Viruses and Batteries and Plants! Oh My!

Module 3 felt like it flew by way too fast.  I felt as if one day I was sitting in lecture learning about phage batteries for the first time, and then, the next thing I knew, we’d finished our batteries and I was shoulder-deep in a sealed glovebox awkwardly moving around with about as much dexterity and flexibility as a crab (FYI if you simply pick up a crab from behind they can’t really do…anything at all).  And a couple days later, I was giving a presentation on… transgenic flax plants? 

 (an artist’s representation of how I felt using the glovebox)

All jokes aside (not really), I think Module 3 may have been my favorite of the whole class.  For me, that was a bit unexpected, because within biological engineering, I tend to be drawn more towards technologies with medical applications, rather than commercial applications.  I think it may have been the combination of the virus with the battery, the meeting of natural and industrial, the joining of biology with consumer technology.  It didn’t hurt that I got an actual, physical battery that I could take home!  Of course, when I took a picture of my battery and sent it to my parents, I got these responses:

They were just pulling my leg, as they often do, but that got me thinking about communication in science and how frequently scientists deal with misinformation and detrimental preconceived notions.  To the average person, “Biological Engineering” conjures up images of dastardly or foolhardy scientists creating “superbugs” that result in a Walking Dead-esque apocalypse.  In reality, I’m not doing that at all.  I mean, how can I possibly hope to do that when I’m struggling through situations like this:

(again with the dexterity and flexibility difficulties)

But really, the idea that there exists a not-insignificant amount of people out there in the world who first think of what I study as destructive (even as a joke) just further underscores the need for effective communication in this field of science.  In any science, really, ineffective communication can be disastrous.  And effective communication can be really hard, which is why we practice it so much in 20.109. 

Effective scientific communication is another matter entirely, which I definitely learned this semester.  In particular, artistic and scientific communication are just different beasts.  I did a lot of musical extracurriculars back in high school, and I have to admit that playing guitar in front of 500 people is much easier and less nerve-wracking than giving a 12 minute scientific proposal in front of 10 people.  But with both of those “performances,” there are partners there for support, and I’m really grateful that Sarah and Devany could account for my (ever-so-slightly) shaking knees and make up for my nervousness.  I’m also really grateful for everyone who helped make Module 3 run smoothly, including Jifa, Prof. Belcher, and the whole 20.109 teaching team! 

Biology doesn't need Optimization

The idea of making batteries in 20.109 intrigued me at first, and after a couple of days in lab, I felt truly inspired, at least a little. 

I didn't have a lot of time to be in awe of the phages though because the research proposal took so much time. That made me sad, as Angie's applications of biology intrigued me a ton, and led to the title of this post: Biology doesn't need optimization.

I'm sort of growing more into the biological engineering mode of seeing what biology can do for us, not in a super-controlling way but as a way of making the life we have more sustainable, or efficient (or just cool, but that's probably not the strongest theme off which to publish a paper). As much as it felt meh to leave a lot of the technical things to Jifa's magic, I'm happy to leave with a battery that can light a purple LED for a short time and some confidence that my ideas could grow into life-long research one day.

Speaking of research, the proposal was much less mind-wracking than the journal club presentation, but I still struggled a little. Narrowing down an idea for a proposal, then the research, and the convincing story of why the research is necessary is, at simplest, difficult. I appreciated the difficulty, especially since I will likely enter academia, but I wish I understood more what our constraints (related to 20.109) meant so that the early homework in the module was more effective for our group.

Eventually, we made it though, and with a battery! As it discharges, the green light fades and we are farther from our experiences here in 20.109...

(The green light from the Great Gatsby in all of it's symbolic finality)

♫So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu♪

It seems like just last week we were learning how to culture cells, and I was holding my breath in the tissue culture room because we shouldn't breathe in the carbon dioxide the cells are kept in (plus lab incubators smell weird).


But now... I still hold my breath when I open fridges and incubators, and it's the end of 20.109.

I'm going to miss this class for a lot of reasons. First, it's been one of the Course 20 classes to show us outside of our UROPs that sciences fails us sometimes. Pink team CRISPR didn't work, and our batteries were nowhere near theoretical capacity (in our dreams) or Jifa's magic batteries. Yet, I am leaving 20.109 with a lot more than I've gotten from other experiences that I think(?) were supposed to teach me how to do these science things.

I want to say, the modules where things did not work most were my favorites (2 and 3) because they unveiled different sides of bioengineering that make me feel like I chose the right major (which is super reassuring in juxtaposition to 20.320). Mod two was where I realized a lot of my weaknesses in presenting and started getting a little more comfortable being in lab and not frozen by question of the right way to do things. Module two also finally taught me how CRISPR works so I can be savvy in the biotech of the decade.

Then, module three showed me on-your-feet troubleshooting and how to become an expert in anaphylaxis in two weeks but left me with lots of good feelings.

These good feelings come from a lot of things. One, the support system of classmates was great, and I had a good partner who I communicated well with. We all were facing the same course 20 struggles, and we could commiserate when we needed to and snack together. Second, leaving with a souvenir that we produced gives us a fond memory as we struggle through another 1.5 years in the major. Lastly, the staff was friendly, approachable and supportive which just makes everything easier. I never felt like I couldn't ask for help when I was lost (many times), and I can't begin to imagine how many prep and post hours were spent through the whole course on our experiments.

(I also learned how to make my own gifs and memes through 20.109 - effectively communicating in other ways!)

Merci et Adieu to the 20.109 group!

Much End. Much Reflection.

This blog post is the last thing standing between me and a Thursday where I've told myself I don't have to do anything except sleep. So the urge to scribble something down and go play a board game is strong.

But while this blog post will not be the next Great American Novel, I would like to put some thought into it because 20.109 is a class that I have truly enjoyed and merits reflection.

To a degree, working because I want to has been a theme throughout 20.109. In general, I pick classes because I think the subjects sound like interesting things to learn (or are required for a course 20 major which I think sounds cool). I actually learn the subject material because of graded classwork - be it projects, psets, or tests. I like good grades. I do not deny that they are motivational. Particularly when I have 5 interesting classes and a campus full of amazing people to goof off with. With 20.109, however, it wasn't just the grades motivating me to rescue my focus from the depths of the internet and put some effort into an assignment. Grades still helped. Sorry un-graded lab notebook entries :´(, but when I worked on something I knew some really amazing people would be giving the grades. The 20.109 staff is made up of some truly brilliant and kind people. It's not so much that I was worried about disappointing you guys, or even simply trying to impress, it's that I knew each assignment would be valued. Thought went into picking out homework (and working on pre-project parts really did help) and thought went into grading assignments. I got to know the 20.109 teachers much more than I normally get to know my professors and I felt like they got to know me too. Assignments had faces associated with them on both sides. I knew the teachers were putting in effort so I wanted to return the favor.

I got to know some classmates, too, which was cool :) During our first journal club, someone (sorry I can't remember who. people are hard. see rest of paragraph) introduced themselves and then said something along the lines of, "You guys should really know my name already." I did. Kinda. But it reminded me to pay attention to the next week's round of presentations because there were two other classmates who's names I didn't know... 2 out of 8... But I learned their names and had some nice conversations with them! I definitely got to know 109ers better than I have people from any class since freshman year. I'm looking forward to having class with y'all again :)

I'm going to miss this class :'(

I don't quite understand how the semester is already over (essentially), but somehow here we are. It's kinda bittersweet--while I'm glad I'm done with work (for the most part), I will truly miss this class. I already miss it :(

I've learned so much in this class. What bioengineering really is (wow CometChip wow CRISPR wow viruses), how to present on a paper for Journal club, and how to generate novel project proposals. Just listing those things made me again realize the far-reaching extent of this class.

Speaking of project proposals, It was really exciting coming up with our own idea and figuring out ways to approach our goal (many literature searches later). There were so many potential holes in our logic, but I'm glad we were able to work through it. Thank you so much for being so helpful with giving us feedback and suggestions! I have so much respect for all PIs who are able to do this on a constant basis.

HUGE thanks to all the staff and professors involved in making 20.109 an awesome class. Thank you for putting in so much time outside of class to help make 20.109 run as smoothly as it did. And importantly, thank you all so much for truly caring about us. Whether it was the random snacks or recognizing when we were all burnt out, I don't think I've ever been in a class where the staff cared for us so much.

This class was a ton of work, but I loved the class and will miss it dearly. My partner mentioned this as we left our feedback lunch yesterday and I couldn't agree more--it felt like we were leaving home. It's not often that I feel like I will miss a class and the staff. 20.109 will always have a special place in my heart as the class that made me a bioengineer.

when nothing worked (again)

It was really cool doing a module that was so different from the previous 2 modules. I had no idea you could use viruses to make batteries!

(this is what I found when I searched for a "mind blown" picture)

On a random note, this mod also made me nostalgic because I used TEM in my freshman year UROP. Oh how quickly time flies...

Mod 3 went by so quickly! This time around I hoped that we would have a successful product, but alas we did not :'( I remember looking at our nanowires with TEM and seeing amorphous blobs that we desperately hoped were iron phosphate but was (possibly) a huge blob of chlorine.... oops. And somehow our batteries (w/ AuNP) had incredibly low capacities. Not only did my battery have a capacity lower than 1% of the theoretical (lol), it had a lower capacity than Jifa's controls without AuNP........

BUT HEY, our battery at least lit up the LED!!!!! I was so nervous that it wouldn't and my team would be the first 20.109 team ever to have a completely nonfunctional battery @_@

Anyways, HUGE props to Jifa for being a battery wizard and helping us out so much. From rolling out our active material to working in the glove box, this mod would not have gone even half as smoothly without him. Also many many thanks to Prof Belcher and the rest of the 20.109 staff for being so supportive!

Best class at MIT

I've never said that I truly enjoyed a class at MIT. Usually classes are stressful and mere requirements to be able to graduate. However, 20.109 was the first time I'ver ever told my friends and family that I loved a class. This class has more than reinforced my interest in the Biological Engineering major.

I've always wanted to be a doctor. However, I'd never thought about what I wanted to study while in college, since pre-med is not a major, and even if it was, I wouldn't do it. When I got into MIT, I thought I would just do Course 7, since that was simple and I was good at biology, even though I didn't find it super interesting. I began thinking about it more. If I didn't end up going to med school, I didn't want to do research, which is the other popular career for students with a Course 7 degree. I began looking into Biological Engineering. Both my parents are engineers, and engineering has always interested me for that reason. In addition, I loved biology. I thought a major that combined both of my interests would be perfect.

20.109 was the first real Course 20 class I took. Although I'd taken 20.110 my sophomore year, I saw that more as torture than a Course 20 class. Additionally, it was the first lab course I'd taken at MIT. I'd been working at the Amon lab doing biology research since my freshman fall. However, I did not know what bioengineering lab entailed or how different it was from normal bio labs. 20.109 was a great introduction into that world.

20.109 has some of the best instructors at MIT. I am so appreciative of the staff of 20.109 for putting up with our class all semester, staying after hours to finish our experiments, and making 20.109 the most enjoyable class I've taken at MIT . Leslie, Noreen, Maxine, Sean, and Emily are all amazing people who are incredibly nice and brilliant and truly care about us. I am especially grateful for Maxine. Maxine made 20.109 such a joy to go to every day, gave amazing feedback on our assignments, and helped me and my team out so much for the major assignments.

Before 20.109, I wasn't sure how to answer people when they asked me"So what is biological engineering?". Now I had solid examples of how important and amazing biological engineering is.

Now that 20.109 is over, I feel prepared for the rest of Course 20 and even more interested in Biological Engineering. I am grateful for everything we had the opportunity to do and all the amazing people I got to meet. Bring on the rest of the year!