Hi Rachel,

It's so great to meet you!

Access to technology and ethics are such an important and critical point you raised, particularly when looking at assistive technologies and something that will come up time and time again throughout your studies in science and engineering. As such, the responsibility of professional biomedical engineers is two-fold;

(1) Through innovation it allows disabled and disadvantaged individuals to; say exactly what they want independently and say it as fast and as freely as they want. This captures the central tenet of many of your projects, “nothing for us without us.”

However, more importantly, the gap between achieving optimised communication and continued advances in technology should not be closed by impressions of what is an effective innovation, but by

(2) using quantitative data or evidence to guide clinical decision making about design interventions. Essentially, applying informed theory and practice, and application of technologies to safeguard and improve the quality of life (and access!) of people who benefit from the use of assistive technology often in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team.

It seems obvious but you would be surprised how often (2) is forgotten.

I'm interested, what kind of applications in biological settings are you interested in exploring?

Will definitely take a book recommendation if you have one (or two) :) !

Best of luck,

Josh

Hi Josh!

So sorry for the late reply.. I think the moral and ethical issues of a range of topics have always been something I’ve been keen to discuss. While there appears to be a number of possible solutions to problems, we always seem to forget about the logistics and ethicalities of them. Recently, my school science class have been engaging in discussion regarding genetic cloning. One main debate that arose was whether the potential risks of cloning outweigh the benefits (e.g. preventing the extinction of a species, cloning DNA from a crime scene for amplification and easier identification, producing offspring from infertile organisms).

The main thing lacking from the debate was our lack of knowledge toward the physiological and psychological issues of genetic cloning. Clearly the risks associated were significant enough for human cloning to be banned, but without a clear display of evidence and data, we cannot credibly argue for either side. Then again, the principle argument against cloning we saw was less due to the health risks and more-so because it was “against the natural order of the world”.

Either way, I think it is definitely important for us to consider both qualitative and quantitative data when making decisions that will impact actual people. It is not enough to rely on statistics, as the basis of biotechnology is around living, breathing organisms. However, qualitative data is similarly not enough to determine the effectiveness of a proposed solution. Henceforth, biotechnology is most definitely an incredibly delicate topic and not as simple as coming up with a solution but one that is beneficial to all who are involved.

I have always enjoyed biology and engineering, but as very separate topics. However, having discovered biotechnology, I’m open to learn about all applications that are being proposed. During the biotech competition, my team and I took a look at the use of artificial blood vessels to help those suffering with cardiovascular disease. I got to understand the intricacies of the development process and had to determine the best combination of materials to ensure the health and safety of the person. I’m super excited to attend the symposium and hope to gain a wider understanding of all the ways technology can be incorporated into solving health issues!

For book recommendations- personally, I love a dystopian novel, so the Maze Runner, Legend, The Giver and Hunger Games (super excited for the new movie) series are all books I love. I also have an unhealthy obsession with fixating over fantasy worlds and my latest obsession is 100% the Shadow and Bone/Six of Crows series. My ultimate 2022 book recommendation, however, would be “If We Were Villains” by M.L. Rio. I was thinking about the novel for months after finishing it!

That was way more than 2 recommendations but if anyone wants to discuss books with me, please do !!

Hope to see you all at the symposium :)

Rachel

Hi Jayden,

It's great to meet you! You're right that is a very interesting area of research. I shared similar thoughts with Aditi. Is this something you're interesting in developing as part of your project for the challenge? I'd been keen to learn more.

I love reading novels too. Do you have any recommendations?

Good luck with your project!

Yes, Aditi and I are both working on an imaging platform for cardiovascular diseases as our project for this challenge. I generally read mystery/thriller novels and I recommend "One of us is lying" by Karen McManus. Hope you enjoy the book!

Hi Aditi,

That's very interesting! I would be interested if you could expand on this more? I completely agree that there is so much opportunity when you marry these two fields!

Think about improvements in virtual reality now and how that could influence the way we study, trial, observe, and experiment with micro- and macro-biological states. Could this be used as an educational tool, a way to model the pathological environment, or a high-throughput screening process to better discover effective pharmaceuticals? All food for thought...

That's so cool. I wish I could bake! What things do you enjoy baking?

Good luck with your project for the rest of the challenge 🙂

Hi Aarzu, that's super! Neurosciences are endlessly fascinating - it was one of my favourite (and tricky) subjects at university.

It's great to know that you're already interested in writing scientific reports. That will make you very successful in a science, engineering or medical related degree (typically you will find you will have to write a big report for most science subject you do). Don't worry though, lecturers and professors will walk you through very slowly and give you all the tools you need! By doing this challenge you should have a great head start to developing skills in this area.

You'll find even students in their 4th and 5th year at university still struggle to write a proper report so the fact you are taking charge of your education now and showing such prudence is very impressive.

Good luck for the rest of the challenge!

Thank you!

Hi Guinevere,

You're absolutely right! You'll find throughout university how a groups diverse skills and experiences can translate to completely new and novel ideas.

One of the most important thing I learnt at university is how useful teamwork skills are. Like this challenge, if you work on ways to build and stretch your ability to collaborate effectively (for e.g. through the activities you can find under the Files section 😉), this will pay dividends and supercharge you into tertiary education!

Looking forward to seeing what solution you come up with for your project!

Hi Soumya, thanks for sharing! Looking forward to seeing what your group creates.