David Hernández, a biomedical engineering student at the Tec’s Guadalajara campus, is undertaking a residency at Harvard and contributing his knowledge to their laboratory work.
“We are working with intestinal cells to see how the COVID-19 virus affects them,” said David Hernández, a Biomedical student who is currently undertaking a residency at Harvard.
The student from the Tec’s Guadalajara campus took the opportunity to work in a laboratory focused on Microprinting: a field related to the bioprinting of physical tissues and biological compounds.
“There are 12 of us in my laboratory, mostly people with doctorates and graduate degrees. Curiously, only the 2 Mexicans are undergraduates,” Hernández said.
David explained that he works with both Brigham And Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Both are laboratories affiliated with Partners Health Care, an organization dedicated to the teaching of science and medicine.
“We are developing a ‘chip’ that simulates heart movement by means of vacuum pumps, among other things,” added the student, who is also working on another 10 projects.
“You learn a little about all the techniques, and you also give support because people often don’t know how to do what you do.”
The power of teamwork
Hernández commented that the laboratory’s main strategy is based on collaboration by all team members.
“Every day, you learn something different. Each of the researchers works on different studies.
“You learn a little about all the techniques, and you also give support because people often don’t know how to do what you do,” shared the student.
David explained that his supervisor is Sushila Maharjan, Director of Research into Bioscience and Biotechnology in Nepal, with whom he develops all his projects.
In turn, he helps with the review of scientific research articles, including: An open-source handheld extruder loaded with pore-forming bioink for in situ wound dressing.
The article is published on ScienceDirect, an academic research and information platform.
David explained that there are people and researchers from all over the world, but the Mexicans stand out among them.
“My supervisor says that she likes Mexicans very much, because we are hard workers: we like what we do, we enjoy what we do, and we do it well.
“My first day in the laboratory was the first of February,” Hernández recalled, as his residency was initially only going to be for 6 months.
However, as a result of both his performance and initiative, Yu Shrike Zhang, the principal researcher, suggested extending the stay.
“My supervisor and researcher asked me: ‘What can we do to make you stay?’ I had to take some classes and I spoke with my degree coordinator,” said David.
The student explained that his supervisor suggested taking classes that would be given digitally, which benefited him now that the semester is both virtual and flexible.
It is important to note that, on several occasions, David had the best grade average in his degree, which helped him to be selected for the residency program at Harvard.
David does not have a set return date; he hopes to continue developing projects and working on them until that time comes.
“We all do what we can, within our capabilities. We’re all making an effort. You have to let your work speak for itself,” David concluded.
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