As my class of biomedical engineers prepares to graduate, we are also preparing to enter a wide variety of fields. Some of my classmates will go on to build devices to assist the disabled, some will synthesize new drugs, and others might be improving diagnostic tools. There is one thing all of these efforts will have in common. No matter what disease, symptom, or disability is trying to be cured, detected, or prevented, the process of designing biomedical products is long and grueling. Four years of classes and two years of research in an engineering lab have taught me exactly what it takes to go from medical problem to successful remedy.

 

In BMEN 303, a weekly professional development and ethics seminar for biomedical engineers, we learned about the costs associated with producing one successful and marketable drug. A single medication costs a company hundreds of millions of dollars in research and development. However, when you consider the investment spent on every failure that preceded the successful drug, the cost per success soars above a billion dollars. This fact was highlighted for us in a Forbes article we read for class. One reason financial investment is so great is that a company must pay for the rigorous testing necessary for FDA approval. This process is huge cost for the manufacturer because it can take 10-20 years for an average pharmaceutical to pass all the required experimental trials.

 

The financial and time costs of researching new treatments are exorbitant and unsustainable. Once I realized this, I asked myself why the same amount of resources is not invested into preventative research instead. Would it not be better to prevent a disease from setting in rather than simply treating it?

 

For  two years I worked in the Biomimetic Materials and Tissue Engineering lab at USC. The general goal of the lab was essentially to develop a way to regrow bone within the body using stem cells. I found this type of research to be rather repetitive and time consuming. Experiments were finicky and often were not successful. Experiments that would take days or weeks could fail half way through causing the team to start from scratch.

 

The lengthiness of experiments is illustrated by the creation of our cell scaffolds for

implantation within the body. Producing these was one of my main responsibilities in

the lab. The first step is the production of nanofiber sheets through a process called

electrospinning (shown on right). This involves preparing a polymer solution, allowing

it to mix for four hours and then actually spinning out the sheets for two hours. Once

sheets have been produced, they must be incubated overnight in a solution of

simulated body fluid in order to mineralize them and give them the mechanical

properties of bone. Next, these sheets were wrapped around needles in order to

create micro-tubes. Once about 150 tubes were made, the scaffold was ready to be

put together. One layer of tubes would be arranged around a metal cylinder, secured

with tape, annealed (baked) in an oven for 45 minutes, and finally allowed to cool for

an hour. This process is repeated as additional layers are added until the desired

diameter is reached. Then the needles and metal cylinder are removed, and the

scaffold is complete. The entire procedure, if no problems were encountered, took at

least one week of work and produced only one scaffold. However, the subsequent

implantation experiments that take months themselves require four or more of these

scaffolds. This example clearly shows how slowly things could move in our lab.

 

Working with this group showed me that biomedical research progresses in small

steps, which can take months to years. Eventually, I felt my time and effort could be

better spent. This is when my interest in public health and the Dominican Republic

began to develop.

 

Both BMEN 303 and my research experience lead to my decision not to pursue

engineering but rather search for more holistic solutions to medical problems.

Determining the behaviors and habits that contribute to a disease’s progression is

crucial. Once this information is known, I want to study and design the most effective

methods for altering these behaviors throughout an entire population. I believe this

type of research can lead to cheaper, more sustainable, and impactful change for

groups susceptible to common ailments such as cardiovascular disease or Type-2

Diabetes.

 

Researching and developing new treatments is long and difficult process, and in my opinion efforts could be better spent on prevention. Moving away from reactionary medicine and placing the emphasis on preventative care needs to be future direction of healthcare in our country and the world. My experiences throughout college allowed me to develop this new perspective on healthcare. Four years ago I wanted to be a biomedical engineer, but now I want to be an advocate for good health and healthy living.