This is my Research Position

Just like with many university programs, the Biomedical Engineering program has numerous research opportunities. During my second year, I became interested in one of my professor's research and started to discuss and talk about this research during his office hours. Dr. Mark Towler is an incredibly smart professor and he is very inspiring, cool, and funny. He offered me a research position job in the summer of 2017.

The Research

The research focused on making a one cement composition for a complete knee surgery on the femoral end. To simply put, the cement will act as a glue to stick the component and allows for one growth in and within the component to create a mimicked femur. The cement is composed of three components: Bioglass, Polyalkanoate acid, and water. Based on the ratio of these components, the characteristics of the cement varies. The two important characteristics that the research focused on was strength of the cement, its drying time, and its biocompatibility. Tensile stress and load was tested considering that knee is susceptible to twisting and takes in a lot of the weight of the human body. Drying time is important as per surgeon specification to minimize bacterial exposure during surgery. Finally, biocompatibility is probably the most important for the body to not reject the components and also to allow for bone growth.

Total Knee Replacement Surgery

And More....

Besides the research, I also had the opportunity to experience a lot more things with the research group. I was given an opportunity to observe the operating room and animal testing procedures. I also enjoyed the collaborative environment and open communication between projects. It was so easy to bring up our ideas and possible solutions to the problems that arise in other projects as well as talking about the problems that arise in my own research. It wasn't all work, we also dabbled into play. During the four months, the team went on group activities such as picnics, dinners, and archery tag.

Furthermore, and most importantly, I have gained a lot of friends and few mentors along the way. These amazing people have helped me make decision in my student career and provided me insight on life as a graduate student.

Dr. Towler's Research Team