Modular microfluidic platform for biology education
Master's thesis project at UCLA Bioengineering. Engineered a biomimetic culture platform for bone-tissue remodeling, with applications to osteoporosis-treatment development and broader biomedical-engineering education.
What it is. My UCLA M.S. thesis project at the UCLA Department of Bioengineering (2008–2010). I engineered a biomimetic culture platform for bone-tissue remodeling, with applications to osteoporosis-treatment development. The platform was also designed to function as a curricular object for biology education.
The problem behind it. Bone-tissue research was instrumentation-heavy and slow to teach. Most graduate-lab platforms could not be moved or reused as teaching apparatus. The thesis question was whether a single modular microfluidic system could serve both research and teaching contexts without compromising on either.
What I did. Designed, fabricated, and characterized the platform; ran the cell-culture experiments; wrote the thesis. The teaching-object framing went into how the platform was structured and documented, even if the broader curricular use never materialized institutionally.
Publications
- Littrell, R. (2010). *A modular microfluidic platform for biology education.* Master's thesis, UCLA Biomedical Engineering.
Collaborators
- UCLA Department of Bioengineering — graduate program
- UCLA Art|Sci Center + Lab — concurrent fellowship and teaching context