Seniors develop Bioreactor lab to help undergraduates gain hands-on experience

Andrew Lee and Steven Bartels aren’t exactly typical second-semester seniors. While most of their classmates are sleeping in and fighting off bad cases of senioritis, Lee and Bartels are up early at the Digital Computer Lab, where they are currently developing labs and protocols for a new class that Jennifer Amos, a lecturer in bioengineering, will be offering for students next fall.

Both Lee and Bartels have taken multiple classes Amos, and when Lee heard that she needed students to assist in researching and developing the new lab, he jumped at the chance. It didn’t take long for him to convince his good friend Bartels, either.

“Andrew and Steven have such great personalities that they can’t help but stand out in class,” Amos said. “I knew that they would both be great for independent study.”

So even though both seniors have earned enough academic credits to take an easy course load for their final semester on campus, the two are busy working in their labs for three hours in the morning, three days a week. By the end of the semester, the pair will leave behind their own individual labs for use by future students.

Lee is working with Fibroblast cells, the most common cell in connective tissue in animals. In the lab, Lee and other students will culture them on to Teflon.

“The point is to stimulate stretching and pulling the cells to try and produce heavy collagen,” Lee said. “The ultimate goal is to be able to develop ligament.”

Bartels’ lab, on the other hand, centers on cardiac cells, specifically embryonic cells from mice. Bartels will culture them in a dish with electrodes, and will send signals to see if he can get the whole muscle mass to contract at once, as a normal heart signal would.

“From there, we’ll be able to see the kinds of effects drugs can have on cardiac cells, as well as ultimately simulate heart attacks,” Bartels said.

The nature of their work and their relationship with their instructor, they said, is autonomous and independent, and this isn’t a responsibility that they’re taking lightly.

“I tend to think that students learn best through inquiry-based learning,” Amos said. “By giving students a goal and basic guidelines, I let them come up with questions that they find inspiring and create their own solutions to those questions.”

Both Lee and Bartels will attend medical school after they graduate in May, and they look forward to applying the knowledge and understanding they gained from their work in the lab, as well as their Bioengineering courses.

“The face of medicine is being driven by technology,” Lee said. “Things in medicine are always changing, and now, the people who are making those developments aren’t just scientists – they’re also engineers. With the background I have, I can understand how everything works.”

Students who use the labs that Lee and Bartels develop, they said, will get the hands-on practical experience that both students and potential employers seek.

“This really prepares you for research and jobs,” Bartels said. “When you’re placed in an industrial setting, they expect you to be able to do a lot of these things. Biotech, bioengineering and pharmaceutical companies want to see that you’re able to simulate environments and know what you’re doing.”
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Writer/Photographer: Jay Lee, Engineering Communications Office.

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.