Brian Epp Email & Phone Number

Atlanta, Ga, Us

Northfield, Il, Us

St. Paul, Mn, Us

I accepted a role at Ecolab as the Principle Mechanical Engineer working on the Surgical RD&E team. Specifically, I am the subject matter expert for the Sustaining Engineering Group on their temperature management devices. These temperature management devices provide precision heating and cooling of fluids in an operating room environment to help support surgical teams perform many complex procedures. I manage projects that support the ongoing design of not only the devices themselves, but also the accompanying drapes that cover the equipment during usage. These projects range from identifying alternative materials for use in manufacturing, to addressing design concerns from both internal and external customers, to maintaining the design history file to align with international regulatory requirements.These projects require me to lead a large, multidisciplinary team that is often distributed across the planet. This requires excellent communication and organizational skills to keep projects on track to meet deadlines to support the business’s needs.

London, Gb

I was promoted to Engineering Team Leader for the medical device safety team at the Atlanta office. In addition to retaining my former responsibilities as medical device project engineer, I oversaw the day-to-day operations of the medical safety team. That included managing project details for over half a dozen engineers and technicians, as well as making important decisions that impacted a business line with over $1.5 million in annual revenue. In June 2018, I was also appointed as the local quality supervisor for the Atlanta office. In that role, I was responsible for not only enforcing Intertek’s internal quality policies, but also leading all internal and external quality audits that impact our lab’s accreditation for both ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO/IEC 17065.During my time as the Engineer Team Lead, I grew Atlanta’s medical safety team by directly hiring multiple new engineers and technicians. In addition, I implemented several local procedures that improved the lab's compliance with Intertek’s quality policies.

London, Gb

After completing my contract with Baxter, I accepted a full-time position at Intertek on their medical device safety team as a Medical Device Project Engineer and in January 2017, I received my certification as an IECEE CB scheme engineer. In this role, I worked alongside industry-leading companies and their design engineers to help conduct safety, performance, and compliance testing necessary for worldwide product launches. Specifically, I assessed existing and novel medical devices for compliance to relevant international safety standards and produced reports that clients could take to different national and industry regulatory bodies to receive approval for various safety markings. These standards included IEC 60601-1 Medical Electrical Equipment: General Requirements for Safety, Collateral standard IEC 60601-1-6 for Usability, Collateral standard IEC 60601-1-8 for Tests and Guidance for Alarm Systems, and Collateral standard IEC 60601-1-11 for the Home Healthcare Environment. In addition, I also validated Programmable Electrical Medical Systems (PEMS) to IEC 62304 and completed tests according to IEC 60529 for Degree of Ingress Protection for Enclosures. Along with the different testing that I completed, I also audited companies' medical device design processes to determine compliance with ISO 13485 for Quality Management Systems, ISO 14971 for Risk Management for Medical Devices, and IEC 62366 for the Application of Usability Engineering to Medical Devices.

Deerfield, Illinois, Us

Following my graduation from Georgia Tech, I agreed to a contract position at Baxter within their Fluid Systems R&D division. Specifically, I worked as a design engineer for the sustaining products group on their elastomeric infusion pump product line.For this role, I had three key responsibilities: to analyze potential projects for any impacts to the design of the product, to manage a cross-functional team through the analysis, execution and implementation of different change packages, and to write and execute protocols for the implementation and verification of new changes.Unlike my previous experiences, which were primarily developing new products or solutions, this role was focused on the maintenance of an already mature product. The Baxter elastomeric infusion pump was developed in the early 80’s and is currently well into its product life cycle. As such, many of the projects that I worked on were related to cost savings and addressing customer complaints.

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

Between semesters while attending Georgia Tech, I had the opportunity to work for Medtronic as a summer intern. At my internship in Medtronic’s continuous glucose monitoring R&D group, I was tasked with analyzing a safety validation procedure related to testing their current glucose sensor. This included developing a more efficient means of verifying the efficacy of the sensor and ultimately, validating my device for use in testing future products.I first investigated the drawbacks to the current design and, using a modified systematic design method I created while studying at Georgia Tech, I proposed multiple solutions that addressed each of these problems. At the conclusion of the design, I created a testing apparatus and procedure that increased the efficiency over the previous test by twelve times.Once the device was made, I then developed a rigorous installation qualification plan that would certify that my devices meet or exceed the many regulations and standards required by the FDA. Included in this plan was a test method validation plan that would verify the results of my test and meet the statistical requirements set by Medtronic as well as an assembly procedure that detailed the specifics steps to operating my device safely and correctly.At the conclusion of my internship, I drafted a report stating that my device had passed the original installation qualification plan and is ready to use for testing future products.

Atlanta, Georgia , Us

During my graduate studies I worked as a Graduate Student Researcher. For this particular project, I was asked to investigate into a promising Polyvinyl Alcohol hydrogel related to encapsulate cell therapy applications, specifically towards the treatment of type 1 diabetes.Developing a material that can encapsulate cells, and protect them from the immune system has been a goal since the early 1950’s. At that time, the ideas was to encapsulate whole organs during transplants so that you could avoid patient rejection. Since then, numerous attempts have been made to develop a unique material that can maintain cell viability while protecting from the immune system.Through a relevant literature review of existing technologies and research, I was able to identify specific mechanical and diffusive properties that a successful encapsulated cell material must possess in order to maintain implanted cell viability. From this, I developed experimental models to verify the diffusivity of the PVA hydrogel as well as its mechanical strength and properties. Preliminary experimental results from this study suggest that a PVA hydrogel is an ideally suited material for encapsulated cell applications. After these encouraging results, I then invented a manufacturing method that would create custom-made pouches that would encapsulate a wide variety of cells.

West Lafayette, In, Us

For this project, I worked with a former Professor at Purdue University. I collaborated with a local diabetic clinic to analyze blood glucose concentration medical records. The goal for this project was to create a predictive model for long term patient health so patients could then be put into a separate, preferential scheduling system that would schedule high risk patients over low risk patients based upon their individual needs. The hypothesis was that by taking discrete time measurements of patients’ blood glucose concentrations, and creating a nonlinear equation that could fill in the data between these measurements, we would be able to accurately predict future blood glucose concentrations as well as extrapolate the data to predict overall, long term health.Under the advisement of a close mentor, a fellow graduate student and I were able to create a preliminary equation using open-source statistical software. After further analysis, it became evident that the original diabetic medical records would not be able to yield a reliable solution. In order to conclude our research, we would require complete medical records to be incorporated back into the model.

West Lafayette, In, Us

Shortly after I graduate from Purdue University, I agreed to a short term contract to help Akina finish an ongoing project. The goal of the project was to create an autonomous production system that could create biodegradable microparticles for injectable drug delivery. Akina had previously developed a unique porous material that could be engineered to be absorbed into the body at a specific rate. This would allow patients who typically need daily injections to instead be injected with these biodegradable microparticles that would be engineered to release their drug at the given rate.When I arrived, the current method for creating these microparticles was still a handmade process that was very time consuming, had low yields, and poor efficiency ratios. Through careful analysis of the handmade manufacturing technique, I was able to identify most of the inefficiencies and design a semi-autonomous method that was able to create the same quality of microparticles in a fraction of the time.

West Lafayette, In, Us

For my next undergraduate research project, I was responsible for optimizing several fluorescent staining techniques as well as culturing multiple cell lines for testing the cytotoxicity of different stent materials. In addition, I was tasked with determining a suitable software program to three-dimensionally model an artery with varying sizes of aneurysms. Microaneurysms are small aneurysms that form on the tiny capillaries surrounding damaged tissue following a high velocity blast wound. The goal of the project was to create a stent design using a unique material that would interface directly with the microaneurysms and be reabsorbed into the body.My role was to test multiple materials for their cytotoxic effect and determine their viability as a potential stent. Specifically, I optimized a comet assay stain for DNA damage analysis, and a dual Hoechst nuclear stain and Phalloidin 488 cytoplasmic stain for live-dead cell analysis. By optimizing these fluorescent assays for our particular cell lines, we could easily and accurately test potential candidate materials.Another aspect of my role was to collaborate with post-doctorate and graduate students to create a three-dimensional model of an artery. Once the model was constructed, we began testing the different stresses that an aneurysm places on the surrounding tissue and how the aneurysm changes the flow characteristics in the artery. From this model, we could then begin to implement different stents and see how they correct the flow caused by the aneurysms.

West Lafayette, In, Us

During my time as a student at Purdue University, I worked on a number of different research and design projects. For my first undergraduate research position, I designed a process that would extract the sericin proteins from Bombyx mori silk caterpillar cocoons and then, using a preexisting electrochemical alignment process, align these proteins into a dense strand that could be used for tendon or ligament replacement. In addition, I was tasked with redesigning a manufacturing process that would allow for the continuous alignment of type II collagen.Current methods for repairing tendon and ligament damage include harvesting from cadavers and using porcine replacements. The goal for the project was to develop an artificial material using type II collagen and other proteins that could be manufactured into tendons and ligaments. This would offer the benefit of not using live tissues that patient may reject and would be available on demand and could be custom-made to each individual’s needs.My role was to create a process that could align meters of collagen at a time, rather than only a few centimeters, which could then be shortened to a specific length, crosslinked, and used as a tendon or ligament replacement. Ultimately, I redesigned the original electrochemical alignment process and created a semi-automated manufacturing method that would continuously align type II collagen.

Master Of Science (Ms), Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering

Bachelor Of Science (Bs), Biomedical Engineering, Biomedical/Medical Engineering