An innovation with immediate results
Personalized Medicine & Applied Engineering program provides woman with practical hand prosthetics
Jillian Accetta’s first in-person meeting with student Alexia Quinn went well, as they discussed possibilities for different prosthetics for her hand and looked at some prototypes. It was on her way out, though, that she realized how life-changing it might be.
Wearing one of the new prosthetics, she delighted at being able to press the elevator buttons without having to put her bags down. Driving home, she could work the controls on the dashboard with no problem. “I was like, ‘So this is what it's like.’”
For the past year, Accetta’s been collaborating with the Personalized Medicine & Applied Engineering (PMAE) M.S. program at Yale Engineering. Specifically, she’s been working with Quinn, who has been designing and building various prosthetic devices for Accetta, each designed to help her with various everyday tasks.
Born with one hand, Accetta has used prosthetic devices at various points in her life, but very rarely. None seemed to help her that much, and she mostly did fine without one.
“I've had the option of having prosthetics for as long as I can remember,” she said. “My parents always wanted to be sure that I had the option, but their goal was to make sure that I could be independent just in case any sort of device failure happened.”
Accetta was 15 the last time she received a prosthetic for her hand. She wasn’t impressed. It weighed about two pounds, which is a lot to carry around for any period of time. Also, it “looked like a military weapon” with all the wiring and cables running through it. And for all that, it wasn’t particularly helpful.
“The only grip it could do was a pinch, and the actual grip wasn't that strong,” she said. “I did not want to wear it. It wasn't functional, and I didn't feel motivated to even try to incorporate it into my daily life.”
“The only grip it could do was a pinch, and the actual grip wasn't that strong. I did not want to wear it. It wasn't functional, and I didn't feel motivated to even try to incorporate it into my daily life.
Jillian Accetta on her last prosthetic device
Although she’s gotten by fine with very little use of a prosthetic, Accetta, 26, figured she should start using them more regularly for her long-term health.
“I had a doctor explain to me that no matter how efficient we might be with the one hand, you're going to start seeing age happen quicker in the hand that you do have,” she said. “So at the age of 30, your hand could be used essentially the same as a 50-, 60-, or 70-year-old.”
Getting a practical set of prosthetics now, she said, could help stave off that wear and tear. Also, she and her husband plan to start a family soon.
“I would definitely want to make sure that I'm always 100% capable, ready, and able,” she said. “I know parents with two hands who wish they had more, so I definitely want to make sure that I'm beyond equipped.”
A chance encounter, and endless possibilities
It was through serendipity that Accetta connected with the PMAE program. While at her job as administrative assistant at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University, she struck up a conversation with Dr. Lynn Copes, a professor at the School who happens to be married to Steven Tommasini, co-director of the PMAE program.
“And just by chance, she said, ‘You know, my husband makes hands,’” Accetta recalls, “which is a funny sentence to say in general, but it happens to be applicable to the very small percentage of population that I belong to.”
Accetta volunteered to work with the PMAE program, which trains students from a wide range of fields, from pre-med and medical, to electrical engineers, to fine arts majors. The students work on tools for developing innovative 3D solutions for personalized medicine and use 3D technology to address surgical and medical conditions to personalize health care treatments. Courses are taught by faculty from Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science.
She and Quinn began meeting regularly to discuss how Accetta could best benefit from prosthetics.
“We met on Zoom a lot,” said Quinn, who received her master’s degree in May. “We would come up with something, I would work on it a little bit, then go back to her. And at the very end, when I was trying to make it fit onto her arm, we met a lot more, probably once or twice a week.”
Rather than build an all-purpose device designed for many tasks, they decided to create multiple lightweight prosthetics, each specially made for certain purposes. And because Quinn is using a 3D printer to build them, she could make them cheaply and quickly.
“So the possibilities are endless,” Accetta said. “Lexi’s like ‘If you want one that just holds a pen, we’ll make one that holds a pen.’ She’d come with IKEA bags full of attachments. You really can do anything.”
They settled on six different prosthetics, each one able to attach and detach quickly and easily to a socket attached to her arm.
“I really wanted to make it work and be something that will actually help her in her life...something that she can take home and actually use. There were some moments when I got very nervous, but to see her fitting it on and actually using it for things that she wanted is really nice to see.
Alexia Quinn
PMAE graduate student
“Speaking with her, I would learn what she wanted to accomplish and test out different shapes and different mechanics,” Quinn said. “Since there's no electronics in it, I had to figure out how to make it maneuver easily, and how she can use it and still make it affordable and easy to print.”
Unlike most coursework, this project had the potential for a real-life impact on a person. That added some pressure.
“I really wanted to make it work and be something that will actually help her in her life,” Quinn said. “So I wanted to make sure that it fit her needs and be something that she can take home and actually use. There were some moments when I got very nervous, but to see her fitting it on and actually using it for things that she wanted is really nice to see.”
For the different prosthetics and their functions, Quinn drew inspiration from a variety of sources. One prosthetic, she said, is based on the cup holder of her bicycle. They’ve given each device informal names; one featuring tentacle-like grippers is called “The Squid.” Another, the “Church Hand,” looks like a human hand; Quinn even designed it with detachable painted fingernails. Accetta appreciates the attention to detail.
“This is like, the human part, you know what I mean? It's such a small detail, and it's very special.”
The project also shows, Accetta said, how many more possibilities there are for people in her situation. Despite its limited functionality, her last prosthetic device cost $70,000. Her family's insurance covered most of it, but not everyone has that option. The ones that Quinn designed cost a few hundred dollars. And while a prosthetic device from an established manufacturer could take six months to build (and additional months for any adjustments that are needed), Quinn’s designs can be 3D-printed in hours.
“She's really impressive with her engineering skills,” Accetta said. “We've thought of different things for future projects. And just when you start, the ideas keep going and going.”
Tommasini said the project exemplifies the kind of innovation that the PMAE program was designed to produce.
“Lexi's been really creative coming up with different ideas, and it's amazing to see how enthused Jillian is to work with her and try out new things,” Tommasini said. “And from the master's program perspective, it's been really rewarding to see the students actually making a difference in a patient's life.”
Alyssa Glennon, program director and lead engineer for 3D Collaborative for Medical Innovation, noted how much was accomplished with a limited amount of time and resources.
“What's really compelling is that Lexi did this soup to nuts,” said Glennon, who was Quinn’s mentor. “And she tackled all of these different components within a fairly short amount of time.”
When she first met with the folks in the PMAE program, Accetta said she was struck by the efforts they took to personalize their work to her needs.
“They asked more questions than any professional I've ever seen about what my needs are and what has not been met all these years,” she said. “It was kind of profound to see how many questions I had not been asked yet at that point—and the amount of information that I was welcomed to share about my life and how I function and everything. So it was really great to work with a team who was interested like that."
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Published Date
May 19, 2026
