Ahh a fellow engineer in my midst! My background is in biomedical engineering. I spent a good deal of time working with nerve regeneration on engineered polymer surfaces. What about you??? So glad to have brightened your day a little today!
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The way God wired my brain, I'm actually an inventor, but (as only a few inventors are smashing financial successes) I've had to make a living as an engineer. I worked my way into the field as an industrial and then an electronic technician, then as a software geek specializing in real-time systems. Over the years I've gradually added hardware and PCB circuit design, mechanical / CAD / packaging, and other skills to the set.
I have actually "succeeded" in the invention field, but principally with works for hire that name me on issued patents - patents that are owned by the companies I did the work for. ;)
So, this nerve regeneration; Did you engineer the polymers? Design the setup? Do you work with neural networks? Are you developing a 21st century Frankenstein's creature to replace us humanzzz... ??? :D
I've always wanted to learn more about neural networks, but have been to busy with other survival issues... ;)
Yeah the polymers were mostly silicone or other biocompatible polymers that I made little micropatterns on the surface in the shapes of cells (nanoscale resolution) and one of the ideas was to have the cells follow patterns on the surface, and the surfaces were coated with different trophic factors (proteins to attract or repel the growth) so the whole idea was to get the nerves to go along a path that we designed (encourage them along to the right endpoint.)
Being an inventor sure sounds fun and really challenging! I feel like I have ideas all the time but nothing groundbreaking, just ways to make things or build things that work for my life. :)
That sounds really cool... Thanks so much for giving me a little more insight into what you do, it sounds fascinating.
I wish I could visit your lab and see the equipment and materials and tools you work with.
The idea of engineering things at nano scale is incredibly appealing to me. Have you ever read any of Eric Drexler's work, or heard of the Foresight Institute?
Being an inventor is a ton of fun, and I imagine it would be even more so had I greater time and resources to develop my inventions. I have a laundry list of "latent projects" as long as my arm that have been frustratingly "on the back burner" due to survival issues. But it makes me long for Glory all the more... ;)