SQI showcases biomedical research to high school students

The Simpson Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology (SQI) hosted 126 students with the National Student Leadership Conference’s (NSLC) Medicine Intensive program over two separate days this summer, providing an overview of the Institute’s biomedical research and showing the students how therapeutic candidates are synthesized, characterized, and tested in preclinical disease models. 

It was the second consecutive year that SQI welcomed groups from the NSLC, returning to an annual tradition that was paused for three summers due to COVID-19-related restrictions.

“I really enjoy hosting the NSLC students and showing them a little of what we do here at the Institute,” said Mark Karver, Director of the Peptide Synthesis Core Facility and SQI’s primary organizer for the event. “It’s nice to see the energy, enthusiasm, and inquisitive nature of these young students who are preparing to be future scientists, clinicians, or both.”

The visits began with an overview of SQI and a hands-on demonstration with alginate as an introduction to the Institute’s biomaterials research. The students were encouraged to make long noodles and other shapes out of the polymer, which is used in tissue engineering and drug delivery as well as many foods. Indeed, most of the students ate their colorful, gooey creations at the end of the demonstration. 

The students then received tours of the Peptide Synthesis Core (PS Core) and the Analytical bioNanotechnology Equipment Core (ANTEC) laboratories, led by PS Core scientist Suvendu Biswas and ANTEC Acting Director Hiroaki Sai. The scientists showed off the instruments involved in creating peptide-based nanomaterials and demonstrated how amino acid sequences can be tuned to optimize therapeutic materials for different disease targets.

In the ANTEC lab, the students observed how such materials would be processed and tested prior to use in biological systems, including by freeze-drying and evaluation of physical properties. They touched pieces of fruit that had been freeze-dried in the facility to experience the difference in texture and observed how shampoo behaves under shear stress.

They also learned from Research Assistant Professor Nozomu Takata about how therapeutic candidates can be tested in 3D artificial organs, called organoids, and participated in a Q&A with medical students from the laboratory of SQI Assistant Director Erin Hsu.

“It gives me great joy to see the excitement and enthusiasm from the next generation of STEM scholars who are genuinely interested in learning how research labs operate,” Sai said. “I hope they will remember this tour fondly and maybe return as users of the core facility!”

Left: Nozomu Takata explains his research with organoids to high school students from the National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC) (Photo credit: Allie Trueb / SQI staff). Right: Students work together to create biomaterial gels out of alginate (Photo credit: Tally Thompson / NSLC).