August 29, 2005 Vol. 77, no. 1F

LAB RAT : BioE senior Angela Wu in the BioMEMS/BioPOEMS lab located in Hearst Memorial Mining Building. Wu spent the summer testing new diagnostic devices as a student researcher in the Berkeley Summer Bioengineering Research Program.

A summer of BioPOETry for undergraduate researcher

This summer, BioE senior Angela Wu rubbed elbows with a bunch of poets, though not the literary kind. Wu was an undergraduate researcher in BioPOETS, also known as the Biomolecular Polymer OptoElectronic Techno-logy and Science group, led by BioE associate professor Luke Lee. For 10 weeks, Wu tested and performed data analysis on a microfabricated device for single cell-level studies. The micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) device is essentially a lab-on-a-chip, and about the size of a Scrabble tile. In this particular project, the goal of the device is to screen for drugs at a high rate by measuring currents and voltages in cell behavior.

Wu conducted experiments on the device by adding different drugs and testing the device’s ability to characterize them. “What I’m doing is essentially applying drugs to see how they might affect the cells in our bodies,” she explains. “MEMS is a pretty new field and I like the novelty of it. It’s a great way to learn things.” For Wu, that’s been about learning a technique called patch-clamping and how to use the lab equipment.

Gaining new knowledge and skills is the idea of Berkeley’s Summer Bioengineering Research Program, sponsored by the BioE department and the Guidant Foundation. This past summer, Wu and 21 other undergraduates participated in the program. They conducted full-time research, and earned a $3,200 stipend and the chance to add the experience to their resume.

Wu, who wants to be a professor or a biotechnology CEO, got a head start on her research career. She began working for BioPOETS in March, after going in and talking to Lee. “It’s really important not to be shy,” she says. “Take the initiative to go talk to the people in charge. Do your prep work.”

Despite a full course load, Wu managed to fit the research in by negotiating her schedule with her supervisors. “People think research is a lot of work and you can’t manage. You can manage, though, and even have time to do things on nights and weekends.”

For more on the Summer Bioengineering Research Program, go to http://bioeng.berkeley.edu/guidant/.

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