Viruses! Batteries! Nrf2 A very expensive microscope!

I think I speak for the majority of BE students and students in general when I say that hearing Professor Belcher's lecture about virus-based batteries was absolutely mind-blowing. I think throughout my entire time at MIT, it took learning that crazy research like this was happening in BE for me to get a better sense of what BE actually is: it's using biology and natural processes and engineering them to solve a problem. It was completely refreshing to hear about an application of biology that didn't exactly relate to healthcare, and since then I've really started thinking about biology and biological engineering in a different light.

I'd say one of my favorite parts of the module was learning about using a TEM. Just being in the same room as that monster of a device was pretty intimidating, but I'm so glad I got the opportunity to at least see how it's operated and begin to understand a different type of microscopy that's probably difficult to get exposure to, especially as an undergrad.

My biggest takeaway from the research proposal was getting exposure to this entire ideation process and understanding just how difficult it is to conceive a completely original idea and develop a feasible set of steps to actually implement it. Julia and I struggled a lot in figuring out what topic to settle on because we realized (upon countless meetings with the BE communications lab) that we were going about it all backwards. It's important to find a potential problem or unresolved experiment first, instead of finding a disease or a study and trying to find loopholes in it, and I think learning that lesson through countless of aimless hours of Googling will be extremely helpful in the future (maybe grad school!)

This class has in general completely affirmed my decision to pursue BE; I don't think I really understood what BE was until I was able to see its context in a lab environment. It's true that this class is challenging and time consuming, but it has been the most rewarding class I've taken thus far at MIT by a long shot. I feel so much more confident going into research or UROP positions because I know how to critically assess a paper, give a technical presentation, and analyze data / perform statistical analysis, and I don't think I realized how much I've grown as a biological engineer until I took the time to reflect. Looking forward to applying all the skills and lessons I've learned in the future, in school and beyond!


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