Day Two

Today we accomplished:

We fine-tuned the solution to our health problem and are starting to bring in specific methods and medications to use in our solution. We began to write up some information to put in our powerpoint and poster, but have yet to actually begin them. Most importantly though, we are starting to get to know each other more and think more like an “engineer” than the average high school student.

 

 

Tomorrow we plan to:

We need to begin to plan out our presentation poster and powerpoint. Also, we need to research more into anti fungal medications, types of medicinal administration, and different medicines to combine to have more effective treatment for/prevention of PCP. We especially need to realize that our plan cannot be bulletproof and will have flaws because of the short time we have to come up with it.

 

Day Two: The Importance of Accuracy and Efficiency

Today we did multiple labs, one with protein assays, and one with nano particles. Something that our teachers really emphasized was how important accuracy and efficiency are. If you can’t safely and accurately report data in an efficient way, then technological advances are much harder to achieve. Also, with so many technological advances, accuracy can be easier to attain, but can also easily be overlooked. With instruments that are more accurate than ever, you could assume that accuracy is easy and slack off, allowing inaccuracies in data. 

We used burets and pipettes in our labs, which really showed us how easy it is to make mistakes (almost all of us did make some sort of error, regardless of how obvious or detrimental it was). The point is, we really saw first hand how easy it is to make errors in accuracy, and how important it is to make sure that accuracy is a goal in the lab.

First Day Thoughts

Reflection: Importance of collaboration between disciplines in Biomedical Engineering

In his presentation, Dr. Allen showed us that Biomedical Engineering was not just a subject of engineering, but rather an amalgam of Math, Biology, Physics, Engineering, and Chemistry. He made it clear that each part of BME relied on one another, and that with this balance, concepts beyond our imagination could be brought to life. After a brief tour of the campus, Michael Koerner introduced us to his robotic glove and Stem cells. Two things caught my attention in his presentation: first of all, he highlighted the importance of noticing a problem, and conceptualizing the solution through prototypes and rigorous testing, while the more important thing was that different disciplines intertwined with one another in Biomedical Engineering. He explained that his Robot glove prototype would have been trashed if it had not been for Shima Seiki, a fashion company that specialized in computerized textile weaving.

First Day

What was accomplished today:

We started at one idea, prevention of infection in children with leukemia. After researching more, we located a specific infection and looked closer at the causes. After that, we decided to focus on preventing cases of this infection, PCP, in patients with compromised immune systems.

 

Our plan for tomorrow:

We need to do more detailed research on antifungals to see what the drug would specifically have to target. In addition, we need to further research the fungus that causes PCP.