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Texas REU: BME CUReS Cancer

research

, Filed Under: 2019, cancer, research

A Summer of Cancer Research!

We are finishing up Week 2 of our stay at UT and each of us are getting a little more acquainted with our research projects! When I come into lab, I feel like I am not just coming to edify myself, but I feel a sense of urgency.  My friend’s dad, my friend’s aunt, my friend, Relay for Life, are just a few reasons why I am here this summer performing cancer research. In the Prologue of Emperor of all Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee states that “15 percent of all deaths worldwide will be attributed to cancer”. This is alarming and overwhelming.

I have been in too many settings where the facilitator asks, “How many people in this room know someone that has been affected by cancer?” and everyone raises their hand. This summer is an opportunity to contribute to the trailblazing research occurring not just at UT Austin, but around the world.

BME CUReS Cancer has widened my horizons of what cancer research really is. It isn’t just wet-lab research and interacting directly with cells, but it is also computational (my lab), imaging and much more.

Each of us are learning and working on a different part of cancer research and it is really exciting!!

 

summer scholars pose in their t-shirts that say "keep calm and fight cancer"
Simon and Jubin after lunch ready to go back to lab!!

Every day I come into lab, I know that I am contributing to important research that directly impacts millions of lives. Even just being here for almost two weeks has shown me how broad and complicated this topic is. Even with this large task at hand,

I feel hopeful and optimistic because I know that my friends and I are all playing our part and doing our best to win in this “War on Cancer”.

I am super excited for what the rest of this summer holds and the best part is that this adventure has just begun!!

-Dara Okeremi, Rice University

, Filed Under: 2018, research

BMES 2018!

photo of scholars all together at scientific conference
2018 Summer Scholars reunite at the Annual Biomedical Engineering Society meeting in Atlanta!

, Filed Under: 2018, learning, research

Research Progress So Far

I am Fawaz Mohsin, an Economics and Biomedical Engineering major from the University of Connecticut. I am doing research through the BME CUReS REU in Thomas Milner’s Lab this summer, which specializes in imaging and diagnostics.

We have had several challenges that we have had to overcome, as well as many successes.

We are conducting experiments with the Chick Chorioallantoic Membrane Assay(CAM). The CAM assay is basically when we expose the innards of a developing chick egg in order to observe and test on it’s vasculature.

photo of chick eggs and developing vasculature
Developing chick eggs in the lab

The reason our lab is using the CAM assay is to practice using our 1070 laser to coagulate blood vessels. Why is this important? In many surgeries, patients can die from bleeding out. If we can coagulate blood vessels using the 1070 laser, surgery can be performed without any fear of losing too much blood.

Egg under a laser and the image produced from the laser of developing vasculature

The problem is that we need to pin down the specific intensities, powers, and durations of laser beam needed to coagulate blood vessels of different sizes at different depths beneath the skin. In order to do this, we need to collect many data points and recognize a trend. On top of this, the procedure we were following for the CAM assay was producing a very low yield, with high risk of infection.

Through trial and error, I was able to perfect our procedure to produce a high yield of healthy, developing eggs – with a lower chance of infection. On top of this, we have had several successes in using the 1070 laser to coagulate blood vessels, giving us several data points.

As I reflect back on my summer thus far, I am grateful to have been given such an amazing opportunity to broaden my skills and participate in research.

The skills I am gaining could not have been learned anywhere else.

-Fawaz Mohsin, University of Connecticut