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. 

Week 8: Aidan

 Final week in NYC - lots of progress. Printed two platforms for magnets (a repeat of the flat halbach device, and then the first radial device). Built the flat device again, this time using improved construction techniques based on what happened with the first (used clamps to let epoxy set between the 3rd and 4th sets of magnets). The hypothesis was that with better construction/placement of the magnets, the field should be more strongly aligned in the target direction and get closer to the predicted strength of 87 mT 1cm from the surface. Oddly, the magnetic field measurements are ~30% weaker on the new flat device compared to the old device that had magnets misplaced. However, I had measured the old device and Aldana measured the new device, so it's possible that the difference is due to user-to-user variability, since the measuring tool does not have any guides (you have to eyeball 0.5 cm based on a ruler, and the measuring probe is ~0.2cm thick, so depending on which part you align with the ruler it could be 0.3cm to 0.7cm from the surface of the magnet. Additionally, orientation of the measurement tool matters). I also had the opportunity to observe more surgical cases on Wednesday, which were a deep brain stimulator stage 1 implantation (electrodes), followed by a deep brain stimulator stage 2 (battery) implantation.

Week 8 - Kirtana

 This week I primarily worked on finishing up my lung cancer project. I prepared the lung cancer incidence and PLCO risk graphs for the population, and also started working on developing my own model. This is currently a work in progress and I will continue it after immersion. 

Summer immersion has truly been an enriching experience and I learnt a significant amount about the clinical side of biomedical engineering. Shadowing surgeries, performing image segmentation, performing data analysis all led to me obtaining new skills. My favorite part of the experience was getting to operate a MRI machine. While it was interesting to use the machine without being a patient, I understood the challenges that are present in medical device development in terms of user accessibility. Considering that my PhD is on point of care device development, I believe there is a lot I can take from this experience. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to go through the summer immersion program and I am looking forward to using my newly gained clinical knowledge in the lab. 

Week 8: Pei Wen

This week marks the end of our summer immersion program. Most strikingly in OR, Anais and I observed a myomectomy with the largest fibroids we have seen thus far, roughly the size of a coconut. The larger fibroids were accompanied by a multitude of smaller ones. We were shocked to learn that Dr. Fenster has had cases where the fibroids were even larger. I cannot imagine the pain that the patient must have felt living with the fibroids as the fibroids were pushing on their other organs. This surgery sparks my curiosity further on the prevalence of fibroids among certain populations and the factors that contribute to their growth in severe cases such as the one we observed. I am grateful for the opportunity I had this summer to shadow Dr. Fenster in her surgeries and patient visits, to gain perspective in clinical needs and gaps pertaining to our field, and to learn how present and future technologies can be applied to improve patient care. 

Week 8 : Adil

This week was good mix of research and time in the OR. I continued to work on the pipeline we started last week and ran more RNA datasets from the ICSBCS biobank to compute immune cell fraction across samples. I also analyzed the TCRseq data of the pooled trovo sample and combined the results from the scRNA analysis I did last week. This analysis has helped us to optimize our experimental protocols (initial sample size and initial cell count) for the upcoming trovo experiments. Later in the week I attended a presentation by a sub-intern working with Dr. Newman on the various factors that come into play in decision making in breast surgical oncology and how clinical trials have shaped these protocols over the years. I also attended a didactic session by Dr. Newman on systemic therapy for breast cancer. In the OR, I shadowed Dr. Newman for two lumpectomies, one sentinel lymph node biopsy and a ductal node excision. Overall the summer immersion was a great learning experience - both on the clinical and research fronts. I look forward to applying the learnings from my immersion experience to my ongoing projects.

Week 8: Ben

For my final week, I concluded the last of my experiments. I ended cell cultures and threw away leftover supplies that I had. Now, I am waiting for the last of my samples that I submitted for ELISA analysis. My wet lab efforts are now concluded for Immersion. In addition, I attend my last clinic of Immersion. It was pretty routine overall. I got to learn about the different formulations of insulin (short-acting, long-acting, and combination) and the different blood glucose profiles that will benefit from each formulation type. Also, I learned about the different types (or brands) of continuous glucose monitors, their drawbacks, and in what cases they will benefit the patient. I also established my collaboration with the Rafii group, and now we have plans to have a meet with their group, me, and my PI in Ithaca to talk specifics about the areas we will collaborate. Overall, Immersion has been a busy, insightful, and productive time. From the 8-weeks I was here, I learned how to isolate islets from mice and perform glucose stimulated insulin secretion, two protocols that will be useful for me moving forward with my PhD. In addition, I was able to network and gain collaborators that will expand on my research and give me more resources to work with. I am really going to miss the city and this experience, but I am ready to apply what I learned and execute the various ideas that I have gotten from this summer.

Week 8: Adam

 For the final week of immersion, I was able to start working with some of the multiplexed immunofluorescence data from the run we did last week. It seems that some of the antibodies were not quite at the correct dilution, so we are making some changes to the dilution factors for the panel and we will run the experiment again soon. I am glad that this immersion project will open doors to some new collaborations which will continue after I leave the city. I spent a lot of time on the microtome this week, sectioning more tissue samples for future experiments, which should save me some time down the road. It was also good to get additional practice on the microtome before I leave. I spent all day Wednesday shadowing in the OR, and saw several different procedures, including a brow lift, a skin graft, a mammectomy, and a panniculectomy. The variety of procedures that they see on the plastic surgery service is quite interesting. From some of the procedures we were able to collect some more tissue, and I helped to process this tissue for the biobank. 

Week 8: Allison Goehl

 In my final week of immersion, I spent more time shadowing Dr. Beal, a radiation oncologist specializing in brain cancer and metastases. Some of the patients she met with this week were ones I saw last week, but had since started receiving radiation or received additional fractions. It surprised me how quickly things progress in this field. Patients are sometimes able to start radiation within a week of being seen by Dr. Beal for the first time, and I didn't expect that fast of a turnaround. It was also very interesting to see MRIs of patients before, immediately after, and months after treatment and see how the tumor has changed, and then to see patients in the clinic and hear how their symptoms have changed. I also saw the maps used to plan treatment with either stereotactic radiosurgery or gamma knife surgery, and it is fascinating to see how precise treatment can be. Prior to arriving this summer, I was only familiar with full body radiation, but the techniques used by Dr. Beal can treat tumors deep within the brain without impacting surrounding healthy tissue. I saw multiple patients undergo a simulation, where a mask is made to immobilize the head as they receive radiation and a CT scan is performed so the radiation treatment can be designed. This has been one of my favorite parts of immersion, so I was very happy to spend additional days shadowing Dr. Beal this week.

In the lab, I've been working on data analysis for the five day coculture Eleana and I performed last week with cytotoxic T cells and irradiated glioblastoma and triple negative breast cancer cells. We did not have time to optimize the staining, so some cells are too bright, some are too dim, and some imaging locations are not usable due to the fluorescence obscuring all other details in the area. However, it looks like initially the cancer cell population declined as the T cell population expanded, but over the next few days the cancer cell population grew to overtake the entire area, which was interesting to see.

Week 8: MJ

This week, I continued on analyzing the bulk RNA-sequencing dataset of CD8+ T cells with human STAT3 mutations as a potential model for inclusion body myositis. I added these results to my final immersion presentation, which I presented at our weekly immersion meetings in front of my immersion peers and the immersion grant coordinators/PIs. I also attended the HSS Rheumatology journal club, where Dr. Laura Donlin, who I worked with this summer, presented a paper on how clonal hematopoiesis driven by a mutated form of the gene DNMT3A promotes inflammatory bone loss in both periodontitis and rheumatoid arthritis. This paper is important to the Donlin lab because it provides an excellent example of how somatic mutations may play a role in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. I also shadowed Dr. David Fernandez in his Rheumatology clinic at HSS. I watched as he saw patients with various autoimmune diseases, including inclusion body myositis, lupus, and spondylitis. 

Week 8: Nina

This week, I watched a living donor liver transplant and went to clinic in Chinatown. For the transplant, the surgery was done robotically using Da Vinci technology. In clinic, I saw a variety of patients ranging from cases of liver cysts, cancer, potential donors, and follow-ups for post-transplant cases. When I went down to the Chinatown clinic, I saw a variety of cancers, some stemming from Hepatitis B infection, and others without. How translation into one's native language can still pose many challenges to the transfer of information. Appointments without translation can happen within about half of the time required for appointments with a translator. There must be gaps and pauses for the information to be relayed in English then translated into the desired language. However, sometimes the patient or physician has direct responses or reactions to the information in real-time. Yet, this must be delayed to give time for translation. The flow of the conversation can be disrupted, which can cause some confusion for the translator and all parties involved. I also learned that patient willingness to accept treatment can be a large cultural gap. In some cultures, traditional methods of healing or treating disease can vary greatly to the standard of care in the US. Therefore, obstacles with implementing prevention or treatment to patients can sometimes be owed to reluctance of treatment or initial diagnosis. As I will be continuing my collaboration with Dr. Samstein throughout my PhD, we will be discussing more details for our perfusion project. I have yet to obtain patient samples, as there are logistical hurdles that come with using patient-derived samples.

Week 8: Brenda

Today marks the last day of the immersion program. On Monday I was at the clinic with Dr. Carli, a bit longer than usual. On Tuesday I gave a talk on the research performed this summer. On Wednesday I spent the whole day in the OR, saw both total knee and hip replacement surgeries. Thursday and Friday I was working in the lab on my pulsatile lavage data. However, the media I was using got infected so all of that data is not useable, but, I did get to use the pulsatile lavage and it was very fun. I learned a lot this summer about osteoarthritis and made new connections with clinicians, assistants, PAs, and the overall community at HSS. However, my time with Dr. Carli does not end here, I will be continuing a side project of my PhD thesis through the T32 NIH Predoctoral fellowship this upcoming academic year looking at hip samples of patients with OA. 

Week 8: Peter

 We've reached the end of immersion. I was able to get results from the pathologist and have made some changes to my image processing to improve my accuracy, but it probably won't achieve a super polished final state. I'll have enough to make the poster and report though so that's good. I saw a couple more robotic surgeries with Dr. Rocca this week including a liver cyst fenestration and a gall bladder removal. The cyst case was super interesting as they drained over 3 liters of fluid. I had no idea that these cysts could get so large. I also got to see Dr. Rocca coaching a resident and fellow through the procedure and how best to use the robot effectively. Seeing the skill disparity between these three different operators was super interesting. Though Dr. Rocca has only been doing robot surgery for five years, he moves so comfortably with the robot. I also got to see the team try out a new tool, the M-close kit, to close the holes in the fascia from the laparoscopic ports. A representative from the company taught the team how to use the device and then they used it on the patient. It seemed to make the closure easier and more consistent but I'd be curious to see how it compares over longer time scales. Does it reduce the rate of hernia? I also had my last day in the Dr. Chandwani's clinic. I got to see the follow up for the patient who'd gotten a whipple. While getting her staples removed, she detailed some of the discomfort she had experienced with the hospital workers after the procedure. She found the large number of unfamiliar nurses frightening especially when they were moving her to a new room. I hadn't really thought of this before, but I wonder if it would be beneficial to have a first nurse, who the patient has already met, introduce the patient to the second nurse when staff needs to change out. This could help to ensure that patient feels like they can trust each person that cares for them. 

Week 8: Wendy Zimmerman

 Last Friday, I watched Dr. Eliasberg performed an ACL reconstruction with a quad tendon, and shoulder stabilization, and a biceps tenodisis. Monday to Wednesday I spent time wrapping up my examination of the pathways of differntially regulated in the old vs young mouse shoulder impingement model using GO and KEGG. Wednesday I shadowed Dr. Rodeo in the clinic and got to see an HA injection into the shoulder for treating arthritis and two knee aspirations. Thursday I attended my last Rodeo lab meeting and shadowed Dr. Ranawat in the OR, where I saw an osteotomy of the femur. Friday, I will be shadowing Dr. Rodeo in the OR one last time. I have really enjoyed getting the opportunity to work with Dr. Rodeo and see all the work that's being done in his lab on tendons. And I have very much appreciated the opportunity to watch procedures in the OR and see how surgeons interact with patients and decided on recommending treatments.

Week 8: Anuj

 This was the last week of the Summer Immersion 2025, and I worked to document a report on the "Wide-view cystoscopy" project. This included key design aspects, quantified results on size fits, catheter draining tests, and some image stitching algorithms, and why they would be relevant for this project. We also talked to Cornell Licensing Tech officers to finalize the next steps which I will be working on for the next few weeks. It will be exciting to build a better prototype of this imaging system back in Ithaca, as I will have access to wider resources (technical lab space + Cornell NanoScale Facility). 

Reflecting on the past 8 weeks, it has been quite a bit of learning, especially on what goes on the patient care end. This includes patient consultation, diagnosis, surgeries, and post-surgery disease management. The summer immersion program is a rare opportunity for someone with an engineering background to spend time in the diagnosis and operating rooms. This allows us to observe the procedures and protocol, and look at things from an engineering POV on what can be done better. The best part was observing several biomedical tools in action, especially during robotic surgeries. It’s fascinating to think that each of these devices and protocols likely took decades of research and the efforts of hundreds of minds to develop. Seeing them actively in use to save lives makes me appreciate the efforts, time, and dedication put in by medical professionals, engineers, researchers, and policy makers involved in bringing these concepts to reality and in use.