A New Vein of Possibility

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 the winter quarter, they worked in their subgroups, splitting off to code separate parts of the project.

In the spring, they brought together all of the moving subparts, assembling the prototype based on sponsor recommendations.

Aside from the technical skills, Clason says, communication across subsystems was key to making sure “all our parts could be meshed together into one product.”

Managing time was challenging, as students worked at their own pace, not following typical class structure. Mulugeta (BSCS ’25) says, “We didn’t have specific rules or directions to follow, like homework. We instead just had a set 27 weeks to produce a project.”

Over a seven-month period, the team created structure for themselves while balancing coursework, communicating with their sponsor, applying for jobs after graduation, and all the other things that come with being a senior.

It was helpful that Gandhi was flexible and easy to work with, Clason says. “I really appreciated his willingness to take a chance on us. We learned skills and gained experience for the job market that no lecture could compete with.”

Rewarding work, real-world impact

The students’ hard work culminated in a successful prototype, one that offers a way to see veins more distinctly than existing devices do.

VANTAGE allows nurses “to ensure catheter needles don’t pierce veins or deliver medication into surrounding tissues,” says Clason—reducing the risk of infection and ensuring patients are treated safely and effectively.

The final design uses near-infrared technology and machine learning to spot veins, distinguish them from surrounding tissue, and track catheters of different sizes. Two cameras—one for viewing veins and one for tracking the needle—combine their feeds into a single screen, showing veins in color and marking the exact needle tip location in real time during insertion.

Clason notes that this makes needle insertion easier for patients with deep veins, scar tissue, excessive hair, or other conditions that make naked-eye vein identification difficult. “Botched insertions are both painful and dangerous, so a device that can be used on all patients to make catheter insertion easier can drastically improve patients’ quality of life during their hospital stay,” she says.

For the six students, seeing the prototype come together was deeply rewarding. “We had all the separate moving bits and pieces, and being able to present it all together was very fulfilling,” says Mulugeta.

Beyond the classroom, they’re proud that the device could make a real difference. “It’s nice to know we created something that could help people in the medical field and make catheter insertion easier for all patients who need it,” Clason says.

While the future of the device rests with B. Braun, the six new alumni are launching careers in fields ranging from electrical and computer engineering to robotics. They have gained a deeper understanding of how multiple disciplines intersect as well as valuable industry connections—and a hope that they have played a part in making life easier for health care professionals and
patients alike.