{"id":747,"date":"2024-09-26T14:20:57","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T19:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/?p=747"},"modified":"2024-09-26T14:35:28","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T19:35:28","slug":"biology-senior-does-bio-engineering-summer-internship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/news\/biology-senior-does-bio-engineering-summer-internship\/","title":{"rendered":"Biology senior does bio-engineering summer internship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Kate Blankenship, a biology senior in the Dept. of Sciences and Mathematics, did a paid summer internship this past June and July in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering at Mississippi State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_Internship_poster_1-1024x681.png\" alt=\"Kate Blankenship standing next to research poster.\" class=\"wp-image-752\" style=\"width:488px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_Internship_poster_1-1024x681.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_Internship_poster_1-300x199.png 300w, https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_Internship_poster_1-768x511.png 768w, https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_Internship_poster_1.png 1032w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Kate did her internship in the Computational Mechanics and Materials Lab (CMML) of Dr. Matthew W. Priddy at MSU. She was part of a team that has developed a desktop device for testing new spinal implant equipment. The machine serves as a substitute for the human cadavers that are otherwise required for such testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"823\" src=\"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_internship_team-1024x823.png\" alt=\"Kate Blankenship and five others wearing surgical gowns.\" class=\"wp-image-756\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_internship_team-1024x823.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_internship_team-300x241.png 300w, https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_internship_team-768x617.png 768w, https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_internship_team-1536x1235.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_internship_team-2048x1646.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Kate worked over the summer on determining the appropriate spinal stiffness setting in their desktop device that will allow the testing of Interbody Fusion Devices (IFDs) used in spinal surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"1019\" src=\"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/IFD_CC_Licensed.png\" alt=\"An X-ray of a human spine with an interbody fusion device inserted.\" class=\"wp-image-757\" style=\"width:360px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/IFD_CC_Licensed.png 600w, https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/IFD_CC_Licensed-177x300.png 177w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>An X-ray of a spine with an interbody fusion device (IFD) inserted. Kate was working with a device that allows researchers to test IFDs without having to put them into human spines first. Picture licensed under Creative Commons, CC BY 4.0. (From Leute <i>et al.<\/i> 2015. <i>J Med Case Reports<\/i> <b>9<\/b>, 22. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1186\/1752-1947-9-22\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1186\/1752-1947-9-22<\/a> )<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Priddy team, with Kate&#8217;s contribution this summer, are working to further refine the bench top device to be more physiologically accurate in simulating the human spine&#8217;s stiffness and compressive load. This work will allow future research on the interbody fusion devices&#8217; response during the insertion procedure, contributing to better surgical outcomes and improved patient care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_internship_1-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Student sitting on the floor with a mechanical device.\" class=\"wp-image-758\" style=\"width:374px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_internship_1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_internship_1-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_internship_1-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_internship_1-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/09\/Blankenship_internship_1-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Kate&#8217;s paid internship was part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/msinbre.org\/internship-opportunities\/\">MS-INBRE Summer Research Scholars program<\/a>. It paid $6500 and included a one-week training program at the University of Southern Mississippi. This program is offered again in summer 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dept. of Sciences and Mathematics encourages all of its students to apply for paid summer research internships. There is a vast number of such programs available each year, and departmental faculty advisors will gladly help students find a summer program suited to their needs and interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kate Blankenship, a biology senior in the Dept. of Sciences and Mathematics, did a paid summer internship this past June and July in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering at Mississippi [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[15,33,21,63,23],"class_list":["post-747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-biology","tag-sciences-mathematics","tag-students","tag-summer-internship","tag-undergraduate-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":765,"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions\/765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.muw.edu\/scimath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}