Insigneo by Leticia Campello

What is Insigneo, what it has to offer to undergraduates at the university and my experience as an intern at the institute

“The Insigneo Institute for in silico Medicine is Europe’s largest research institute dedicated entirely to the development, validation, and use of in silico medicine technologies.”

First, let me explain what in silico actually means. In biology, studies can be conducted either in vivo, on living organisms (plants, animals or humans) or in vitro, on living matter (microorganisms, cells, tissues) inside an artificial confinement. In silico indicates studies conducted using computer modelling and simulation. Computer chips are made of silicon, hence in silico is the Latin for “within the silicon”.

The Insigneo Institute for in silico Medicine is a partnership of the University of Sheffield and the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It was established in 2012 and has attracted many academics and clinicians from several departments within these institutions. Insigneo performs cutting-edge research in areas of fundamental and applied biomedical modelling, imaging and informatics which directly contributes to the prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment planning and execution, or management of diseases.

There are currently 45 different projects affiliated with the Insigneo Institute and many of them are also available for undergraduate students. Every summer the institute offers up to 15 internships for University of Sheffield undergraduates studying engineering, computational sciences, physical sciences, life sciences or medicine and dentistry. This is an amazing opportunity to get involved in a 8-12 weeks-long project in which you will work on experimental and computational projects related to in silico medicine.

If you were wondering what it is like to work for this institute - I’m going to tell you a little bit of my experience as an intern at Insigneo. The title of my project was “finite element simulations within a multi-scale framework to predict bone remodelling” which mainly focused on building a CAD geometry of a bone remodelling unit which would bridge the tissue and cell scales, investigating the effect of surface cell deformation when the finite element model of a single cell-tissue model is under shear stress. Also, my project had the aim to validate an analytical model by creating a multiple cell-tissue model, as you can see in the images below.

Through this project, I was able to practice and apply concepts of finite element modelling, such as mesh convergence, and structural analysis that I learnt during my course. Even though I had help from my supervisor and other researchers from the institute, the best part of the internship was that I was required to do everything by myself. This allowed me to develop and hone various technical as well as professional skills. For example, in order to build the CAD geometry and to perform the structural analysis in all models, I had to learn how to use ABAQUS, which was a completely new software to me. Also, I had to do literature review during the entire internship with the purpose of finding the right material properties to be applied in all models.

My only concern, before starting the internship, was “how am I going to learn and understand about bone remodelling if I have never done this before?” Believe me, by the end of the internship I was surprised at how much you can learn from reading and from other researchers. Of course you do not need to know every single thing about whatever your project is, if it is not your field of study, but a reasonable amount of background reading and literature review will help you understand everything you need to know in order to finish your project! I can guarantee I had the best summer as an intern at the Insigneo institute and everything I learnt while I was there, I was able to apply when I started my final year project, which surprisingly is also about bones!  

If you are interested in learning more about Insigneo, what they do and how to apply for the summer internship, you can register your interest and receive notification when the application form is available. Fill your details on this form: https://goo.gl/forms/yr9CZ5pmY6eHdKeU2 or access their website https://insigneo.org/. The full eligibility criteria, application form and list of available projects will be available by mid-February with an application deadline of 12th March.

Engineering You’re Hired! the EYH week by Haiqi Huang

Engineering You’re Hired!-the EYH week by Haiqi Huang

What is EYH?

EYH is the abbreviation of Engineering You’re hired week where students work together with a  group of students from other engineering departments. Together in teams they have to design a project and finally present it to professional industrial directors at the end of week. During the week, we would have to reach “milestones” each day and the research results would be presented to a supervisor in each hub.

Here is a great film showing some of the highlights and students’ opinions about EYH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ggOOGDFaGs&feature=youtu.be

Why do we have EYH?

1)Researching real industrial data.

 The final aim of the EYH week is to design a project that could work in the real world. It was crucial that the data collection and analysis was accurate. By investigating large amounts data in terms of costs and profits for various products, we could provide a much more convincing solution to our project.

2)Excellent teamwork experience

Each person in every group would have the opportunity to become a group leader at least once during the EYH week. This could be an important chance to enhance leadership skills. The major task for the group leader is to set a daily goal, which gives the team an objective to work towards each day.

A huge part of EYH is to learn to cooperate with people from various departments. It is important to get the right balance between defending your individual opinion and listening to other ideas looking at things from a different perspective. In this case, EYH week was an excellent opportunity to master team-working.

3)Enhance your CV

EYH is definitely a valuable learning experience and could make a big difference in career prospects. When we attend university lectures, we learn the theories and different concepts but in EYH we have the chance to try to use what we have learnt, to solve real-world problems.

-What options are there in EYH?

There is a choice of engineering design projects available to choose from which are updated yearly. They cover a wide range of topics such as environmental issues, transport and civil construction design, energy supplies, programming and device design etc. You can note down your preferences and the organisers try to match them.

-An Example:  Nuclear Desalination Plant Design

This is the project I picked up for my EYH week where the objective is to design a desalination plant for an isolated island in the Pacific Ocean, based on nuclear energy. I was working from students from mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering and general engineering. It was awesome to be inspired by people from other research fields with different approaches to thinking. I particularly enjoyed the exchange of ideas, the discussion afterwards and the process of agreeing upon a final decision.

This diagram below shows one of our decision making processes about the nuclear reactor and desalination plant:

                                                                                            

After a 5-days project design, we finally agreed upon a workable project plan which not only included a working concept but also revenue analysis and a payback period.

There was a chance to win a “pitch for funding” certificate for one group in a hub if your team put forward a good design throughout the week. This also meant your design is applicable!!! This would be an excellent addition to your CV. The Picture below is my group and the director from the industry, winning the best ‘pitch for funding’.

                                                                                            

EYH week, took place at the beginning of a new semester, and it was really motivating and inspiring students and a great help in navigating your future career.

To know more information and EYH projects, link below would help a lot:

http://www.yourehired.group.shef.ac.uk/wp/?page_id=18

Meet our IEA - Zifa Zuhair

Hello! My name is Zifa Zuhair and I’m an International Engineering Ambassador.

I am from the Maldives. I was born on a small island and raised in an even smaller one (think less sun-drenched water villas and more concrete jungle). So, as I anticipated, from growing up in such a small community, when I first told my parents and teachers after my A levels that I had decided on studying chemical engineering, I got either “But why?” or “What is that?”. Clearly, I had some explaining to do.

The first time I heard about chemical engineering from a teacher I was intrigued by the name itself. After conducting some research into this branch of engineering, I realized it was the perfect combination of all my interests. Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry and even Biology. Not only does it have immense flexibility as a career choice but the variety of industries that demand chemical engineers are also increasing steadily. Having just completed my first semester at Sheffield University, I realise that this was the right choice of course for me despite the initial doubts from people around me when I was considering this path.

I learnt from a very early age that if I wanted to make an impact in life, I had to get a proper education and work with passion and enthusiasm. So, when I picked which university I would study at I wanted an environment that would allow me to do so. The University of Sheffield focuses not just on achieving excellent academic performance but also on the personal and non-academic growth of students as well. The numerous student led societies and activities stand as proof of this. Sheffield is one of the most student friendly cities in the UK, with affordable accommodation,  discounted public transport and excellent facilities for students. All these factors together made my selection process a lot easier. With a Students Union that rivals any other in the UK and a course ranking among the top in the Russell Group, I had no hesitation accepting the offer made to me by this university.

Growing up in such a small community I did not get the exposure to the real world as many other colleagues may have had. Besides the occasional tourists, Maldives doesn’t have a diverse range of people living there. So, one can imagine how difficult it must have been to come to a country that I had never visited before and having to be surrounded by people from around the world speaking English day in and day out. Of course, after the initial weeks thanks to my new friends and the warm welcome by the university I was feeling right at home. The experience I went through made me realise I wanted to be there for other international students such as myself to adjust and embrace Sheffield as their new homes as they settle in to study here and International Engineering Ambassador scheme was the perfect way for me to do so.

Ten years ago, I would never have believed it if someone told me I would be studying to become a chemical engineer in an esteemed university in UK. I put this down to a lot of hard work and a touch of good luck. Here I am! It never ceases to amaze me that coming from such an isolated and remote group of islands I have the chance to study an amazing course and meet people from around the world every day. Safe to say, I am counting my blessings.