Module 3 Was Magical
I didn't end up going into Mod3 thinking I would like it. A lot of it sounded like we'd just be watching someone else do the work while we tried to understand the theory, and I'd considered it oddly short relative to the other modules. But the theory ended up being great, and the hands-on parts we got to do were still pretty good. Also watching someone operate an electron microscope is neat even if you can't do it yourself.
What's really nice about the theory is the novelty, it pushes the notion of what it means to do biological engineering. I don't know how people come up with ideas like using phage as a scaffold for battery nanomaterials, but I'd really like to hear more about ideas that meld biological engineering and materials science. This kind of intersection between disciplines is what originally got me interested in computational BE. I do wish we had more time to experiment with the phage engineering though, e.g. changing capsid proteins to see how it affects biomineralization and capacity.
Getting to see someone assemble a coin-cell battery and use an electron microscope was surreal. I didn't even know TEMs had a fluorescent viewing screen, I just assumed you had to view it on a computer screen only. It was a lot more sensitive to vibrations than I thought it would be, even people talking in the room could cause noise in the image. I didn't think we'd get to use an argon chamber either, those things give you a lot more freedom of movement than you'd expect.
Rolling out our own battery was fun, even if we had some logistical issues with using the balance in the TR section. How often do you get to use a mortar and pestle and a rolling pin in a lab? It took a bit of work to get the right sheet thickness, but it made it all the most satisfying when you get your pressed battery and it's powerful enough to light up LEDs. Having a finished product to take home was also great, it reminds me of a Course 6 class I took that let students take home their FPGAs afterwards since they were getting replaced the next year (you could still run your project on them even now). Mementos like this are a nice way to commemorate a class.
- Sachin
What's really nice about the theory is the novelty, it pushes the notion of what it means to do biological engineering. I don't know how people come up with ideas like using phage as a scaffold for battery nanomaterials, but I'd really like to hear more about ideas that meld biological engineering and materials science. This kind of intersection between disciplines is what originally got me interested in computational BE. I do wish we had more time to experiment with the phage engineering though, e.g. changing capsid proteins to see how it affects biomineralization and capacity.
Getting to see someone assemble a coin-cell battery and use an electron microscope was surreal. I didn't even know TEMs had a fluorescent viewing screen, I just assumed you had to view it on a computer screen only. It was a lot more sensitive to vibrations than I thought it would be, even people talking in the room could cause noise in the image. I didn't think we'd get to use an argon chamber either, those things give you a lot more freedom of movement than you'd expect.
Rolling out our own battery was fun, even if we had some logistical issues with using the balance in the TR section. How often do you get to use a mortar and pestle and a rolling pin in a lab? It took a bit of work to get the right sheet thickness, but it made it all the most satisfying when you get your pressed battery and it's powerful enough to light up LEDs. Having a finished product to take home was also great, it reminds me of a Course 6 class I took that let students take home their FPGAs afterwards since they were getting replaced the next year (you could still run your project on them even now). Mementos like this are a nice way to commemorate a class.
- Sachin
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