A young person in a workshop is working on a project at a cluttered workbench. The workspace has various tools hanging on a pegboard, including a level, a tape measure, a hacksaw, and a wrench. The person is wearing a headlamp and appears to be focused on a small component in their hands.

Biopsy Forceps

Spring 2023 - Fall 2025

Alongside a research group (Dr. Mouen Khashab's group) in the department of Gastroenterology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, I designed and built a medical biopsying tool. The tool was built to collect biopsies in areas where a traditional biopsy forceps couldn't reach. These hard to reach areas were the walls of small conduits such as the bile ducts.

  • Medical device with a handle and long orange cable.

    Here is the commonly used biopsy forceps (the one that can’t collect biopsies from the walls of small conduits).

  • Three metal medical instruments with blue handles and various tip designs, used for ear, nose, or throat examination.

    This is a close up of the forceps jaws.

  • A diagram of a blood vessel with a sample site marked, indicating insufficient sample of a non-protruding tumor, with a red X marking an incorrect area.

    This is a visual of the limitation of the currently used forceps.

  • Close-up of a tear in a clear plastic tube with a metal needle or wire inside, against a dark gray textured background.

    First, I tried using the currently used forceps idea with a slight modification.

  • Close-up of a damaged intravenous (IV) catheter with a detached needle and tubing, lying on a hospital or clinical floor near a medical cart wheel.

    This model didn't work since it was not able to achieve the angle that was required to reach the previously unreachable tissue.

  • An image of Greenspacing.

    I abandoned the model from the previous slide and designed this prototype. The idea was that vacuum would be applied through the tube and tissue would be sucked through the opening on the side of the tube. The jagged edges were supposed to slice the tissue when the user pulled abruptly.

  • An image of Greenspacing.

    This is a more developed prototype of the previous picture. Here I fixed a syringe to be able to test the design with vacuum pressure.

  • Close-up view of a damaged green and white cable with exposed inner wires and frayed insulation on a wooden floor.

    Upon tests, the previous prototype didn’t work. I designed another prototype using the same concepts. This one is much smaller and the edges are sharper.

  • Close-up of two medical wires with metal connectors, one with a clear insulating coating and the other with a green and gold coating, on a light surface.

    I played around with this concept for a little. Here is another iteration.

  • Hands wearing blue gloves handling a medical tool inside a porcine stomach.

    A lot of tissue was sucked in. Although it was able to collect some tissue, it was very inconsistent in the amount of tissue collected. This inspired me to continue making vacuum-based prototypes but to try different cutting mechanisms.

  • Close-up of a medical procedure showing a tube, a small connector, a needle, and a part of a person's arm with a blue glove, on a medical drape.

    Here is the size difference between my prototype and a currently used forceps. The tissue in the middle is collected by my tool... It is too small.

  • An image of Greenspacing.

    This is another model. I am using the same vacuum principle but trying a different cutting mechanism. The idea was that once the tissue would be sucked into the port cut into the side of the tube (right below the blue collar), the metal collar would be pulled down and cut the tissue.

  • Hands wearing blue gloves handling a medical tool inside a porcine stomach.

    I often tested prototypes in pig stomachs. They were cheap and easy to buy. This is a depiction of the prototype in the previous slide getting tested. It sucked a lot of tissue in!

  • Hands wearing blue gloves handling a medical tool inside a porcine stomach.

    While the prototype was able to suck in a lot of tissue, it wasn’t able to cut the tissue well. This inspired me to continue using suction - now I had to find a better way to cut.

  • Hands wearing blue gloves handling a medical tool inside a porcine stomach.

    Another depiction of the prototype sucking in a lot of tissue.

  • A clear glass pipette with a black tip lying on a textured gray surface, with a small piece of silver wire looped on and through the pipette.

    This is a version of the previous design. The cutting mechanism is a snare wire instead of a collar. All these models sucked in tissue well, but would not cut the tissue well.

  • Close-up of a damaged coaxial cable with the outer black insulation stripped, exposing the inner silver conductor and shielding wire. The cable appears worn and frayed, with some broken strands.

    This is another angle of the previous slide.

  • Close-up of a black device connected to a transparent tube with a yellow tip, lying on a light-colored fabric surface.

    Another constraint was the size. My tool needed to be inserted through a 4.2mm endoscope. This very small size was very tricky to meet.

  • Two glass laboratory thermometers on a light gray surface.

    These are two iterations of the same prototype. The yellow tip one had a more efficient vacuum port.

  • A piece of raw pig tissue or flesh on a cork mat on a laboratory or medical table, with various lab tools, wires, and a green plastic scalpel nearby.

    This is a setup of the experiment.

  • Hands wearing blue gloves handling a medical tool inside a porcine stomach.

    The vacuum was sufficient. A lot of tissue was sucked inside. However, there was a lot of difficulty to cut it. The cutting problem prevails!

  • Close-up of a yellow insulated electrical wire connector attached to a white wire on a wooden surface, with a chair and carpeted floor in the background.

    This is how I applied vacuum to the prototypes. I made this fixture to fix to a syringe.

  • Package of raw pork stomachs in a red plastic tray.

    I often used pig stomach to test prototypes. A cheap and easy to get animal model!

  • A close-up of a medical or laboratory swab with a blue handle, lying on a light blue surface.

    Here is another model. It is using the same concept of suction. The cutting mechanism on this model is a manually operated sharp metal cylinder.

  • Dissected bird with wings spread on a medical tray, accompanied by a dissection tool and a microscope in a laboratory setting.

    I would occasionally use pig livers to try to find bile ducts to test on. I had to buy these from a butcher shop.

  • Close-up of a medical catheter or guide wire being sterilized or prepared, with a gloved hand holding it on a light-colored paper surface.

    This shows the model from two slides ago. This method works quite well to cut the tissue! Now I needed to find a method to make this way smaller (4.2mm outer diameter).

  • Hands wearing blue gloves handling a medical tool inside a porcine stomach.

    This is the model getting tested. The vacuum works well and the cutting worked better than all the other cutting mechanisms.

  • A small metal needle with a green twisted wire attached, resting on a white surface.

    The adaptation I made was to use a body piercing needle as the blade. This blade would be operated by the user.

  • Hands wearing blue gloves handling a medical tool inside a porcine stomach.

    Here is a picture of the final design. The blade is tucked in the main lumen at the top of the tube (left of the image).

  • Close-up of a needle with a green thread, a cotton ball, and sticky secretions on a white cloth on a dark surface.

    This is the result of the testing. The device was able to collect samples like this consistently. I was very pleased to see this.

  • Close-up of a used glass needle with black ink at the tip, resting on a light-colored textured surface.

    Here is a close up of the tool.

  • A medical prosthetic device resembling a human ear with a thin, transparent tube attached, placed on a flat surface.

    This is more testing of the tool. The wire in the tip of the tool was a guide wire that was fed through a lumen in the tube.

  • A young man in a medical setting preparing a catheter with medical supplies on a table, including gloves, face masks, and a box labeled VH Suction Pump.

    This is a picture of me doing final testing of the device in the lab. It worked!

  • Young man working with an infusion needle in a laboratory setting, with medical supplies, a laptop, and a suction pump on the table.

    Another picture of me doing testing. I am also taking pictures for the abstract and paper I was working on.

  • I got accepted for an oral presentation and poster at the Biomedical Engineering Society international conference. I also have a paper in press on this project - see the publications tab of this website.