As a third-year natural sciences student here at Southampton, I am assessed in a variety of ways, including essays, scientific reports and presentations. However, being assessed in this way is new to me, and it is one of the things that is exciting me about this module. Another key part of my degree is the focus on interdisciplinary learning across a wide range of modules, which this module will allow me to develop. The content covered in this module is all new to me and looks incredibly interesting, especially the content on prostheses and stem cell ethics. As well as just being interesting, I believe that discussions about the ethics of stem cells in research are crucial in preparing the next generation for leaps and bounds in scientific discovery.

Within the Natural Sciences degree programme you get a large amount of choice, and I mainly focus on organic chemistry and some aspects of biology, including immunotherapy. I also have compulsory NATS modules which I always enjoy, which are accessible to all of us despite all being from different scientific backgrounds. One that particularly resonated with me was about climate chemistry, and was assessed by individual presentations about a chosen topic. The topic I chose was about the impact of shipping on the air quality in port cities, and this is now the basis for my third year project which I am currently working on. The NATS modules are assessed in a way that builds skills outside of written essays and timed examinations, which I believe is really important in preparing us for a life outside of education. This Engineering Replacement Body Parts will build on these skills, including giving presentations, working within a team and expanding knowledge beyond the lecture content.

I do natural sciences, and this is a compulsory module in the third year. At first I was a bit confused why I had to do this module, since it doesn’t have a lot to do with what I usually study. In fact, up until a couple of months ago I thought the compulsory module would be ‘Life in the Cosmos’ which I was really excited to do. However, after attending the introductionary lecture, I am beginning to appreciate that this module will draw from a variety of disciplines and will give me insights into other subjects. I am particularly interested in the ethics lectures since this is not something that I have studied before.

In Natural Sciences I am free to choose modules from a variety of courses- for me that’s mainly biology and marine biology. Right now I am doing a project looking at the protein prophenoloxidase in crustaceans, which is part of their immune system.

One type of replacement body part that I have seen in practice is lens replacement surgery which my mum had a few years ago to treat cataracts. It was really cool to watch how someone who had relied heavily on glasses and contact lenses for over forty years suddenly be able to have the freedom to be able to see clearly without anything. Even something as simple as washing her face without having to worry about getting her contact lens wet has made a huge difference to her life.

dont rlly know what to write…anyways I’m so tired right now. Karaoke was fun last night WOOOOO!

why did i pick this module? probs coz its 40% exam lol (sike it actually sounds cool)

my hobbies are gaming, art, dance (street dance) and volleyball. basically any sport sounds fun i guess. LOVE mgmt and their music…low-key getting into nirvana at the moment.

insta: @ma1u.jpeg

‘comonmuvyabadi’

i am writing this hungover how am i supposed to live laugh love in these conditions

cafe parfait is kinda mid ngl

anyway, this module seemed interesting, which is why i picked it! i do biomed and this seemed like a really interesting extension of the content i’m currently learning

did you guys know there’s a protein named after sonic the hedgehog? that’s pretty cool

a bit about me: i like tennis, reading and music, mostly indie. i’m currently trying to listen to all of radiohead’s discography in chronological order; i’m up to a moon shaped pool

i’m realising this post is just non sequitur after non sequitur i’m sorry lmao

This is a blog

It is great to be a part of this module

Nick Evans

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Targeted drug delivery has always been a keen interest of mine. Having seen first hand the effect of chemicals such as chemotherapy drug being delivered to the whole body rather than just the tumour, I am excited by the possibility of being able to prevent these drugs from affecting healthy tissue. Microbubbles have been used widely in targeted drug delivery and contrast imaging. However, their relative instability is a key disadvantage. Enter the nanodroplet: a particle of diameter ~200nm with a perfluorocarbon core and phospholipid shell. The smaller size allows them to be more stable and less likely to be removed by the immune system.

It has been shown that the superheated stability of nanodroplets enables them to undergo acoustic droplet vaporisation (ADV) to become a microbubble. ADV occurs due to an applied ultrasonic sound wave. Sound waves occur due to changes in pressure in the surrounding media. Areas of increased pressure occur as a result of the particles being compressed together. Areas of decreased pressure occur due to the particles spreading further apart in a phenomenon known as rarefaction. Rarefaction results in a decrease in pressure in the nanodroplet. If the pressure drop is enough then the required vaporisation temperature will reduce to the surrounding temperature allowing the nanodroplet to vaporise into a microbubble of diameter roughly 2.5-3.5 times the diameter of the original nanodroplet. If the peak negative pressure is large enough, the resulting microbubble is able to undergo inertial cavitation where the microbubble diameter doubles then violently collapses due to the inertia of the surrounding fluid which increases delivery of gases dissolved in the encapsulated perfluorocarbon by either increasing “leakage” from the microbubble or increasing permeability though the endothelium.

Overall, I feel nanodroplets are a promising new technology in the field of targeted drug delivery. They have the unique ability to solve the challenges posed by current microbubble therapy without completely redesigning the wheel.