Hi, I'm Yuh Harn, the missing group member on the first day, but i'm here now! :) excited to be part of this programme because I've been interested in this course and it feels good to be given this opportunity to immerse in these experimental sessions. The school is huge and finding the location was a problem, i got lost and had to call Ms Ng for help. Then i had a really brief briefing and went through the safety precautions as well. Then finally i met up with my group mates. They were in the middle of electrospinning and Hui Kian updated me on what we were doing. We were making scaffolds for stem cells to grow and differentiate on. She showed us the types of equipment used to produce different types of fibres (varying in term of density, thickness and size). Haven't been anywhere near an electrospinning machine, so learning how it operates is strange yet wonderful. We got to learn how to operate the machine and the results were rather amazing. We made 2 types of scaffolds with fibres of different density. Definitely looking forward to what we are gonna continue with tomorrow! :)
Yuh Harn
Hello! I am Alethea. Yeah, our missing group member is back! However, I only got to meet her later in the lab. Karmen and I went to the lab with Hui Kian first to check out the polymer film that we made yesterday. It had dried. It was very thin like paper. We had to make frames out of the polymer film. Hui Kian passed us a pen knife, ruler and template to use. She showed us how to cut out the polymer film. It was very tedious work and it required a lot of attention and patience. After demonstrating to us, we started doing it. I have a very big phobia of knives! So, I was really scared of the pen knife and tried to reassure myself that I won't cut my hands, since I was wearing gloves. The cutting of the frames was really hard too, the polymer film kept folding backwards, so you have to keep straightening it, whilst you cut it. But, I enjoyed the process, cause it taught me to be more patient. It took quite a long time cutting the frames and I felt guilty for making Hui Kian wait for us. She was really patient with us and waited as we cut. After cutting the frames, we went to the machine where we would do electrospinning, which is making polymer fibres. She showed us that she wants to make thin fibres, so the duration of making it has to be short, or else it would be thick. There were many things to prepare, like pasting the aluminium foil on the disk(the rotation wheel). We also have to paste the frames on the aluminium foil. But, all this preparation was necessary so that we would be able to take out the frames easily. At this moment, Yuh Harn came in and we got to meet her. She is a very nice girl and we started to get to know her. During the process of electrospinning, we had to consider the many factors like rotation speed and the diameter of the syringe. To get the specific diameter and density of the polymer fibres, you have to keep trying like changing the rotation speed. It was really very insightful for me! After preparing all the materials and setting the specific duration, we watched the machine work and saw the very thin fibre emerging from the syringe. It was simply amazing! After waiting for two hours, we saw the final result. The final result was a long strip of polymer fibres on the aluminium foil. It was really rewarding to see that we collected a lot of polymer fibres that is aligned in a straight line. However, the work is not yet finished. We had to clean up the electrospinning machine, where we take out the syringe and metal block to wash. Hui Kian showed us how to wash. She used chloroform to wash every single screw and needle, so that it would not have dirt and the next person could use it. After washing, the chloroform would be disposed in a designated bottle. They really put in a lot of effort into washing it clean, ensuring that there is no germs or dirt. I was really impressed! Then, she took the aluminium foil with the polymer fibres on it and placed it in a vacuum box where the polymer fibres would be dried. She had to take note of the temperature, pressure and the amount of air, as the polymer fibres melt at 60 degrees Celcius. After the whole process, Ajay, our next mentor came. He briefed us on the things that we were going to do tomorrow. He gave us some notes to read up on. Looks like we have a lot of reading up to do for tomorrow!
Alethea
Now it is Karmen's turn to share! We started off the day by cutting the polymer film we casted yesterday into frames. Hui Kian showed us a demostration and passed over the job to us. It was hard work! I had to concentrate to make sure I cut it properly. Hui Kian made it look so easy! The polymer film we cut is quite similar to plastic bags. It was flexible but it is tougher than plastic bags. That is why is was difficult to cut the polymer film.
After cutting only 6 miserable frames (I destroyed one by accident), we finally moved on to the highlight of the day! Electrospinning! Hui Kian showed us how to set up the electrospinning machine. There was a lot of preparation to be done. The disk (a type of collector for the polymer fibre) had to be wrapped with aluminium foil. The more tedious work is sticking the polymer frames onto the disk. We each had a try sticking it on before passing back to the expert aka Hui Kian. She told us she has been doing this for four years already. WOW. No wonder she does it so quickly. I wonder how many times she has done electrospinning in these four years. Four years is a really long time. After all the preparation is done, we can finally start the electrospinning. There are actually a lot of factors to consider when doing electrospinning. Like the spinning speed and how frequently the needle must be cleaned. There are a lot more considerations and Hui Kian shared that she have experimented with different factors in order to find the optimal conditions. This made me remember what science is all about - research and experiment. Everything that we know today wasn't known to people in the past. All of them were achieved through years and years of research and hard work. That is why I admire the perseverance in researchers.
Karmen
Ajay gave us some reading to do! Tomorrow will be a new day with a new mentor, teaching us new things! Good day to all!
We learnt a lot from Hui Kian. Thank you for your patience, Hui Kian!
This is the polymer film we made yesterday, which is made of polycaprolactone. We had to cut frames out of these. We can't show you the frames because it is confidential. Our deepest apologies.
Lots of preparation to do before we can start!!
TA-DA! This is the machine we use for electrospinning. The vertical flat thing, with the metal bar sticking through it, at the bottom is called a disk. It is a type of collector for the polymer fibers we are going to make. There are other types such as drum and parallel plate.
Another picture of the disk, after it is wrapped with aluminum foil along its edge.
IN IT GOES! So exciting!
This is the end-product. The white things on the foil are the polymer fibres. This is considered as a thick and dense scaffold. It doesn't look thick at all with the naked eye.
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