Shreya Manjrekar

Global Challenge: Women's Health and Diagnostics

Abstract:

Pelvic organ prolapse, also known as POP, is a prevalent condition women face, typically post-delivery or due to older age. Pessaries serve as biomedical devices used to alleviate some of the pressure exerted by the descent of pelvic organs by mechanically providing support in pelvic cavities. The pessary insertion rate and fitting are prone to failure due to lack of pre-emptive mechanical testing and incompatibility between geometries of native tissue and pessary structure. To ensure high design quality and usability, the products and their mechanical interface with soft biological tissue native to female pelvic organs must be further investigated. This paper presents a proposed workflow to use 3D modeling and printing to (A) design custom pessaries rate and (B) create a mechanically accurate model of female pelvic organs. This model is especially useful in testing devices such as menstrual products and biomedical devices; testing with this model can provide a well-informed understanding of the mechanics of inserting such devices into women’s reproductive organs. A review of the literature was conducted regarding current physical organ modeling projects, suitable tissue-mimicking polymers were designed, and uses of 3D modeling in creating organ phantoms were referred to in designing a solution.
This research is tied to the UN Sustainable Development Goals #3 (good health and well-being) and #5 (gender equality).

Through my experiences in Dharavi, India, and Bandung, Indonesia, I observed firsthand the disparities in access to women's healthcare and the societal stigma surrounding menstruation and reproductive health. These experiences reinforced the urgent need for biomedical innovations that consider the anatomical and cultural nuances of women’s health. As a woman myself, I found my academic inclinations gravitating towards women’s health and decreasing the current gap of knowledge. My experiences in my VIP, as well as abroad as a research assistant at NYUAD, taught me skills in 3D modeling and printing. This paper is the culmination of my skills and purpose, all discovered during my time in the GLASS program.
 

Bio:

Shreya is a BS/MS student at Tandon, getting her Bachelors in Biomolecular Sciences and Masters in Biomedical Engineering. Hailing from Princeton, New Jersey, she strongly believes in the power of multidisciplinary education and actively seeks out opportunities to learn about how the world and society function to apply this to her engineering discipline.

As a research assistant at LANTRN Lab, Shreya strives to pursue a career in which she can make meaningful differences in the healthcare industry, specifically targeted towards decreasing the gap in women's health.

Highly involved in the NYU community, Shreya serves as the President of the NYU Tandon Student Council and sees it as important for students to actively participate in the school community. Leadership has been a focus of hers during her time at NYU and she plans on continuing to hone her leadership skills for a long time.

Outside of academic endeavors, Shreya enjoys dancing as a member of NYU's premier south asian fusion team, Nasha. She also loves exploring new cultures through food, whether that means trying a new restaurant in NYC or making new recipes in her own kitchen.