about five weeks, and a MATLAB signal-analysis study.
- GPA
- 3.77/ 4.00
- Tau Beta Pi
- Fall 2026invited
- Projects
- 43 devices + 1 study
- B.S. expected
- May 2028
01Selected work
Four projects, from clinical problem to reviewed design.
02Concept design · Drug delivery
AI-guided tenecteplase auto-injector
An at-home IV injector for clot-busting medication that maps the vein with an RGB-NIR camera before it fires.
03Concept design · Active implant
Optogenetic touch-restoration implant
Timed 470 nm light on light-sensitive touch receptors after burn injury, from a titanium implant that charges through the skin.
04Analysis · MATLAB
ECG RR-interval variability
Two simulated rhythms with nearly the same average heart rate, separated by how much the time between beats varies.
02How I work
Requirements first, each one paired with a test, and a risk review before a design is chosen.
- 01
Start from the clinical problem
Each device project opens with the clinical problem it answers and who it affects.
From project 01Adhesions form in over 90% of patients after intra-abdominal surgery. - 02
Write the requirements first
Design requirements and constraints are written before the design, so each decision has something to answer to.
From project 03LED intensity at most 2.6 mW/mm². - 03
Pair each one with a way to verify it
Every requirement is listed beside a planned test and its status, run or not.
From project 01Cryogel freezes to −18 °C → temperature measured with a thermometer. - 04
Review risk before committing
A risk assessment and a map of the user's steps find use errors, and both become requirements.
From project 02Injection accuracy, sterility, drug storage, user workflow.
03Toolkit
Tools, methods and coursework.
Software
- SOLIDWORKS
- MATLAB
- Arduino
- Excel
Methods
- Design requirements and verification planning
- Risk assessment and use-error review
- MATLAB signal processing and modeling
- 3D CAD modeling · SOLIDWORKS
- Circuit design · Arduino
- Technical writing (IEEE format)
Coursework
- Medical technology assessment
- Clinical problems in biomedical engineering
- Modeling physiological data and systems in MATLAB
- Properties of materials
- Circuit analysis
- Anatomy and physiology
Societies
- Tau Beta Pi
- BMES
- SWE
- SHPE
- AAAEA
04Contact
Hiring for a Summer 2027 medical‑device internship?
I’d like to hear about it. Email is the fastest way to reach me.