Test, Test… Is This Thing On? - Hannah Christina Aspinwell

What an exciting time! After weeks of honing my polymer composition for 3D-printable microfluidics the time has come to put it to the test or in this case: tests. We are looking into as many parameters relevant to our applications as we can in the time left. For instance: can cells survive on this polymer? Can they grow on it? What chemicals are compatible with it? How hard is it? Do we observe protein absorption to it?

An image used for assessing the autofluorescence of my polymer
 at a wavelength of interest.

As you can imagine all these tests have very specific protocols and equipment that I am not necessarily familiar with yet. I am extremely appreciative of my coworkers who have taken the time to walk me through them and help me run them all. It’s fantastic to have access to so many resources and get exposure to so many new skills. With our final presentation coming up on August 2nd and lots of people taking summer vacations scheduling has been tight but we’ve made it work.

This is the famous astronomical clock
in Prague as seen
 when you enter the main square.
The clock dates to the 1400’s
and is the only one from this time
that is still operational.

Hopefully, by the end of the week I’ll have the results from all the tests. Good or bad this should elucidate something about out material and give direction to those working on the project in the future. Plus it gives me beautiful graphs and images to start working into my final presentation.

It’s crazy to me that I’ll have to wrap up my part of this project so soon! I feel like I just started and there’s so much more to explore. I guess that’s the nature of doing research over one short summer. On the other hand, this limited amount of time has really provided me with a lot of clarity on what I want out of a scientific career. 

None of my immediate family work in science or engineering, so it’s been illuminating for me to see what it’s like for real scientists with home lives and hobbies to work in industry. Turns out they are more funny and lively than most movies make them out to be. It’s also been an excellent environment to test my engineering skills and learn some new techniques.

In addition to the new scientific knowledge I’ve expanded my cultural and historical knowledge during my travels. Recently I’ve went Prague which was visually stunning, culturally distinct, and historically fascinating. I also attended the summer festival here in Leuven and Ghent, another Belgian city, with coworkers and the rest of the IRES crew. I look forward to taking in even more of Belgium with the precious little time remaining.

Me and Elmer from a hill overlooking Prague