There is a part one which talks about how I began working in research, but this is an update on my current project along with a summary the conference I am attending this week.
After the project was completed on the airway devices, I began a project that consisted of testing and maximizing efficiency of a novel limb and organ preservation device. Similar to starting on my first project, I had no idea what this project consisted of, and did not know how the device worked at all. It took me much longer to get the hang of working the device, running tests, and troubleshooting for every possible error. As of now, I’m definitely still learning about it, but have gotten much better, and am eager when it comes to making improvements with the device.
A breakdown of how the device works:
There are two primary chambers: an upper chamber (pump chamber), and the lower chamber (the organ storage chamber). There is tubing that is connected to an oxygen tank, enters through the top of the device, runs through the entire upper chamber and then exits also at the top of the device. The entire device (upper and lower chamber) is filled with a salt-water solution (phosphate buffered saline solution also known as PBS). The tubing in the top chamber is inflated an deflated which allows the PBS to flow through a valve entering the organ chamber, and then exit through a second valve to circulate throughout the device.
I started on this project January 2020, and as of now its only been about nine months, but I wouldn’t have expected I would be where I am. I wrote an abstract during summer that I submitted to present at the 2021 Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Conference. I found out that my abstract was accepted for a poster presentation, and I am currently writing this post while I wait in the airport to fly to Orlando, Florida to present that poster. I was first author on the abstract, something I hadn’t yet been, and am very excited to see that joining this project has gotten me to this point. I am very nervous but excited to present! I don’t like presenting or speaking in front of crowds, and get extremely anxious but I know that this will be an amazing experience.
For more on the research aspects of the device, I am currently pursuing an independent study with the project. This consists of continuing with the data collecting, as well as working on new things with the project that would aid in the research such as creating a simulation of the device. For the rest of the semester, through the independent study, I will be writing another abstract to submit to a different conference, as well as having the goal of writing a full article to be published in an engineering journal. I am very excited for what’s to come with this, and from the conference. I will post another update after the conference.
https://www.bmes.org/annualmeeting
Thanks for reading (:
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