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From testing slime to creating 3D ‘bones’

High school students experience the thrill of science at STARS Biomedical Engineering Day

Published on: By: Jan Jarvis

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Alexander Tatara, M.D., Ph.D., UTSW Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, explains to students how bones work. Three North Texas high schools participated in STARS Biomedical Engineering (BME) Day, a campus event designed to inspire interest in biomedical careers.

Nearly 100 area high school students completed a “crash course” in biomedical engineering at UT Southwestern’s STARS Biomedical Engineering (BME) Day on Oct. 28. Participants created 3D structures to support tissue regeneration, explored mysteries of the human brain, and performed basic biomechanical tests on slime, among other activities. Experiments at the event, which was sponsored by UTSW’s STARS (Science Teacher Access to Resources at Southwestern) program and the Department of Biomedical Engineering, gave students a better understanding of how the body works.

Offered for the first time at UTSW, BME Day was designed to spark students’ interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers, with a focus on biomedical engineering. It provided career field exposure and networking opportunities while also connecting learning to innovation, said Lynn Tam, Ed.D., Director of STARS. Students from Creekview High School, R.L. Turner High School, and Harmony Science Academy – Dallas High took part in the activities that were led by UTSW faculty, graduate students, and volunteers. The students also attended lectures and a panel discussion.

Speakers for the event were Alexander Tatara, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Biomedical Engineering; Jacopo Ferruzzi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering; and Anila D’Mello, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and in the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute. The workshops were led by Dr. Tatara, Dr. D’Mello, and Lily Buchanan, a graduate student in Biomedical Engineering. Panelists included Dr. Tatara; Ms. Buchanan; Li Liu, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering; Gabriel Rocha, a graduate student in Biomedical Engineering; and Ema Nunez, Research Technician in Orthopaedic Surgery. Paula Hernandez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering, and Walter Akers, Ph.D., D.V.M., Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, co-initiated the event, and Samuel Achilefu, Ph.D., Chair and Professor of Biomedical Engineering, facilitated it. Dr. Achilefu also holds appointments in the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and Radiology.

Enjoy some photo highlights from the event.

Select an image to begin the slideshow.

Dr. Tatara leads students in a review of a clinical case involving a young patient with arm pain due to a missing piece of bone caused by cancer. The students then experimented with diverse ways to make a mold in the shape of the patient’s missing bone.
Dr. Tatara explains how a piece of missing bone led to a diagnosis of Ewing sarcoma in a case study.
Dr. Tatara demonstrates anatomy on a model knee.
Harmony Science Academy-Dallas High student Emily Martinez uses Play-Doh and a 3D printed “bone” to shape a mold that can be filled with gelatin. The goal was to mold the tissue scaffold in the same shape as the pretend patient’s missing bone. This scaffold could then be implanted inside a “patient” to help their bone regenerate.
Natnale Mitike, a Harmony Science Academy student, listens to a lecture before shaping Play-Doh into a 3D-printed “bone.” The hands-on activity enabled students to learn about anatomy, biomaterials, and tissue engineering in the context of a specific case vignette, Dr. Tatara said.
After shaping a mold with Play-Doh, Harmony Science Academy students Pablo Badillo, left, and Mr. Mitike fill it with denatured collagen, which is the most prevalent structural protein in human bodies and is frequently used in tissue engineering.
Mr. Badillo and Mr. Mitike examine a 3D “bone.”
Harmony Science Academy students Sayed Hashimi, left, and Alper Gurbuz make a 3D mold of a bone with Play-Doh.
Ema Nunez, left, and Jessica Lynn, Research Technicians in the lab of Paula Hernandez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering, examine life-size models of the knee.
From left: Harmony Science Academy students Mr. Hashimi, Mr. Gurbuz, and Mr. Badillo stretch slime until it breaks as part of an exercise on the structure and function of the extracellular matrix (ECM), the connective tissue that provides the physical scaffolding for cells.
Harmony Science Academy student Zaahirat Odebode, right, exchanges a jar of slime with a classmate to see how it reacts differently.
Ms. Odebode measures slime before and after it is stretched. During the exercise, students did basic biomechanical testing on slime as an approximation for what happens with soft tissue.
The slime experiment provides Ms. Odebode with an opportunity to learn about basic biomechanical testing.
Harmony Science Academy student Cristol Garcia, right, stretches slime until it snaps. During the exercise, students tested how changes in the components of the ECM can make it softer or stiffer, or easier to stretch.
Mr. Hashimi drops slime to the ground for 20 seconds to see if any changes occur. This exercise helps students visualize how ECM-rich tissues like tendons behave when stretched.
Stretching slime to see how far it will go is fun and educational for Mr. Badillo.
Harmony Science Academy students learn how to create a mold using Play-Doh.
Harmony Science Academy student Ifeoluwa Aiboye observes how slime stretches to better understand structure-function relationships in the body’s soft tissues.
A Harmony Science Academy student drops slime to the ground as part of the exercise.
From left: Mr. Gurbuz, Mr. Hashimi, and Mr. Badillo measure how slime, made with borax and glue, stretches. The students learned the basics of how to carry out mechanical testing to explore hypotheses on how different structural components contribute to functional differences.
Harmony Science Academy students move from the Structure and Function of ECM outdoor learning station to the indoor Discover the Mysteries of the Brain station.
As part of a lesson on the brain, Harmony Science Academy students looked at MRI scans of people with brain differences – missing brain areas, tumor resections, and cancer. They also learned how different types of MRI scans are better for diagnosing various conditions.
Harmony Science Academy student Maria Alvarado listens to a lecture before the start of an exercise.
Harmony Science Academy students take time for a group photo after exploring the biomedical engineering field for half a day.
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