Secondary school students had the opportunity to see firsthand everything that can be done inside a laboratory. Flying drones “with the power of the mind” (in virtual reality), performing an MRI on a wasp, working on human genome sequencing, and using microbes to transform waste into compounds of high economic value, such as biofuels, were some of the “magic tricks” during the Open Labs of the Department of Bioengineering (DBE), held at Alameda campus of Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, from 20 to 24 April.
Through virtual reality games developed by the Evolutionary Systems and Biomedical Engineering Lab (LaSEEB), participants gained an understanding of how to approach a patient’s neurorehabilitation following a stroke. Daniela Esteves, a doctoral student, showcased the work conducted in the lab. “Here we use an electroencephalogram to measure the brain’s electrical activity; we interpret the signals and send a command to an external device. In our case, we primarily use virtual reality because it is easy to use”, she explained. By repeatedly imagining the movement, the patient stimulates the damaged area of the brain, thereby encouraging it to relearn the lost movement.
“One of the advantages of using virtual reality is that people become immersed and can trick the brain into thinking the avatar is their own body; this helps them activate the brain more effectively and makes things more fun”, she added. The researcher also believes this is a “direct and useful” way to apply this technology, which, in addition to helping with stroke cases, can be expanded to other cases of mobility issues.
“Do you know how many cells are found in the human body? About 37 trillion cells. The scale of organisms is absolutely enormous”, shared Emanuel Gonçalves, a professor at Técnico, introducing Bioinformatics and Computational Biology in the Study of Biological Systems to students of Passos Manuel Secondary School. The lecture aimed to explain the possibilities of this field, which, according to the expert, is “very promising”.
“We had never heard of Biological Engineering before; we found it very interesting”, summarised Natacha, Nicole, and Sofia, 10th-grade students. Nicole expressed her dream of becoming a biomedical scientist and found it intriguing that biomedicine is connected to engineering. César, a 12th-grade student, said that the “intellectual aspect” demonstrated in the labs had sparked his interest in biomedical engineering. On the other hand, Natacha highlighted the importance of the social aspect of academic life, as presented by the Biological Engineering Students’ Organisation (NEBIST) and the Biomedical Engineering Group (NBEM).
Bruno Morais, a physics and chemistry teacher who accompanied the class, believes that, in the students’ minds, there is a “blank slate to be filled” regarding what university is like, and that these visits offer an “opportunity to get a closer look and talk with university students”. Additionally, he noted that, at the secondary school where he teaches, it is “a tradition to take advantage of the Open Labs.”
Rita Nunes, a professor and researcher at Técnico, explained the work of a biomedical engineer, namely on magnetic resonance imaging. On the task of explaining this subject to secondary school students, she highlighted that although it is “a challenge because it involves a complicated technique”, these activities allow students to gain “a clearer idea of what a scientist’s life is like”.
Throughout the week, the students had the opportunity to detect genetic material, examine microbes under a microscope, learn more about the production and purification of a biological product, see an MRI machine in operation, and learn about neurorehabilitation, among many other activities.
