Day 7
Sanraj's and Xuan Wei's experience (Week 2: Drug Coating)
Today for the first half of the day, Xuan Wei and I focused on what we were about to for the challenge presentation this coming Friday and our mentor gave us some guiding questions to consider when we were thinking of our solution to our problem. FINALLY, we came up with an idea and of course we can't disclose it here hehe. Let's wait till Friday! Anyways, for the second half of the day, we assisted our mentor with his experiment. For the experiment, we were taught how to use the laser micrometer (too chim) to measure the thickness of the hydro-gel that was coated on top of the ureteric stent.
The process above of measuring the thickness of the hydro-gel was very pain-staking and meticulous.
As the hydro-gel was not coated uniformly on top of the stent, we had to measure both the maximum and minimum thickness for a total of 9 stents. Phew it took us up to 30-40 minutes. Next, we carried on with the our mentor's own experiment. As his experiment is new in the field, it must be kept classified. Anyways, after assisting our mentor , today I learnt that scientists need to have the skills of being patient and being careful with their work. Also, they must have the resilience and determination to achieve their desired results ( our mentor demonstrated these qualities!! :) ). This experiment would take some time to complete and hence, it would be pushed till the next day.
After today, we picked up on new skills and learnt more on what a scientist's life is about and pushed us further to strive for that field. Can't wait for the next day to continue on with the experiment!!
Jun Yang and Ying Li's experience (Week 2: Batteries)
Today we were greeted by our mentor in the morning and he brought us into the lab which was filled with expensive equipment.
We had to put on things including hairnets and face-mask before we went in and our mentor then gave us a tour around the lab which was pretty big.
He explained to us roughly what each machine was for and how it worked. One machine that looked particularly interesting was the gloveboxes whereby reactive materials was handled. The glovebox is filled with argon, an inert gas and hence this creates a safe space for the scientists to handle reactive things such as the lithium metal.
There were several other machinery also including the X-Ray machine, the battery testers, one of which costed $40k. Yea, IKR. Being surrounded by all these expensive equipment really made the both of us extra cautious when going around the lab. After the interesting tour where our mentor had also started preparing some materials to be used to make cells, he gave us time to relax at the office pantry to wait for the materials to be ready. These materials had to be cleaned in a machine and thus we relaxed in the comfortable pantry which had lots of refreshments too.
Sanraj's and Xuan Wei's experience (Week 2: Drug Coating)
Today for the first half of the day, Xuan Wei and I focused on what we were about to for the challenge presentation this coming Friday and our mentor gave us some guiding questions to consider when we were thinking of our solution to our problem. FINALLY, we came up with an idea and of course we can't disclose it here hehe. Let's wait till Friday! Anyways, for the second half of the day, we assisted our mentor with his experiment. For the experiment, we were taught how to use the laser micrometer (too chim) to measure the thickness of the hydro-gel that was coated on top of the ureteric stent.
The process above of measuring the thickness of the hydro-gel was very pain-staking and meticulous.
As the hydro-gel was not coated uniformly on top of the stent, we had to measure both the maximum and minimum thickness for a total of 9 stents. Phew it took us up to 30-40 minutes. Next, we carried on with the our mentor's own experiment. As his experiment is new in the field, it must be kept classified. Anyways, after assisting our mentor , today I learnt that scientists need to have the skills of being patient and being careful with their work. Also, they must have the resilience and determination to achieve their desired results ( our mentor demonstrated these qualities!! :) ). This experiment would take some time to complete and hence, it would be pushed till the next day.
After today, we picked up on new skills and learnt more on what a scientist's life is about and pushed us further to strive for that field. Can't wait for the next day to continue on with the experiment!!
Jun Yang and Ying Li's experience (Week 2: Batteries)
Today we were greeted by our mentor in the morning and he brought us into the lab which was filled with expensive equipment.
We had to put on things including hairnets and face-mask before we went in and our mentor then gave us a tour around the lab which was pretty big.
He explained to us roughly what each machine was for and how it worked. One machine that looked particularly interesting was the gloveboxes whereby reactive materials was handled. The glovebox is filled with argon, an inert gas and hence this creates a safe space for the scientists to handle reactive things such as the lithium metal.
The Glove Box
There were several other machinery also including the X-Ray machine, the battery testers, one of which costed $40k. Yea, IKR. Being surrounded by all these expensive equipment really made the both of us extra cautious when going around the lab. After the interesting tour where our mentor had also started preparing some materials to be used to make cells, he gave us time to relax at the office pantry to wait for the materials to be ready. These materials had to be cleaned in a machine and thus we relaxed in the comfortable pantry which had lots of refreshments too.
The Pantry
After the relaxing break where I almost fell asleep, our mentor came and brought us to the lab again. It was time to make the cells in the glovebox. Our mentor showed us a demo and allowed us to try doing it too. It may eem tedious and scary to be using such advanced materials but it was fun putting together the pieces of the battery. We laughed at how shaky our hands was as both of us trembled at the thought of causing accidents in the lab or spoiling such an expensive equipment.
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