Week 3

My third week of being immersed was spent entirely in Dr. Spector’s research lab as he was on vacation. During my time in the lab, I began work on one of the projects assigned to me: characterizing the sacrificial microfiber (SMF) vascular construct. One of the properties of the SMF construct I am to investigate is the diffusion of molecules through the vascular channel. One of the key functions of the vasculature is to deliver nutrients and oxygen to the surrounding tissue, which occurs through diffusion. Therefore, it is important to understand the diffusive properties of any construct meant to replace the vasculature. To accomplish this, fluorescent molecules are delivered to the channels and the diffusion of these molecules are observed through fluorescence microscopy. The intensity of the fluorescent molecules can be represented using an intensity distribution which can be related to the diffusion constant of the molecule in this specific platform. There are a few roadblocks I need to work out to be able to perform this calculation. Further discussion in the lab should help me solve these.

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