Cornell BME Summer Immersion 2016

Week 6

During this week I worked on the acclimation period for the mice of the patellar tendinopathy model. This is very important since we need to make sure that the animals' hearts will be able to handle strenuous exercise. We figured out a system that we hope can help the animals withstand the exercise without reducing their risk for the development of tendon injuries due to overuse. On the other hand, we experienced some difficulties with the multi-photon imaging project. The laser on the multi-photon microscope was not working properly, and would not turn on. We contacted the people in charge of the equipment and unfortunately the person who handles the technical issues was out of town. Hopefully, she will be back next week. Although this was a set back, I am excited about this project as I will be able to continue working on it back in Ithaca and I have learned a lot here at Weill Cornell.

A new resident came into our lab this week interested in orthopedic research. She attended our lab meeting and we discussed what we have been working for as well as her previous research. It was interesting to hear her thoughts and ideas on our work. I find it fascinating how easy it is sometimes to forget get caught up on minor details and forget about the bigger picture. Listening to some of her ideas pointed out some interesting facts about my project that I had not considered, yet seemed so obvious once she mentioned them.

Finally, I wanted to mention this week's Friday meeting with the immersion group. Dr. Martin Prince talked to us a bit about his path to success. It was great learning about how he was able to combine medicine, engineering and business in order to develop novel technologies in the field of Radiology. It was a quick reminder of how exciting it is to be a Biomedical Engineer. I thought it was one of the most informational weekly meetings we have had so far.