Week 6- Wrapping up Immersion

 Wow has this been such a great summer.  A huge thank you to all those involved, especially those in the radiology department. This week I made good progress with the post doc I have been working with in the Pitt Lab. We were able to collect blood serum samples from mouse models that recapitulate Timothy Syndrome via a gain of function mutation in calcium channel 1.2 , the purpose of this is to simulate TS2 patients. This finding was really helpful for our studies this summer since we were able to eliminate the pancreas as the cause for hypoglycemia in TS2 patients. From here we move forward with this information to investigate if it potentially be the liver breaking down glucagon or if it is miscommunication between the brain and insulin secretion. 

Additionally, this week, Dr. Pitt had rounds all week and I got to spend his morning and afternoon rounds with him. This proved to be a really exciting experience since I was able to see the MD side of his dual degree. The patient interaction and the work flow was a really neat experience to observe as well as getting to meet more medical personnel and hear their experiences. 

Wednesday night we were invited to the radiology summer event at City Vineyards, the view was spectacular and we even had a special guest, our BME department chair Dr. van der Meulen. A big thank you to the radiology team for the invitation, it really was the highlight of immersion and unforgettable. Once again thank you to everyone, this experience really was re energizing especially coming out of the first year during covid, I was blown away by the experience and even got inspired to pursue medical school. I think its so essential to have in focus the patient experience and see first hand the drivers of why we became biomedical engineers. 


Hope to see everyone again!




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