University of Denver Autumn 2025

PUBLIC GOOD

A New Vein of Possibility Six DU engineering students, in collaboration with biomedical company B. Braun, have created a device to make catheter insertions faster, safer, and less painful—gaining real-world experience while advancing patient care.

By Anna Filippova

The tourniquet tightens. A gloved hand taps for a vein as the needle hovers in your peripheral vision. For some, it’s a quick pinch; for others, a tense ordeal of multiple jabs and the sting of cold metal. And when it goes wrong, it can leave not just a bad memory but a plum-colored bruise, swelling, or even infection. But a new tool developed by a team of DU engineering students—working with biomedical company B. Braun Medical Inc. and its director of strategy and innovations, Anup Gandhi—aims to make the catheter insertion process faster, easier, and far less painful. Undergraduates Riley Alcala, Emma Clason, Blaine Cullen, Gunnar Johnson, Addis Mulugeta, and Jacob Weiner came together in the fall of 2024 as part of Senior Design, a year-long engineering course that gives seniors an opportunity to collaborate on real-world projects with a variety of industry partners. The team presented their project last May as part of the Senior Design Symposium, where they displayed the prototype of their vein visualization device, called VANTAGE.

Building a prototype—and a team The idea for the device began to take shape when B. Braun asked the team to observe existing near infrared vein visualization devices and, says Clason (BSEE ’25), “make our own device that would be comparable to those on the market but with a new needle tracking capability.” The goal was to create a catheter insertion device that helps nurse practitioners quickly and safely find a patient’s veins and see the needle’s position in real time. It also had to meet hospital safety​​standards​​and be mobile and durable enough to use in a variety of clinical settings. The project was carried out in three phases​.​ The​​fall quarter was spent outlining the project and figuring out what they needed to complete it, says Clason. “We met our sponsor, got on the same page, and broke our product into subsystems to begin product design,” she says. During t​​ he ​w​ inter quarter, they worked in

Team member Addis Mulugeta views an image taken by the VANTAGE device.