Author: kierat554

I actually managed to get lost on campus on the last day at RTI. Following is the thrilling story: It was 1:20, we had just returned to our office from the cafeteria, and I realized I was still hungry because I hadn’t packed enough lunch. So, I grabbed my wallet and decided to try to run back to the cafeteria and buy some sweet potato fries before it closed at 1:30. Despite literally JUST having walked from the cafeteria to our office I could not find my way back. So, at 1:28 I realized I was not going to make it, I returned to my office, dejected, hot, and sweet-potato-fries-less.

The rest of my day was much more fulfilling though. It was all about commercialization: we sat in on a commercialization meeting for the sensors we observed the making of yesterday, and we presented on our findings for the mini-commercialization project we were assigned at the beginning of the week. It brought everything back to the idea that RTI is all about putting science into real practical applications. Even though there is cool research going on, without commercialization, there would be no way to get that research to market and bring about change for the better.

Our day was neatly cut in half today by a campus-wide power outage at RTI!

Pre-outage, we observed the making of yet another project that has applications in oil and gas: the making of small spherical particles that can deliver micro-sensors into an oil well. The particles themselves applied knowledge of polymers that we learned yesterday, and I was glad that I was able to follow along. The sensors themselves have huge potential in what they can measure in the future, and having knowledge of the contents of an oil well can greatly increase its efficiency.

Post-outage, we were told that we may have to leave early, but luckily, one of the few buildings that still had power was the building we were scheduled to be in. We were given a tour of the building, which houses all the labs and cool machines for analytical chemistry. We even got the opportunity to make standard solutions and run them in one of the machines!

The most memorable part of today was definitely visiting the “poop lab” at RTI with Dr. Katie Sellgreen. The pungent smell certainly made an impression, but the project itself was very cool. The Gates Foundation put out a challenge known as “Reinvent the Toilet” for someone to create a self-sustaining toilet to be used in villages in India where there is no infrastructure in place to support the flush toilets we are so used to here. The design was pretty ingenious: the solid and liquid waste gets separated via a filter, the solid is combusted and the energy released goes to generating and electrical current that passes through the liquid to clean it, and the cleaned liquid is used to flush the next use. Madisen and I actually got to collect real data when we had the opportunity to test various properties of water samples (that had been cleaned but still looked brownish-yellow).

Perhaps the funniest story came when I asked how they obtain their samples of feces and urine. Dr. Sellgreen explained that they ask for volunteers from RTI employees, and a system is set up so “donors” can remain anonymous and are actually rewarded with an Amazon gift card. She went on to say though, that most donors are men who are working on the toilet project, and don’t feel any shame at all about it. Dr. Sellgreen recounted stories of how the men would eagerly point out which samples were theirs, urge for them to be massed, and compete with each other to see who’s weighed the most.

The afternoon was spent with Dr. Natalie Giourard, who basically gave us a lesson on polymers. I never thought I would find them so interesting, but I was fascinated! The hardest thing for me to grasp was how pervasive polymers are in our everyday lives. There are polymers in our water bottles, phone cases, furniture, even clothing – and not many people appreciate their ingenious chemistry.

In the morning, we talked to Dr. Kevin Boggs, who works in commercialization at RTI. He talked to us about what his job entails, his education, and his career path. I honestly wasn’t expecting much from the meeting, but Dr. Boggs was very engaging and I found his story fascinating. I realized breakthroughs in research can’t make a difference on their own: they have to be commercialized for the public to benefit. Dr. Boggs talked about how it was gratifying to bring life-saving applications of research to people, even though he wasn’t involved intellectually in the discovery. He discussed how it was beneficial for him in the business to have a PhD in biology – it allows his to understand the concepts he’s selling and also gives him credibility. It was interesting to hear about an application of an advanced science degree that isn’t in research. I also learned about the Copyright Clause in the US Constitution (Article 1 Section 8 Clause 8) that guarantees an inventor the right to their invention!

The afternoon was dedicated to extensive chemical inventory. Madisen and I got through two shelves of chemicals in bottles big and small, some expired, some leaking, some with names that took up two lines on the bottle. A particularly memorable name: (heptadecafluoro-1, 1, 2, 2-tetrahydrodecyl)trimethoxysilane. As Madisen aptly put it, “you know it’s bad when (something like) ‘cystamine dihydrochloride’ seems refreshingly short.” It’s all part of the intern experience.

I’ve been told my posts are too lengthy, so I’ll try to condense a very busy day and touch on what I feel were the most exciting points. It’s difficult, as were exposed to so many different projects today!

First, a follow up on the cement experiment we set up on the first day: we got great results, and a graph to go with it! The results were aligned with our expectations. Sugars are a retardant in the hydration process of cement and salts are a catalyst. I was shocked to see the difference between the samples with 1% maltodextrin (sugar) and 1% calcium chloride (salt). The maltodextrin sample was still so fluid that it could be easily stirred and poured (see picture). The calcium chloride sample, however, was rock solid – there would have been no way to get it out except cutting open the container (see picture). I did learn that a sample with 0.05% sugar can retard the process by 12 hours, and since we used 1.00%, it could be weeks before our sample sets.

The main activity we did today was making WOW particles – water in oil in water particles. They are essentially delivery devices, and the specific WOW particles we made are used for delivering substances into oil wells. The core water, which we colored with food coloring, the second layer is a monomer that serves as the oil, and the third later is water. The “fusing” of the layers, or emulsion, is then set off by shining a UV light on it (see picture). The final step was to put the particles we made under a microscope and look at what we made – cute little spheres! (see pictures)

Speaking of microscopes, we got to observe an amazing one in the afternoon. It was an SEM microscope, short for scanning electron microscope, that produces detailed images of extremely small particles by scanning them with a focused beam of electrons. There was one particular example image on display, where the microscope was able to show the bumps and ridges on a single human hair. (see picture) The technology is extraordinary, and I feel so lucky to have seen such beautiful images of spectacularly small particles. (see pictures)

 

It was another busy day at RTI!

I spent the entire first half of the day sitting in on an important conference about the federally funded project to prevent HIV for South African women. Some background: a small implant is being developed to be inserted somewhere discreet (perhaps upper arm or thigh) and consistently release the right amount HIV preventing drugs over a period of about 3 months. As Dr. Rothrock described, this meeting was essentially the “annual check-in” to report on the progress made on the project. This meeting was especially important, as they plan to move into a human trial in 2018. We dialed into the conference, which was being held in Washington DC, and watched the presentations as researchers from RTI and their many partners presented to various important people, such as representatives from the USAID.

For being dialed in to such a high-stakes meeting, I was surprised by how relaxed the environment was in our conference room. Of course, our mentors from RTI were listening, but they joked about difficulties they encountered and told us fun anecdotes about their colleagues. I remember when something called HiP (HIV implants for prevention) was being presented about, and they joked “we have HiP now, get ready for HoP!”

In fact, how I would describe the whole day is “surprisingly chill.” We spent the second half of the day observing in lab, as important data was being taken for the HIV prevention project. It was obviously nothing to be taken lightly – all equipment was sterilized extensively before use and all work was done inside a sterile hood – yet the scientists we observed were extremely friendly and willing to answer questions. I learned so much from talking to them: from the different types of capsules and the differences in how they release the drug, to the proper procedure to sterilize equipment, to the difference between a chemist and a chemical engineer, to why not to take power walking as a PE class in college.

Everyone at RTI has been so friendly, even offering to connect us to people in the field we might want to work in. One of the scientists I talked to, Phil, gave me career advice, saying “if you’re curious about something, you’re probably a nerd… if you like problem solving, I’d recommend science as a career.” He also told us that we would get a chance to get our hands dirty and do some real lab work soon!

I had a good first day at RTI!

We were first given a general overview of RTI and its mission: to improve the human condition. While broad, this mission was one of my main draws to RTI in the first place. I love science, and I love that at RTI, it is being applied to solve real and pressing problems around the world. It was inspiring to see a place where science is not merely isolated to a laboratory.During the initial presentation we also learned about some of the many projects we will be exposed to during our short time at RTI. I was really impressed by the range of work done there, ranging from public health to social policy to energy research. The two biggest projects focus on reinventing the toilet in India (funded by the Gates Foundation) and preventing HIV infection for women in Africa. What struck me about both of these projects was that here in the US, we take the solutions to the problems they are trying to solve for granted. There are toilets that flush everywhere we go and there are drugs that have proven to be almost 100% effective in preventing HIV infection. The problem lies in the specific environment: villages in India don’t have the appropriate infrastructure to support flush toilets and women in Africa are shunned if they are seen taking medication. Thus, a solution has to be found for that specific environment, which requires understanding the local culture. I found the problem to be an intriguing blend of social and natural science.

We did do some work in the lab today, but purely for demonstrative purposes, which is what the majority of our work in the lab will be. We conducted an experiment that will determine how different additives affect the hydration process of cement. Since the hydration process is exothermic (releases heat), the different cement mixtures were placed in a calorimeter, a device that measures that heat. It was very cool to see a real calorimeter in action, as in the calorimetry experiments we did in class, we used makeshift calorimeters made from foam coffee cups that yielded results with about 2000% error. We prepared four cement mixtures, each containing 300g cement and 120g water. One was a control, one had 3g maltodextrin (a sugar) added, one had 3g calcium chloride (a salt) added, and one had 1.5g calcium chloride added. We set up the experiment today to run overnight, so I’m excited to return tomorrow and see the results!

Fun fact: cement is the powdery mixture that is mixed with water and hardens, the hardened product made from cement is called concrete.