Throughout her four years as an Integrated Biomedical Engineering & Health Sciences (iBioMed) student, Sarah Arnold’s studies have led to some truly unforgettable experiences. From conducting research in state-of-the-art facilities on campus, to working across the country, continent and globe, Arnold’s Mac Eng journey has been shaped by her passion and ambition to bioengineer a brighter future.
Arnold shares the highlights of her experience in the field of biomanufacturing as a student, including her most recent research opportunity in Switzerland.
Research background
Throughout my undergraduate degree, I have been heavily involved in research. Back home at McMaster, I completed two co-op terms with the Latulippe Research Group. This involved projects relating to prototyping, 3D printing and bioprocessing, as well as an independent project studying bacteria adsorption on filtration membranes. This was a phenomenal way to build my communication skills, gain wet-lab and data analysis experience, and learn about the research field. Through this group, I also met some of my closest mentors and friends, who have been there for me throughout my undergraduate journey.
After third year, I decided to diversify my professional experience and try something new. I moved to Halifax for the summer and completed a co-op term at Solid State Pharma Inc (SSPI). In the fall, I completed a research project with a psychology professor at the Johns Hopkins Reproductive Mental Health Center, wanting to bridge the gap between my knowledge in engineering and my passion for mental health care. I am so thankful for the wide variety of interdisciplinary experiences I have gotten the chance to pursue in my undergrad so far.
Knowing I wanted to pursue an international research experience this summer, I connected with Professor David Latulippe, who has been one of the most supportive mentors. Through him, I was very fortunate to connect with Tiffany Abitbol, a distinguished professor at Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Écublens, Vaud, Switzerland where she runs the Sustainable Materials Lab (SML). Dr. Abitbol has strong ties to McMaster, having completed a postdoctoral fellowship in chemical engineering in 2014 .
Through this connection, I applied to The EPFL Excellence in Engineering Program and was accepted to travel to Switzerland to complete a research internship in the SML lab. I was also very grateful to receive additional support from McMaster in the form of a Travel for Engineering Outreach Award and the Global Experience Award.
Lab work and culture
I have been having the time of my life working in the SML lab in Switzerland this summer. It has been everything I hoped it would be and the lab dynamic has been wonderful. My PhD student mentor and the others in the lab have been so kind and welcoming.
While materials science is a new area of focus for me, and there was a learning curve with specific techniques, I was thrilled to realize a lot of my previous training (biosafety work, general lab practices and presentation of data/reports) have transferred very nicely to the Swiss lab space!
A majority of my work this summer has been focused on completing experiments relating to exopolysaccharide (EPS) production from fungal growth. Along with my wet lab work, I have been doing some computer based projects relating to design of experiments and general data analysis. Statistics and data analysis have been one of my strongest skills since back in high school, it’s been great to find ways to integrate into a variety of research roles. I am working on putting together code samples for the lab group to help with these processes and setting up some Design of Experiment (DoE) plans. I have the phenomenal IBEHS Statistics course at Mac to thank for giving me a solid foundation in DoE (shout out to Professor Bryan Lee and the wonderful Teaching Assistants!)
Along with helping me succeed in the lab, the lab group has been very inclusive and social with me, inviting me along to play board games after work and going to food festivals on the EPFL campus. It has really helped me feel comfortable with the group and in Lausanne! I feel very grateful to have found another great and brilliant group of mentors in the engineering research field.
Connecting with my Swiss heritage
This summer experience has been a dream come true. In addition to being a wonderful professional and academic experience, there was an additional personal motivation for me to be here this summer. My grandparents immigrated from Switzerland to Canada in the 1960s. My mom grew up in Canada, but spent every summer as a kid visiting her family here. I have been fortunate to visit a few times and it became a goal for me to live in the country for an extended period of time and learn more about my family’s ties here. This summer has been an amazing time to do that.
I have been visiting my extended family most weekends. It has been such a comfort knowing they are there to support me on my journey. I have also been learning more about my grandparent’s lives here before they immigrated – including seeing the technicum school where my grandfather trained as an engineer! They have also been feeding me quite well and introducing me to lots of delicious swiss food.
Along with the family and cultural piece, I have been grateful to have some amazing adventures exploring the country. I’ve visited some beautiful lakes, gone on breathtaking hikes and even went paragliding in Interlaken! I still can’t believe that last one.
Looking to the future and advice for students
Being here this summer has opened my eyes to a wide variety of international research options and I am definitely considering the possibility of going overseas for graduate school to pursue a program that combines medicine and engineering.
The best piece of advice for anyone looking for opportunities like this or are wanting to get involved with new research projects they find exciting is to work hard, build your network, find good mentors (and friends) to learn from and don’t be scared to seek out opportunities – even ones that don’t necessarily exist yet! Find what excites you, send that email and don’t be scared of the response. If you never go for it you’ll never know what could happen.
Lastly, be prepared to have no clue what you’re doing at first when getting into a new project, especially when stepping into a new field or a new type of co-op. Trust the engineering foundation you do know, read a bunch of research papers and ask questions, the rest can be figured out from there. Just be comfortable with not knowing at first, it’s part of the journey!