So if we could create better vaginal mucus models, could we then study those diseases better?”Īnother presenter interested in polymers and health science was Kayla Koch, a grad student in the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Department of Polymer Science and Engineering. “We really don’t understand how it happens,” Zaragoza says. It’s a common diagnosis that’s not widely understood. Her end goal is to facilitate better studies of infections such as bacterial vaginosis, a vaginal inflammation caused by an overgrowth of bacteria. “I love mucus,” says Zaragoza, a graduate student in DMSE and PPSM. Nadia Zaragoza spoke about her work formulating a synthetic vaginal mucus out of bottlebrush polymers, which, in a microscope, look like the long brushes used to clean glassware. That diversity was represented in the research displayed during the day’s poster session. PPSM brings together chemical engineering, chemistry, materials science, mechanical engineering, and biological engineering.
“The coolest thing about PPSM, and polymer science in general, is that it is so interdisciplinary. “That’s what makes it really special,” says Lee.
It’s also to show the enormous diversity of polymer research. The purpose of the annual event is to provide students with network opportunities and an avenue to share their research with people in their field, says Lee. There were also industry booths featuring the 10 sponsors - companies that included Cabot, Dow, and Saint Gobain - also a record number. The MIT event included workshops, student seminars, and an alumni career panel. Polymers can be found in a range of applications, from food products to pharmaceuticals - polyethylene in packaging, for example, and the polyester in clothing. Polymers are a huge class of materials made of long, repeating chains of molecules. “We’ve never had this problem before, because there have never been so many participants.” Lee led the Polymer Day organizing committee along with fellow graduate students Yehlin Cho, Emily Krucker-Velasquez, and Camille Cunin. “We were almost running out of space in Morss Hall,” says Eric Lee, a graduate student in the MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Program for Polymers and Soft Matter (PPSM), which hosted the event. Sixty-four teams from schools throughout the Northeast and beyond presented research ahead of a poster contest - the most since the event started in 2013.
Such was the varied innovation that crowded MIT’s Morss Hall on Polymer Day 2023. Straight ahead: fibers that can be woven into fabrics and used as microphones or loudspeakers. Materials that repair damage and restore themselves to the right. Chemical “upcycling,” or converting plastics into higher-value products, to the left.
0 kommentar(er)
