Presenting my poster!
Author: Isobel Powers | Major: Biomedical Engineering | Semester: Fall 2022
I am currently researching the impact of extracellular vesicles on pancreatic cancer perineural invasion (PNI). My hypothesis is that pancreatic cancer cells use these vesicles to send chemical messages to Schwann cells which support the nervous system and activate them to help bring the cancer to the nerves. There is not much research into extracellular vesicles in PNI so any new information could help improve treatments for this extremely deadly cancer. My next steps are to do this research in more 3D cell cultures so that I can better understand how this pathway works in the body. This project is part of my honors thesis.
I recently traveled to San Antonio, Texas to present my research at the annual Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) conference. I was interested in this conference because I am a member of the national organization and president of the U of A school chapter here. This was a great chance to show my research skills at this professional organization in addition to learning more about the current state of research in my area. This conference hosted representatives from many biotechnology companies that I was able to meet and learn more about what they offer. This was informative because there are not a lot of Biomedical companies that come to the career events at U of A. This conference also had many graduate schools that I could talk to. I am not planning on graduate school right after graduating, but this was good for collecting program information for my future graduate studies. I was also able to connect more with my professors that went to this conference. Going to a popular conference like this one is a great networking event for BMEG undergraduates. I even learned about more things I could do to help the school chapter be more successful.
During my poster presentation, I had multiple people visit to ask questions about my research. Because extracellular vesicles are a recent area in therapeutics, I was able to compare procedures and learn so much more about new applications of these vesicles in cancer. I even received some suggestions and advice for techniques moving forward that will be helpful. I was also able to visit other poster presentations to see the many applications of what other labs are doing in this area. This presentation made me feel even more proud of my work as graduate students and others in this area were impressed by what I had accomplished and asked when I would publish so that they could use my methods. There were not as many presenters working on pancreatic cancer, but it was still useful to talk about other types of cancer.
I think presenting research at a conference is a wonderful way to help troubleshoot issues in research and learn more about other applications. I highly recommend this experience to any biomedical engineering majors, especially those that are planning on attending graduate school. Even for students not planning on working in research, this was a great way to practice presentation skills. My advice to other students is just to put yourself out there. Conferences are a great way to meet friendly people in your field and learn about new opportunities.