Posted on by nthomasi

Our Mission

BrunO2 is a group of students, faculty, and medical doctors who are working around the clock  to design, fabricate, and test a novel rapidly-deployable ventilator. Our team is working to address critical shortages in ventilators due to the surge of COVID-19 patients. Our design utilizes 3D-printed mechanical components, off-the-shelf parts and open-source electronics that allow for easy use in resource-limited settings and targets the specific performance and protocols most critical for patients suffering from COVID-19.

Our Roots 

This project began as a collaborative effort within the Fluids and Thermal Sciences group in the Brown School of Engineering, led by the Harris Lab. The Harris lab has extensive experience with rapid-prototyping for custom experimental setups and fluidic devices. The group also has a tradition of sharing their designs broadly as part of a wider “open hardware” movement. The call for a rapid-prototyped ventilator which involves controlling a flow was a natural fit for the lab and its members, which has grown to encompass faculty from across fields, medical doctors, undergraduate and graduate students, and practicing device engineers from industry. 

The Latest

Our most recent prototype operating a simulated lung

Our Team

Team Leaders: 

Daniel Harris, PhD

  • Assistant Professor of Engineering

Roberto Zenit, PhD

  • Professor of Engineering, Brown University

Clinicians:

Gerardo (Jerry) Carino, MD

  • Intensive Care Unit Director, The Miriam Hospital
  • Assistant Professor of Medicine, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown Univerisity 
  • Assistant Director of Graduate Medical Education, Rhode Island Hospital

Dan Dworkis, MD

  • Assistant Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC

Practicing Engineers: 

Dave Durfee, PhD

  • CEO and Chief Scientist, Bay Computer Associates Inc.

Andy Leonczyk

  • Principal Electrical Engineer, Ximedica

Mechanical Design Subteam:

Daniel M. Harris (Assistant Professor of Engineering)
Roberto Zenit (Professor of Engineering)
Kenny Breuer (Professor of Engineering)
Christopher Bull (Director of Brown Design Workshop)
John Antolik (B.Sc. Mech. Eng, ’20)
William Haddock (B.Sc. Mech. Eng, ’20)
Ian Ho  (B.Sc. Mech. Eng, ’21) 
Garam Lee (M.Sc. Mech. Eng, ’20)   
Ben Lyons (Staff, Brown Design Workshop)
Jacob Morse (B.Sc. Mech. Eng, ’21)
Eli Silver (B.Sc. Mech. Eng)

Electrical and Software Design Subteam:

Jacob Rosenstein (Assistant Professor of Engineering, Brown University)
Christopher Arcadia  (Postdoctoral Research Associate, Electrical Engineering, Brown University)
Alberto Bortoni    
Marc Powell (PhD Candidate, Biomedical Engineering  (PI David Borton), Brown University)

Medical Subteam:

Gerardo (Jerry) Carino, MD 
Dan Dworkis, MD
Farah Laiwalla, MD/PhD (Assistant Professor of Engineering (Research)
Roja Garimella (MD Candidate, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University)
Anastassia Gorvitovskaia  (MD Candidate, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University)
Nicole Thomasian (MD Candidate, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University)

Outreach Team:

Elizabeth Austin (A.B. Engineering ‘20)
Roja Garimella (MD Candidate, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University)
Nicole Thomasian (MD Candidate, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University) 

Funding

This initiative is currently supported by the Brown Office of the Vice President for Research, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and The Miriam Hospital Educational Fund of the Brown Medicine Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine.

Legal Disclaimer & Copyright

  • Brown University, BrunO2, and the associated faculty, students, doctors, and researchers make no guarantees, representations, or warranties, explicit or implied, with respect to the research or design, or the material on this website.
  • No material on this site is intended to provide medical or other professional advice. All designs are intended for investigational use only. 
  • BrunO2 is working to submit a specific variant of the BrunO2 ventilator prototype to the United States for review under the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) authority. 
  • Although no determination has been made with respect to this design, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has declared liability immunity for medical countermeasures against COVID-19.