Presenting at the Biomedical Engineering Society Conference in Seattle, Washington.
Author: Gaven Smart | Major: Biomedical Engineering | Semester: Spring 2024
Over the course of the Spring 2024 semester, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Dr. Muldoon on my honors thesis project funded by a Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) grant. The goal of my project is to develop a device of minimal diameter that is capable of being endoscopically deployed to “map” the tumor microenvironment. The development of this technology will hopefully allow clinicians to tailor cancer treatment plans to an individual’s needs.
The intersection of engineering and medicine is something that I have had an interest in for quite some time. This original interest along with spending some time shadowing interventional radiologists in my hometown of Batesville, Arkansas, is what ultimately led me to Dr. Muldoon’s Translational Biophotonics and Imaging Laboratory. The development of minimally invasive methods of providing healthcare is a rapidly growing industry and is an area that I hope to explore after I graduate.
From working on my project, I’ve quickly learned that research, like everything else in life, requires time and patience. Complex computer simulations will not always go as expected and you must be willing to adapt to unexpected results. A big challenge that I faced was the sheer amount of data that had to be processed. Hundreds of simulation files had to be compiled together and processed, which is very taxing on your computer.
My project partner, Nick Davis, and I have worked together to create models of the colon epithelium using polystyrene bead optical phantoms. These phantoms allowed us to simulate the tumor microenvironment for validation of our imaging system. The creation of these phantoms is a very time sensitive and delicate process as the optical properties of the polystyrene beads degrade over time and the phantoms must have exact ratios or their results are inapplicable. Working with Nick has been great, as it has allowed me to more rapidly solve problems relating to my project, often in new and unique ways.
My research mentor Dr. Timothy Muldoon has been fantastic to work alongside. He’s always willing to bounce ideas back and forth to figure out a solution to a specific problem. I’ve worked extensively with him on developing the imaging platform’s three-dimensional mapping capabilities using an engineering coding program called MATLAB. He’s been an invaluable mentor to me for the duration of my college experience.
I recently traveled to Seattle, Washington, to the annual Biomedical Engineering Society Conference to present my research. At the conference, I got to meet students and faculty from across the United States and discuss the intricacies of my work. I received great questions and feedback throughout my time at the conference. The opportunity to present my work to over 5,500 fellow researchers is something that I will never forget.
After I graduate from the University of Arkansas, I plan to attend medical school to become a physician. I have no doubt that the experience and lessons that I learned from my research will directly benefit me in my path to becoming a doctor.
There is still much more work to be done on this project. I am grateful to have received SURF funding for the Fall 2024 semester which will allow me to continue my work. I’m excited to see where it ends up!