BE 20.109(S19) Class blog

Wow. 109 is over. The moment 12 minutes were up on the timer (well, 12:20, but close enough) I let out a big breath I didn't realize I'd been holding all semester. 109 really was all over (well, apart from the mini-report but, again, close enough). Words can't possibly describe the experience I've had this semester. @Future 109-ers if you were scared off by the Mod 2 report and contemplated quitting science for good, I promise Mod 3 is a game changer. We walked into Prof Belcher's lecture one day, eyes drooping and brains broken post 14-page report, to play with lemons, oranges, and apples to make batteries (and also get to eat some breakfast!). We finished the module by proposing to build a viral detection system using a shrink gun (im not kidding). It was such a cool experience to play around with ground breaking research and come up with a proposal that sounded pretty?? fancy?? sciencey?? Also, for a moment there, I kinda forgot this wasn't a real pitch

This class is coming to an end, and although I'm excited for the summer, I also feel a little sad. 20.109 was a lot of fun. Coming into lab every week and running actual experiments was such a nice change from traditional lectures. I feel like I know so much more about research, working in a team, and the field of biological engineering in general. And science writing of course. Science speaking too. The research proposal was definitely a lot more fun than the journal club presentation. I've noticed that the more I do public speaking, the better I get at it. But the anxiety never goes away. Especially the 10 minutes up to the presentation when my heart starts pounding so hard I can barely hear anything else. Surprisingly, it ebbs away the second I start speaking. When I can get into the material and focus on delivering the message to the audience. The research proposal was definitely a lot easier than journal club. I felt like I knew what I was talking about a lot better

Not going to lie, this semester has been pretty rough as I'm just counting down the days until this summer. It's almost like a case of early onset senioritis, thankfully I only have a year left before freedom. That said, this was a pretty fun class to be a part of. There were a few assignments I did late, and I'm sure there are some I completely forgot about all together, but the modules as a whole were always interesting, especially the third one. At the start of the semester I thought that the writing assignments weren't going to be that bad and a lot of trouble was going to come of the speaking assignments. Surprisingly enough, it turned out be the opposite as I enjoyed the speaking ones far more than the writing, even if i wasn't always the most prepared. Overall I think we were able to do some pretty cool things in this class. Using the electron microscope, making a battery, and making cDNA were all really interesting experiences that I didn't think I'

One more mini-report and we will be done with all the assignments... Wow this semester has definitely been one of the  wildest semester. Never have I ever spent so much time on one class, a rough estimate of more than 15 hours a week. And I am simply amazed at the fact that I survived through all of this (I mean, if I can survive the mini-report). As the semester started, I was filled with excitement. As much as I like theoretical materials, I have to say that hands-on learning is my favorite. Indeed one of my favorite classes so far has been 20.309! Being one of the few juniors taking the class, I didn't know most of the students in the class. It was incredible how I got to know my classmates and especially my teammates as the semester proceeded. Going through all the hardships together, especially the Mod1 data summary, we bonded pretty well. The excitement slowly went down towards the end of Mod2. The material was definitely interesting, and from hindsight, I believe that the

The research proposal was a really great exercise in identifying a current problem and potential, feasible solution within a practical time period. While the other modules introduced and familiarized us to the actual lab work and etiquette needed to answer a research question, the goals, quality checks, and troubleshooting considerations weren't thought of by us. That being said, this research proposal was a more difficult assignment in many regards. Browsing through the discussion sections of numerous papers I was interested in gave me an idea of what a next step would be, but considering that I had no real expertise in any of those areas it was still difficult to identify what specific assays would be needed for those next steps. Because of this, I also had a hard time deciding on a general area for my topic. In this regard, listing 5 areas and then trying to blend them with my partners' helped us define a creative topic area that we could look more into. The timescale for

I never thought I would enjoy coming up with a research proposal so much. As soon as I saw that we would be graded on creativity, I was concerned that we wouldn't be able to come up with anything "novel" enough. Between classes and lab, I haven't had to scientifically think in the creative sense. Concepts and projects are usually presented to me processed and ready for assembly and/or consumption. How do I even start writing a recipe? I shouldn't have worried. My partner and I came up with so many grandiose and fun ideas, our bigger problem was figuring out how to make them feasible. It was after many rounds of talking to Noreen, talking to Prof. Belcher, talking to my former UROP mentor (since my UROP inspired the idea for my project), and reading up papers to that our idea reached its final form. The process was, much to my surprise, exhilarating and satisfying. By the end, I was quite emotionally invested in our research proposal. It felt like a project I wou

One expectation that was initially daunting to me after being admitted to MIT was innovation. It seemed that everyone’s perception was that you go to MIT to invent things, and that terrified me because I had no clue where anybody got ideas. If you simply google search biology problems, you get enormous and broad suggestions to cure cancer and stop climate change. Thus, being assigned to come up with a research proposal seemed extreme, but I absolutely believe that it served its purpose in pushing us through our comfort zones to the hard, yet fascinating, questions that give MIT the persona of “the place where people invent things.” Of course, carrying out the research is another beast, but previous experiences on campus have shown me that process. This was the first time I had been exposed to brainstorming and researching the literature in hopes to either bring technology to biology or explore biology with technology. It was difficult and fascinating and ultimately rewarding. I d

I know we've all said multiple times, but it really can't be said enough. We're finally hear, at the very end of 20.109. Research proposal presentations are over, last mini-report is in the process. And yet, it still feels like I submitted my very first M1 research article literally yesterday. Looking back at the semester, I really made it through 20.109 day by day. With the constant workflow  of homework assignments, quizzes and managing the ever escalating levels of stress, I rarely found time to step back and realize just how much we have accomplished. From learning new lab techniques, to building a strong with my lab partner and forever friend Tooba, to become a common visitor at the BE communications lab to  fan-girling over the one and only Angela Belcher, this semester has been filled with lots of growth and a whole lot of life.           20.109 has been one of the hardest things I've done so far. As I worked on reports and presentations late into the nigh

Honestly, since the beginning of last week, I knew that the research proposal was the only thing standing between me and a child end to the school year. It was on my mind from the beginning since Monday and wouldn't leave my mind until my presentation ended on Friday. However, the thing that made the entire process bearable was the fact that the information I was presenting was so interesting and happened to be something I was extremely passionate about too. Ovarian cancer is an important disease that is severely underrepresented in literature and coming from a family line whose women periodically have problems with ovaries, I was passionate about learning more about ovarian cancer and why it was so under studied. My partner and I found extremely interesting information about the disease as well as new studies and methods that we incorporated into our presentation. Although we spent really long nights working on the presentation and many hours in Darwins crying over the layout