BE Confusion

Its a Saturday night and the BE final is on Monday: Yet I'm still confused as to what I am studying for.

I still have no idea what an engineer is. To me, BE means combining many different aspects of science to create devices that will help doctors keep people healthier and make the quality of life better. Specifically, using stem cells to create organs. But I was talking to a fellow BE freshman and to him, it meant something completely different.

Which is right? I guess neither. The definition must be abstract and individualized. Which leads me to my confused question: what will the final really be asking? If this course really means something different to everyone, how can we answer questions for the general?

AGHH so much confusion. Where do I start for this final?

Who knew it went so fast?

Its been a while since I posted, but I've been busy with my BE project and now, finals are coming up... Its stressful, but worth it. One semester if almost up!

What Has Been Going On... Everything but BE

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be writing here because individually, I haven't been working on anything. Everything has been a group project. That's where I've been putting my time and energy.

I'm having mixed feeling about the cold. I loved seeing it snow (first time!) and I don't mind the cold if I'm layered correctly, but I'm not such a fan of being outside when it snows. The snow lands on your face and melts, freezing your face and any other exposed body surface. I think I like warm areas better, but since I chose this school, I'm gonna have to get used to cold winters.

I have started studying for finals (which are in a week! aghhh) Its A LOT of information. I'm sorta surprised that i learned all this in only one semester. But now i have to just sit down and do all the problems that I have been assigned. that's the problem. I haven't been doing that. So I'm making a finals resolution: Stop procrastinating and do your work! Now, if only I could follow that.

No Monkey Business for Us

We picked our idea, wrote a spec sheet, made a PowerPoint image of it and now are finalizing all the other tidbits of our design. We still have to create a poster and iron out all the discrepancies in our design. I really like working with my group. I feel like everyone contributes equally, using our individual talents for the better of the group. We all get along and have fun when we meet up to discuss the project.
I'm still a little confused what we need at the end besides a poster, but hopefully when I meet with team monkey tomorrow, we'll give out the final parts.

GO TEAM MONKEY!

Idea 8: Is this the magic number?

I love working with my group, but we change our ideas so often we might as well be kindergartners! But its fun and our idea now seems the most solid we've had yet. Hope this one works out better than the other 7 ideas. may then rest in peace.

PCA-Oral Version

I've been working with my group on this new BE100 project, and so far, we've been having a good time hanging out and getting some work done. But its somewhat of a challenge to get all the ideas into one solid machine.
One of the biggest issues we are having is controlling safety, which has caused us to scrap a few ideas already. After all, its not so safe to be dispensing painkillers with no safety features.
I hope we can make this work out ok!

Was it really around that long ago?

I've read countless articles on the receptor alphaIIbBeta3 and am really surprised how early on it was discovered. Its really fascinating to find out how advanced they were in science 100 years ago. I tend to forget that when I see their wardrobe and vernacular. I tend to think that anything microscopic must be a recent finding, within the last 20 years. But that is wrong. And even if it is wrong, it is still hard to grasp. This report has opened my eyes a little more to the abilities of scientists +1oo years ago.

Blood Clotting-A Dual Process

In the past week I have been busy reading more sources and trying to piece together exactly what goes on in the process from when you get an injury to when your blood forms a clot. I made a mistake when I did the initial research on this topic; I didn't take into account all the processes that create a clot.

Initially, I was under the impression that there was a chemical response that activated the platelets to form a platelet clot. I thought this platelet clot was a blood clot and fibrinogen was the activator and the molecule that formed the web like structure of the clot holding the platelets together. But that is only half the story.

On the other side you have the extrinsic pathway. This is what makes the fibrinogen into the insoluble fibers that form the clot. The extrinsic pathway is a series of activations where the produce of one reaction is the catalyst for the next activation. The steps in this activation pathway are knows as factors. The final factor is thrombin. Thrombin has a dual purpose in blood clotting. First, it is a negative feedback loop that causes the intrinsic pathway to repeat itself. It also is the activator for fibrinogen to form in fibrin monomers which in turn are activated to form into insoluble fibrin polymers, which trap blood cells into forming the red clot.

Both the red clot and the white clot combine to form a blood clot. Each process does half of the clotting.

My original question of : What would happen if you did something to the platelet receptor alphaIIbBeta3 still stands. You cant form a blood clot without both parts of the clotting process in check. The platelet white clot is the first to attach to the vascular injury and without it, the red clot cant do anything.

I can still focus on the platelet receptors, but it was important to understand the whole clotting process before I start. One does not exist without the other.

Blood Clots: Finding Sources and The Basic Overview

I never realized the plethora of information available out there on the internet on any topic. When I typed in "blood clots" into Google scholar, so much came up, I had to start reading the overviews just to figure out the specific topic I wanted to focus on. Reading all the papers was quite a challenge because the jargon used is so topic-specific that you have to look up almost all the words in the first few papers just to get a slight idea of what its talking about. It's not English, its scientific English, 500% harder to decipher than Shakespearean English!

I finally settled on platelet receptors and their role in blood clot formation. (I hope this follows through because the thought of changing my topic now is daunting)

Sources:
Integrins: Dynamic Scaffolds for Adhesion and Signaling In Platelets

The Contribution of the Three Hypothesized Integrin-Binding Sited In Fibrinogen to Platelet-Mediated Clot Retraction

GPIIb-IIIa: The Responsive Integrin

Structural basis For Allostery In Integrins And Binding To Fibrinogen-Mimetic Therapeutics

Platelet Physiology and Thrombosis

Platelet Receptors and Signaling In the dynamics of Thrombus Formation

Information:
After reading these sources, I have figured out the basic process of blood clotting through alphaIIbbeta3 receptors. A receptor is activated by an activator (ligand) and the receptor's morphology changes from being bent (inactive) to straight up (active). In its active form, a fibrinogen molecule can bind to the receptors on the platelets. Throbin, a protein in the blood that helps with thrombus formation, causes the fibrinogen to form insoluble fibrin fibers. Theses fibers are the web-like structure of the clot and hold the platelets, cells and other clotting factors in place so the clot can form.

I'm still researching how the integrin knows to activate the platelet. So far, I understand that when there is vascular injury, there is a chemical response, which triggers the integrins. What that chemical response and how that is triggered, I don't know yet.

Lets hope I can figure out the whole process!!

Blood Clots-A Research Question

When given this assignment last week, my mind immediately jumped to blood clots. This past summer I was doing some research in a vascular and hematology lab, and one of the projects was looking at platelet receptors to determine if there was a possibility of stopping blood clots . Since I left the lab, that idea has consistently been on my mind. I've wanted to do more research about what is available now to stop blood clots and what types of mutations are available, but have been to lazy and busy to do it. Now, I can.

Initial Research: Blood cells (platelets) are required to repair a damaged blood vessel. They adhere to the site of vascular injury and connect to each other, forming a clot. While this action of platelet clotting is important for maintenance of our bodies, if a clot forms in the wrong location at the wrong time (i.e. in a heart artery) a heart attack or a stroke could occur. The idea is to stop blood clots from being created.

What is a blood clot? "Blood clotting, or coagulation, is an important process that prevents excessive bleeding when a blood vessel is injured." (http://www.bloodthevitalconnection.org/for-patients/blood-clots/Default.aspx.aspx) On a general level, the blood cells come together and attach to one another, creating a thrombus. At a closer level, it becomes evident that receptors on the platelet membrane become activated in the presence of fibrinogen and bind to the soluble glycoprotien, creating a web-like structure. This thrombus becomes so close together that it forms a wall like structure, not allowing anything to pass in or out of the blood vessel. It keeps the temperature, concentrations and materials of the blood vessel in the body. A scab can form on the outer layer of skin from the dried blood of the injury. This is another layer of protection.

However you cant just stop blood clots from being created because they are also beneficial. So whatever action you do to stop them form forming must have an opposite counter action to allow the platelets to aggregate. This is where the tricky part comes in.

While doing some reading, I came across the idea of blood thinners as a cure. There are many varieties out there (a small list-http://stroke.about.com/od/caregiverresources/a/blood_thinners.htm) and they generally work along the idea that thinning your blood keeps the platelets further from each other so that they don't clot. Before you go into major surgery, you stop taking the blood thinner so that you can clot normally and heal your injury. There are side effects to blood thinners, such as kidney issues, stomach ulcers and breathing issues, to make a few. So blood thinners are not the answer for everyone.

What I would now like to do is investigate another way of stopping platelet aggregation. Is there a machine? Is there another internal method?

Abstract Thinking 1: The Search For a Structure

As engineers, we must learn to think in the abstract. Dr. Bogen told us in class that “engineers control the physical world through abstractions.” This is a nice concept, but somewhat hard to implement into our daily lives. I’m not the best abstract thinker. In fact, for any given abstract term, I try to turn it into a physical manifestation. For instance, with feelings, I associate a reaction or an example of the feeling for what it really is. I wouldn’t know how to describe the actual feeling without using these examples. But as an engineer, I guess I will just have to learn how.
As an assignment to learn how to figure out this abstract concept, we were told to find a structure on campus and describe it in three lengths. What? What does that mean? That’s what I’ve spent the last week trying to decipher.
I wanted my structure to be different than everyone else’s. It’s sort of boring to have the same thing as someone else. So I first tried to think out of the box. There are two aspects to this type of thinking. It could either be totally obscure that no one else would think of it, or it has to be totally normal, right in front of your eyes that everyone else would just glance right by. I attempted the first type because that is ultimately the cooler and more interesting type. But I was unsuccessful with that. I could think of strange structures, but measuring it in three lengths was a challenge. So I switched to the second type of out of the box thinking. I sat down on a bench in the quad outside my dorm and looked at everything in front of me.
I first noticed a tree. That’s not a structure. Then I saw the wall of the building itself. As easy as a building may be, I didn’t think it would be a challenge to describe in three lengths, hence no real expansion of abstract thinking. So I continued to look. After focusing on a few other structures and throwing them out for various reasons, I focused on a bike rack. Its structure is so simple, yet so hard to describe and measure. So I have finally found my structure: I will be using a bike rack.
Now on to measurements. Are the three lengths supposed to be in cm, area and volume? Or is it a structural measurement? Or a functional measurement? A combination of all three? So confusing.
Wish me luck, because I’m a little lost about how to go about my measurements and descriptions.

Technology and Cost: An Inverse Relationship

When one goes up, the other goes down. A rise in technology almost always brings about a fall in cost. With new materials and processes constantly being developed by scientists, the costs of old methods decrease exponentially. A computer chip used to cost a fortune, but now they can be developed for as little as a cent. With the invention of cheaper and more efficient medicines and methods for administering healthcare, the cost of healthcare will be reduced.

List of ways to reduce healthcare using technology:*
Medications
1.Using Solid State Chemistry to produce medications in large quantities in a safe, contained way
2.Using Soil to produce Antibodies as opposed to bacteria. The amount available is great; it just has to be researched.
3.Using synthetic materials in medications that are cheaper to produce
Patient-Doctor Relationship
4.Computerized surgery would decrease the cost of surgery (no doctor fees, only technician fees.)
5.Computerized, monitoring chips that could check your vital information, decreasing the time of doctor-patient interactions.
Administering Medications
6.Higher accuracy in treatments would decrease the amount of treatment needed
7.Use solid state chemistry crystals to administer medications in the right proportions at the right times
8.Administering drugs through pills as opposed to needles, which need a nurse to inject
9.Higher accuracy in treatments would decrease the amount of treatment needed, hence save money.
Overall Cheaper Practices
10.Using the human body as a store house for personal medications (i.e. causing your body to create the medications you need for your disease.)
11.Earlier detection methods (using blood, scent or DNA as a method of detection.)

*All these methods if decreasing healthcare costs would be expensive to implement and to initially produce, but overall, would decrease healthcare costs.

On My Own, Here I Go...

My transformation from high school to UPenn has been somewhat gradual since I took a year off in between to study in Israel. I don’t have the shock factor of “OMG I am not living at home anymore and I am on my own” because last year, I was away for 10 months, much longer than any amount of consecutive time I’ll be at UPenn without going home. However it has been challenging to adjust to the class work and the classes themselves. Teachers move quickly and expect you to follow at a rapid pace. Coming from a high school where classes generally moved slower and were smaller, it has taken me a few days to get the hang of it. And I’m not sure I am 100% used to 75 people classes yet. (In high school, class size varied from 4-12 kids).
The one thing that I love about college above all else in regards to classes is the topics taught. In high school, you were required to take an English, a history, a math, a language and a science every day, among other things. But here, I only take classes that interest me (or are pre-requisites for classes that interest me) so I’m not bored.

Swine Flu and the Earth Shattering Question it Raises

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) “2009 H1N1 (referred to as “swine flu” early on) is a new influenza virus causing illness in people. This new virus was first detected in people in the United States in April 2009. This virus is spreading from person-to-person worldwide, probably in much the same way that regular seasonal influenza viruses spread. On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO)[3] signaled that a pandemic of 2009 H1N1 flu was underway.” [1]

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)[2] has recently approved a swine flu vaccine and the earth shattering question arises: Should I get the shot?

To answer this question, I did some research about the vaccine itself and the flu in general. The majority of people who die from swine flu are at high risk, meaning they have chronic medical issues.[1] I do not fall into this category. I am also not under 5 months, I am over 18 and I am not pregnant, making my risk factor much less.[1] All this points to the fact that I should not get the vaccine since it seems to be a waste of a shot.

However, the fact that I am part of a community seems to outweigh all the negative cons. As part of a community, immunizing me keeps the community healthier and on the flipside, being part of a community makes me more susceptible to the disease. So with this logic, I should get the vaccine. I may not be part of a high risk group, the my presence at UPenn places me in a high density population.[3]

The final step to consider is the risks of the vaccine itself. The H1N1 strain mutates rapidly and the vaccine they have created may not be effective against the new strain. If this is the case, there is no point in taking the vaccine, since it will be ineffective. Also, while the preliminary clinical trials say that the side effects are the same as those for the seasonal flu shot (fever, soreness, etc.)[2] there are no long term effect trials available.

Taking into account all these issues, I would not run out and get the shot at this moment. However, should the virus become more widespread at UPenn, I would not hesitate to get vaccinated.

A second question arises as to who should receive the vaccine if a limited amount of vaccine is available. The CDC reported that the vaccine should be given to “pregnant women, people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age, health care and emergency medical services personnel with direct patient contact, children 6 months through 4 years of age, and children 5 through 18 years of age who have chronic medical conditions” should there be a shortage.[1] The vaccine should be given to those at risk, for example, chronic illness patients, young children, and pregnant women.[3] By administering the shot directly to these groups of people, it directly saves lives. If you give it to healthy people, you may stop the spreading of the virus, but you never know if it was effective in stopping overall mortality.


References:
1. Center for Disease Control www.cdc.gov
2. Food and Drug Administration www.fda.gov
3. World Health Organization www.who.int/en

The Ultimate Package: Pain Relief and Healing

I read an article titled "Development of an ibuprofen releasing biodegradable PLA/PGA electrospum scaffold for tissue regeneration." (Canton I, McKean R, Charnley M, Blackwood KA, Fiorica C, Ryan AJ, Macneil S. Aug 2009) The scientists in England and Italy have done amazing research in the field of injury and pain relief. They have taken PLGA scaffolds and infused them with ibuprofen and watched the release under certain conditions. They also utilized these scaffolds to heal the skin wound while administering pain relief. Although I've been exposed to PLGA scaffolds, the idea that they could be used for timed release of drugs never occurred to me. Reading the article, I was excited for the scientists for coming up with such an exciting concept. This innovation can be utilized globally.

Stem Cells Are a Bioengineers Best Friends

If I could learn about anything, I would probably have to chose "utilizing stem cells to grow body parts." If you could extract umbilical stem cells when a baby is born, freeze and store them until needed, and then use them as the starting blocks for tissue growth and organ formation, then all the artificial organs could be replaced with biological copies. It would also discontinue organ transplantation from other sources. I would love to learn about the aspects of organ transplantation, stem cell growth and the medical ethics involved with these fields of study. Maybe when I leave Penn, I will be able to have a better understanding of tissue formation, organ growth and stem cell research. I may even be able to go into research dealing with these topics.

Can You Build A Body From Science?

One contribution that bioengineers have made over the past few decades is the artificial pacemaker. I wish I was part of the team that developed this machine. The heart is such a central part of the body and basically decides whether you are alive or dead. You can live with one kidney but you can’t live without a heart. So the invention of an artificial pacemaker allowed for longer and better lives for so many. The artificial lung is another device that has helped so many. Both devices allowed so many to live by creating artificial copies of much-needed body parts.

Image of Artificial Heart (Image taken from Science Head- http://www.scienceahead.com/entry/top-10-artificial-technologies-ready-to-create-a-real-human-being/)

Hold Up- New Classes, New Experiences

I’ve never blogged before, and never thought I would ever start one, much less on a topic like bioengineering. But for class, its part of our grade to complete a blog, so I will attempt to formulate something that can masquerade as a blog. (I guess I’ll have to learn what a blog is first)
I’ve always loved working in labs. It was during my summers working in various labs that I became familiar with bioengineering research and techniques. Because I loved working with tissue engineering and stem cell development, I chose to major in bioengineering. I didn’t realize it came with an added writing requirement (this blog) but I’m hoping it will help with my overall writing abilities.