This summer, a group of our science-minded high school students had the unique opportunity to engage in internships in collaboration with professors and graduate students of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University.

The students dedicated four weeks to this experience, working closely with professors and graduate students in Mahidol’s biomedical engineering research labs. The topics varied from cardiology to brain computer imaging to artificial organs!

Wells would like to extend its gratitude to Professor Norased Nasongkla and the Biomedical Engineering Department to opening its doors to our students, and giving them invaluable, hands-on experiences and inspiration this summer.

Below are student reflections detailing their internship experiences:

Sasha, Class of 2020:

“I ended up interning in 2 different labs: Biopolymers and Nanoengineering for Drug Delivery and Molecular Imaging (BioNEDD), and the Center for Biomedical and Robotics Technology (BART). For the BioNEDD lab, we were introduced to different methods of drug delivery, and how there were different parts to the entire procedure. The carrier (niosome) for the drug had to be prepared beforehand. We used the thin film hydration method. We also had to calculate the efficiency of the drug once it was delivered into the cell. We learned about cell culturing and the extraction process. It was a lot to take in over the course of two weeks, but it was much easier to understand when we could apply this knowledge into practical, laboratory work.

At the BART lab, we learned about Arduino, which is a coding platform for microcontrollers and microprocessors. We learned how to connect motors, sensors, and LED lights together, coding it so they work together as one robot. We put our new mini robot into a teddy bear so that the bear could move its arms if you wave your hand in front of the sensor. The most challenging part was getting the sensor to work, as you had to cut a small hole in the front of the bear. Apart from what I learned during the labs, I also got to push myself out of my comfort zone, like working with new people from different age levels, both older and younger. This was a new experience for me, and overall I enjoyed it.”

Ern, Class of 2020:

“I participated in the program at the BioSENS lab with my partner, Om. We worked on a project called “Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles”, in which we learned to produce gold and ways that we can detect nanoparticles. We also got to use a machine called “UV Vis Spectrophotometer”, which I’ve only heard of in class, but never got to use it or see it. It was cool to see the advanced technologies that are used to carry out in depth research in action. In addition, we carried out research on how to synthesize the nanoparticles so that they don’t vary in shape and size as much after finishing the first experiment. As a result, we found a chemical called EDA that reduces the variation of sizes and shapes of gold nanoparticles. 

To sum up my experience at this internship, it was an eye-opening journey and I am thankful that I did not pass up this experience because I got to meet a lot of intelligent and friendly people, not to mention gain so much knowledge about this area of study. This summer has been meaningful and knowledgeable for me.”

Nimaan, Class of 2022:

“My partner and I were placed on the BART lab. During the internship we had learnt how upcoming technology can be used during operations in order to help the doctors save the patient’s life. We were them introduced to one of the software which can be used, Arduino. The professor had taught us the basics of it an how to use the software an ocde a robot. We were then given a project, we had to make a robot and put it into a teddy bear in order to move the bear’s body in a certain motion.

The things learnt in regard to this internship were way more difficult than our school studies, because it was at university level. After the first day, I adapted and  learnt new things from all of them. After this internship I noticed that I had more knowledge into the tools used in labs and about robotics and how it is used in helping doctors. Overall, this was a great experience and it helped me realize whether I want to pursue a career in genetic engineering or not. I’m also really looking forward to more opportunities like this in the future and would like to thank Wells and especially the science department for making this internship possible.”

Om, Class of 2022:

“When Wells presented an opportunity to work at Mahidol University as a summer intern, I decided to take it as I have always had a passion for this kind of stuff. I spent four weeks at Mahidol in total, two of those weeks I spent in the BioSensor Lab and the other two weeks in the Brain Computer Interface Lab. I always had great support from the other people in the labs and they were always happy to answer questions. This internship didn’t just change me academically it also made me very open-minded because I got to meet a lot of new people. 

In my BioSensor Lab, me and my lab partner, Ern, worked on a project called the “Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles.” Gold Nanoparticles or AuNPs are being used by scientists all around the globe because of its vast number of applications such as: cancer therapy, radiofrequency therapy, angiogenesis therapy, antibacterial therapy and drug vectorization. In the end, we successfully made the gold nanoparticles and we tested it on a “lab on a chip.” In my BCI Lab, me and my lab partners, Nicky and Nacky, studied about the various parts of the brain and their functions. We also did some experiments on the EEG and ECG machines in the lab and read a bunch of research papers. Our main project was to find a disease which is quite common and cure it by using one of the machines in the lab. I chose the disease “congenital amputation” which is basically, someone who has a missing limb and I had to explain how to cure this by using a prosthetic arm. In conclusion, I had a lot of fun doing this internship and I gained a lot of valuable experience in my time there.”

Uday, Class of 2022:

“Splendid is one of the few words that exist, to describe my experience in the Mahidol Salaya campus. I learnt numerous amounts of skills in the internship, but most importantly, the internship helped me appreciate the art of engineering as a whole, and made me look forward to my career in it. Along with helping my grow a spark in my career in engineering, it also gave me a unique life experience. I was assigned to the BART Lab (Biomedical and Robotics Technology), where me and my peers had built and coded a miniature robotic skeleton that was able to fit inside a teddy bear. 

One of the most important skills I took away from this internship was teamwork skills. This is because, whilst working in a team of 3, many conflicts rose up. Moreover, many of my peers disagreed with my methods and ideas, in completing the project. Likewise, I too disagreed with my peer’s methods and ideas. However, as time went by, we all came up with a mutual solution to the problem and we all finished the project together with satisfaction. The following problem greatly helped build my teamwork skills, a skill I believe will be very useful in the near future.”

Nicky, Class of 2022:

“We got to open our eyes and observe a day in the life of college students. Furthermore, we learned the format of a thesis, tasks or research accomplished daily by Mahidol students. Everyday was a fresh start and an opportunity to learn something new. We got  the chance to try to measure EEG and get to see the result. During the second week, we got to learn about research papers and tried the ECG machine. Mahidol students were capable, friendly and helpful.They even shared their experience at Mahidol university and gave information about the Biomedical Engineering Department at Mahidol University. In conclusion, this internship is a great opportunity to learn more about the Biomedical Engineering department. It has been memorable and one of the exceptional chances to explore Mahidol university, have fun with your friends and learn at the same time.”

Nacky, Class of 2022:

“I have learned many things over the course of my two week internship at Mahidol university. I was an intern for the Brain interface (BCI) lab. At the beginning, the days and activities showed me the daily life of Mahidol Biomedical engineering students. It showed me a different side to what we have seen in highschool. For instance, the ways that university students have their projects, assignments, and the way they write their thesis. I like how they provide us some quality time to be able to learn the basics of BCI and parts of brain before getting into the course and experiments.

We also got to learn EMG and many other machines in the lab.It was exciting to see.We even got to try the EEG cap and look at the results of our EEG. During the second week,  we read research papers and learned how to make presentations, and learned about ECG. We had to make our own presentations and present in front of the students in the lab. Mahidol students were nice and friendly. They encouraged me to learn and participate in activities. They even provided us information about their university and the biomedical program in terms of what we learn in each year. .Overall, it has been  a great experience to learn new information that can be applied both in and outside of school.”

The post Mahidol Biomedical Engineering Internships 2019 first appeared on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.

The post Mahidol Biomedical Engineering Internships 2019 appeared first on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.

This summer, some of of our science-minded high school students had the unique opportunity to engage in internships in collaboration with professors and graduate students of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University.

The students dedicated several weeks to this experience, working closely with professors and graduate students in research labs. The topics varied from cardiology to brain computer imaging to artificial organs!

Wells would like to extend its gratitude to Professor Norased Nasongkla and the Biomedical Engineering Department to opening its doors to our students, and giving them invaluable, hands-on experiences and inspiration this summer.

Below are some student reflections detailing their internship experiences:

Kavishi Sheth

Class of 2019

The opportunity to work at the biomedical department of Mahidol University of Bangkok for a summer sparked my knowledge about the medical engineering side of the sciences. This opportunity not only helped me gain more knowledge in the area of biomedical engineering, but also gave me a different and unique life experience. I spent 4 weeks as an intern at the Mahidol University Biomedical department Salaya branch. I was assigned to work at the cardiology department with a colleague, Shradha. My supervisor was Dr. Phornphop Naiyanetr, who was a great guide throughout the internship.  At the biomedical department, I researched about the engineering part of the cardiology lab. To give an overview, I learnt about various electrical instruments, electrical systems, simple circuit, gain, the Heart and its functioning, General overview of ECG and how it works, Filter Circuits, and the ECG circuits.

Through this internship, I learnt about various electrical instruments such as amplifiers, resistors, capacitors, breadboard, oscilloscope, power supply and electrodes. The content of the information was high level information, but it was really fun to learn about. Further, I learnt about the Electrical systems and created a simple circuit, as well as filter circuits. I already had some information about the heart and its functioning due to having taken IGCSE biology, but through this researching and interacting with the ECG machine, I gained a deeper understanding about how the signals of the heart maintain the functioning of the heart. Shradha and I actually made an ECG circuit using different electrical appliances. Apart from the Cardiology department  I also visited and learned from the Brain-Computer Imaging (BCI) and Biomedical and Robotics Technology (BART) labs.

To conclude, I would like to say that I had a fantastic experience and I feel really fortunate to have this experience to work in the biomedical department of Mahidol University, especially during this particular time of life, as I would have to choose my undergraduate major now, so having this experience really helps me in choosing my major. I’d recommend it to any high school student interested in biomedical engineering and has a exploring spirit to come experience this exciting and insightful experience.

I would like to thank my teacher Ms. Katina and Prof. Norased Nasongkla to give me a wonderful opportunity to work in the biomedical department of Mahidol University. I would like to thank Prof. Norased Nasongkla to come to our school and give us a presentation about the University, which led me to show interest in the internship. I would also like to thank my supervisor Dr. Phornphop Naiyanetr who taught me about various aspects of the cardiology department and guided me throughout the Internship project.

Shradha Silori

Class of 2021

The experience of working in Mahidol University as an intern was fascinating. I was introduced to this opportunity last academic year through our biology teacher. The professor and students from Mahidol University came to visit Wells to share about the programme they offer at their campus. I interned for a total of 3 weeks starting from 19th June to 13th July. I worked on the Artificial Organ lab (AO lab), which was a part of the biomedical engineering department under the supervision of Professor Phornphop Naiyanetr. The objective of the artificial organ lab is to make devices that alternate natural organs to restore a specific part or function of that organ. Some of the current research areas that the master students are working on are blood pump, artificial heart, ventricular assist device and heart valve. I was working with another student from Wells, Kavishi, who is currently a senior. With the help of her prior knowledge of the certain topics we were exploring during the internship, I understood my work easily.

During the experience, we had to learn a lot of Physics concepts in order to understand the engineering perspective of our work. During the first week, we were introduced to the topic of Electrocardiogram, or ECG. It is a machine which computes the electrical activity in your heart to show whether it is functioning normally. An ECG collects data by recording the heart’s pattern and activity on a screen. We were asked to make a circuit which could assist in running the machine. We also got the opportunity to meet Dr. Riaz Akhtar, a professor from Liverpool University, United Kingdom.  He presented the programme from the University of Liverpool and talked about the project he was working on with his Phd students which was to understand how the nano- and micro-scale properties of biological tissues alter with ageing and disease. Over the course of this internship, we also presented topics relating to the ECG. By the end of the 3 weeks, we completed our ECG circuit and also made a presentation on what we learnt over this course of time. Even though I had to travel for about 2 hours one way, it was all worth it.

Overall, the experience was one to remember, considering the new knowledge we gained, not only in terms of studies but also in terms of interacting with elders and peers. It was indeed inspiring seeing the students work hard to pursue their passions and dreams at the university and I hope to do the same in my near future. At the end, I shall remain thankful to the entire team of organizers, Mahidol University, żŰżŰ´«Ă˝, students, teachers, and professors for finding me capable of being a part of this internship.

Muskan Manoj Gurbuxani

Class of 2021

The internship that took place over the 2018 summer break, was a 4 week experience that took place in Mahidol University Salaya. This was the first internship I participated in, and it was a great one. A total of 9 students attended this internship from żŰżŰ´«Ă˝. Everyone was put into groups of 2-3 and we were given choices on what we wanted to work on. My partner and I chose biomedical engineering. Our job was to remake a model of a wireless car. During the first week, we made the plans and we decided on separating the work. During the second week we started making the model by using the guide book and looking at the made model. During the last week, we started coding, using multiple different apps like Fritzing. Our final result was a model that could move by the app’s orders and it could go both forward and backward.

Throughout this whole process, I learnt how a machine functions and also I gained a better knowledge of coding. One important thing I learnt was teamwork, through these few weeks, I met a bunch of new people, everyday we were learning with a new person, either a PhD student, or a intern. Some of the challenges I faced were language and level of difficulty. It was hard to communicate with some people due to language barriers. We used many people as translators and we also used google translate a few times. Another challenge I faced was the level of difficulty. The things learnt in regard to this internship were way more difficult than our school studies, because it was university level. But I met so many new people and learnt new things from all of them. After this internship I noticed that I had more knowledge into the tools used in labs and I have a good amount of knowledge on biomedical lab safety rules and also how to use these tools. Overall, this was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had in my entire life. I’m really looking forward to more opportunities like this from multiple different universities. Thank You Wells.

Poorvi Daga

Class of 2021

It was an amazing experience being an intern in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Mahidol University for 3 weeks. The professors and students from Mahidol University came to visit Wells and talked about their department. Also, they shared their experience working in different labs. This internship made me experience different things like building robots as I was an intern in Center for Biomedical and Robotics Technology (BART) lab. I was being supervised under Professor Songpol Ongwattanakul along with my friend Muskan. We learned about Arduino, motors, different techniques including soldering, and overall we gained a lot knowledge. Lastly, I am really thankful to the professors, teachers, organizers, and both Mahidol University and żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ for finding me capable of this internship.

The post Mahidol Biomedical Engineering Internships 2018 first appeared on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.

The post Mahidol Biomedical Engineering Internships 2018 appeared first on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.