Engineering Lecture: Designer Biomaterials

Today, I went to the lecture by Dr. Anita Shukla of Brown University, who is starting her biomedical engineering lab there. I really enjoyed the lecture, especially as a student who is interested in the biological sciences (although I'm not a science major). During her fascinating lecture, Dr. Shukla talked about her various projects involving drug delivery for traumatic injuries, controlling the delivery of antibiotics, pain relievers, and hemostatic dressings. It was really interesting to hear about her thought processes for the projects - the different obstacles she had to consider when designing the bandages, such as drug-resistant bacterias, assembly techniques, and the positive and negative aspects of each design. On the simplest level, Dr. Shukla's lecture connected to our class because we too have to design things (although not at the cellular level) and consider and critique various aspects of our designs.