Week 8: Eleana

 The final week of immersion, included some last minute tidying up. I took all of the reagents used throughout the summer into their designated place and ensured everything I needed to take back to Ithaca was prepared. Unfortunately, I had to leave earlier in the week due to a family emergency. However, I had the chance to say goodbye to my fellow lab members before leaving and being to look at data collected from our third experiment which was the co-culture in the incucyte.

 I finished plotting and running statistics on all the flow cytometry data and began looking at different grants to see how we could continue some of this work in Ithaca. The overall immersion experience was life changing. The knowledge I have taken away from this program is priceless and I will carry it with me for a lifetime. I am hoping to apply much of what I learned here to my work back in Ithaca and continue to collaborate with the labs here at Weill Cornell. 

Week 8-Meichi

This week marked the final week of my immersion experience. I had the opportunity to shadow Dr. Lisa Newman in the operating room and continue progress on my research project. Additionally, I attended a didactic session led by Dr. Newman focused on systemic therapy for breast cancer. The session provided a comprehensive overview of current treatment options and highlighted the challenges clinicians face in selecting appropriate systemic therapies based on tumor biology and patient-specific characteristics.

In the operating room, I observed Dr. Newman perform two lumpectomies, a sentinel lymph node biopsy, and a ductal node excision. Witnessing these surgeries in real time was an invaluable experience, giving me insight into the intricate decision-making process of surgical oncology. I developed a deeper appreciation for the technical precision required and how critical rapid, informed decisions are for optimizing patient outcomes.

Although the immersion program ended, I will carry the knowledge and experiences I gained forward. This experience reinforced for me the importance of collaboration between engineers and clinicians to improve patient care. I am excited to apply the mindset and perspectives I gained from Dr. Newman to my future work and to pursue breast cancer research that contributes to more precise and effective clinical solutions.

Week 8 - Arina

 The final week of the immersion experience mostly revolved around preparing for the final presentation. Despite it being short, I still had to sit down and sort through a lot of background, as well as make sure I understood certain concepts I had limited prior exposure to well enough to be able to explain them to others. In terms of lab work, we got to see more imaging - but this time, with prisms instead of cranial windows. I haven't seen prism microscopy before, and I had no idea just how much better the resolution was. Going forward, the project still needs some optimization in terms of image analysis in suite2p, as well as further statistical analysis. 

Reflecting back on the entire experience, I can confidently say I learned a lot. The condensed timeline of a project was sometimes challenging - it's always a little difficult to dive into something new and try to get a grasp of it in just eight weeks, but it pushed me to learn that much quicker. It was also a nice refresher for some of the techniques I've used a while back. 

Week 8- Zuzanna

This week I was able to observe a couple patients in the clinic again, who I had already seen previously, so it was interesting to follow their journey and learn about the paths of treatment doctors can provide to patients with the same, and yet different disease. I also had the chance to shadow some heart and brain surgeries, which was very interesting. The brain surgeries I saw were tumor removals, and it was interesting to see the various methods of removal based on the location and density of the tumor, as well as the type of tumor that was being removed. This provides me with a better idea of what the research I work on can be applied to and understanding of how it can be applied. I really appreciate the time I was able to spend in the clinic throughout the immersion program over the summer as it gave me a fuller foundation of my research.

Week 8: Teagan

In my final immersion week, I got a lot done and wrapped up my project! For my research, I edited my 3D print design once again to add a little divet to better cradle the body of the mouse. However, upon initial designing, I increased the overall thickness of the base to have enough volume to create a deep divet, but this increase in depth affected image quality. In the Faxitron image, you could see the structural elements inside the base, which made analyzing the mouse limbs difficult. So I iterated one final 3D print design at the original base thickness with a shallower divet into the base. I didn't have time to run that print through the Faxitron before I left, but I left it with the Bostrom lab for them to test later in the month. I also spent some time in the OR with Dr. Bostrom. The patients he saw this week had a lot of health conditions that had to be monitored to ensure that they didn't cause any negative surgical effects. These conditions included cardiac history, obesity, and diabetic status. It was interesting to observe how these extra complications were handled by the team in the OR to ensure a smooth surgical operation. Lastly, I spent time preparing for two presentations that I had during this final week, one for the immersion program itself and another for the Bostrom lab meeting. It was gratifying to be able to share the work that I did this summer with others. I learned a lot from this immersion experience. There are many skills and insights that I will take with me back to Ithaca to help further my research! 

Week 8: Anais

 In my last week of immersion I got to observe some particularly tricky surgeries.  In the hysterectomy we observed, the patient had a c section scar that seemed to make it difficult to find where the uterus ended.  Additionally,  we observed an abdominal myomectamy.  This case had the largest fibroids I have seen in my time at Weill Cornell.  It must have been such a relief post surgery.  I also got to attend the clinic this week which further provided insight on the surgeries we have seen.  It was a particularly busy clinic day and I got to see a variety of birth control insertions and hysteroscopies.  Overall, this summer has been very enlightening and great to see how some of the things I have been researching translate in a clinical setting.  I am excited to take all I have learned and apply it to my research in Ithaca and I hope to continue to collaborate with Dr. Fenster.  

Week 8: Amelia

 Final week! At the beginning of this week, I prepared for and presented on my summer immersion experience. Trying to fit everything into 4 minutes was very challenging, but it forced me to reflect on the material and how to condense the background of the project. On Tuesday I also had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Osborne, who is doing clinical work with neurosteroids and postpartum depression. Since my lab is interested in getting into this topic, getting the chance to chat with her and ask her questions was so helpful! Wednesday was the last day of surgeries I was able to observe, and I got to see a deep brain stimulation stage 2 surgery (where they implant the battery and connect it) and a battery replacement surgery. Finally, we did 2p calcium imaging for our Sorcs3 project, but with PRISM implants this time, instead of cranial windows. The PRISM implants allowed us to get many more cells in our field of view! Next steps will be to edit the 2p suite code to ensure the ROIs are being detected correctly and statistically analyze our results. It was exciting to be able to see a good portion of a project through in the 8 weeks we were here, and I am definitely bringing a lot of knowledge back to Ithaca.