Ashton Martin (L) creates models for head-and-neck injury; Xishi Wang (R) develops implants for injured spinal cords.
Xishi Wang: I just started my fourth year in the chemical engineering co-op program. My research for the NSERC undergraduate grant is about flexible base electrode arrays. We are working on devices to implant into a damaged spinal cord. They stimulate the motor neurons in the undamaged part of the spinal cord, and connect those with the brain. It's for patients with a spinal cord injury. The goal is that we would-one day-be able to implant this device into the spinal cords of paralyzed patients and it could help these patients move.
We are in design and model testing now. The device is very small, about five millimetres, a bit bigger than a grain of rice, and rectangular in shape. It has three wires sticking out of it for the electrodes to connect to the motor neurons in the spinal cord. It will take quite a while, years actually, before they can be tested on patients.
My supervisor is Dr. Anastasia Elias, I applied at her lab through PlacePro on the engineering website, and got the job. Then I applied for the NSERC grant, which will help cover my salary. I am not sure if I would have been able to continue with the research without it. The job is for 16 weeks, 40 hours a week. I am the only undergrad in the lab.
This is biomedical engineering and there is a biomed aspect in chemical engineering. I am working with chemicals to make the device. We're using silicone and this chemical called polydimethylsiloxane for the flexible base array. It's really interesting!
I have learned a lot, including how to use a 3-D modelling computer program called Solidworks. I have also learned teamwork skills, communication and organization. I'll have to write a technical report, due at the end of the work term. I am not really sure where I want to go with this, but I think biomedical engineering is really interesting. And I am planning to take a course in biomed next year. It's one of the options I have in chemical engineering. After that, I'll have another eight-month work term starting next summer. I'm not sure what I'll be doing, but it will be interesting.
Ashton Martin: In first year, I already knew I wanted to go into research and development, so I went on the Faculty of Engineering website trying to find professors who I could work for in the summer. Chris Dennison was the first professor I found on my search. I emailed him at 10 p.m. and he got back to me in 10 minutes. I've been working with him ever since.
I'm going into my third year of mechanical engineering, co-op option. The project that I've been primarily focusing on is developing a surrogate neck for crash and impact testing so we can predict head and brain injuries.
Currently, the impact testing is done with a model that is used for vehicular crash testing. The problem with those models is that they're robust and very rigid because they are meant to be used over and over again for measuring vehicular impacts. Megan Ogle, a master's student, wanted to come up with something that is more biofidelic, a more realistic human neck-a prototype that is more flexible and responds in a way we expect it to.
My role in the project is testing the neck and making sure it has realistic acceleration after impact, realistic movements, and its bending angles are appropriate. We will then compare the data we are collecting to a cadaver's neck. Megan and I had to sift through papers on post-mortem human subjects and Megan compiled the data on cadaver necks and heads. We will do all our tests, run a statistical analysis and compare the results to cadaver necks, our gold standard.
The end goal of the project would be to get more realistic head injury models. We test, with hockey and football helmets, for any kind of impact you would expect to see on the ice or on the field.
The best part about my project would have to be doing the experimental testing on the neck and verifying the data. Once the project is completed, the best feeling is knowing that it actually works better than other devices out there.
I've always wanted to do something that I know can make a difference, something that's exciting and new. With a mechanical engineering degree, you can always work in industry. I always found that developing and testing new things is a lot more exciting for me.