Bioengineering’s Team Cobra Strikes Down Its Competition

Most graduating students focus on starting a career or attending graduate school, but a group of five seniors known as Team Cobra from Rice’s bioengineering program took on an additional challenge after graduating in May. They’re competing in several national events where they will present a yearlong research and design project that could revolutionize long-term spaceflight and may aid in the fight against osteoporosis here on Earth.

At its first national competition, the Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concept–Academic Linkage (RASC–AL) forum, held just one week after commencement, Team Cobra was awarded first prize by representatives from NASA and the space industry.

The team is getting used to winning awards for its prototype device called the Spine and Trochanter External Vibration Effecter (STEVE), which is designed to counter muscle atrophy and bone loss during long-term spaceflights. With an initial design funded by a $1,250 grant from the Texas Space Grant Consortium (TSGC), STEVE brought home three top prizes at the November 2004 TSGC Design Challenge Showcase, as well as seven top honors in TSGC’s spring competition. Team Cobra also won the first TSGC Design Challenge Legends Award in its four-year history, given to teams that most impressed the judges with their drive for success, enthusiasm for space science, and community engagement.

One reason the team has been so successful is STEVE’s innovative design and the fact that it addresses one of the most persistent obstacles NASA faces as it prepares to return to the moon and explore Mars—loss of bone and muscle mass during long-term spaceflights. While current countermeasures against muscle loss in microgravity are fairly successful, the bone mass lost in the spine, hips, and thighs is a critical concern because no technology has been shown to prevent it. Also of concern is the lack of evidence that astronauts will regain the same bone quality after returning to Earth.

STEVE also has a great deal of potential for use as a treatment for osteoporosis, says team member Austin Elam. The belt portion of the device may reduce bone loss in elderly individuals with this metabolic bone disease. Best of all, it’s easy to use, inexpensive, and requires only 15 minutes of use each day.

Based on prior research that established that high-frequency, low-amplitude vibration of bone combats bone-density loss due to lack of normal body stress on bones, STEVE is a system of small motors that can be strapped to an astronaut’s body to deliver vibrations throughout all the joints in the body. The system uses a combination of strategic loading and vibration techniques to stimulate the muscles and bones in key physiological sites. Everything is run by a central control system that coordinates the effects of the motors.

The RASC–AL forum required Team Cobra to extensively overhaul its project because it called for technology that could be applied across the spectrum of space exploration. Team Cobra adapted by expanding their concept from the single device to an interrelated “tool suite” that can be tailored to the needs of a specific mission.

The team has filed a provisional patent with Rice’s Office of Technology Transfer, and according to team member Christopher Gibson, Michael Liebschner, an assistant professor of bioengineering, intends to use the device as a test bed for some of this year’s bioengineering seniors. The prize for the RASC-AL contest was an expense-paid trip to another conference. This time, the team will go to SPACE 2005, the premier space conference of the year, and is one of just a handful of undergraduate/graduate presenters.

In addition to Elam and Gibson, the team includes Zeyad Metwalli, Roland Robb, and Thomas Rooney. For more information, visit the Team Cobra website, http://www.riceteamcobra.com.

—Jade Boyd