Hello everyone, and welcome back to my blog! Our fourth week was amazing, and marked a shift from the brainstorming/designing phase of our projects to the prototyping phase! The week involved finalizing designs, testing materials, presenting our projects at a health conference, and even speaking with local street vendors to purchase industrial-grade materials. Twende!

In terms of designing, we spent the earlier portions of the week drawing printed circuit boards (PCBs) for our devices. The PCB of a device is used to electrically connect its components, so that they can work together. It was very interesting to not only learn how a circuit board works, but to actually build one from scratch! We also spent time simulating a heating system for our transportable incubator. We discussed many methods of controlling the internal temperature, ultimately settling on a heated-blowing system using a fan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since we already made initial prototypes for the gastroschisis bag, we moved on to testing the materials. There are a variety of plastics to choose from, and different ways to seal the bags. We created many combinations of materials and sealing methods and conducted water leakage testing.

Something I’ve realized at this point in the internship is that engineering is a very multidisciplinary field, regardless of what type of engineer you are; our devices have mechanical aspects, electrical aspects, and software that all work together under the guise of a biomedical issue. Some of our projects involve more of one field than others (gastroschisis bag is mostly mechanical, NICU temperature sensor is mostly electrical and coding-based), but all fields rely on each other to some extent. That’s why engineering is so complex and has many applications, but also why it can be challenging!

 

On the last two days of the week, we attended the 2024 MUHAS Scientific Conference, where we heard from distinguished health professionals on their various research projects. We were also able to present our projects on behalf of NEST360, and speak with local medical students and faculty/lecturers. It was a great learning experience, and a way to see what innovative research people are doing!

 

Over the weekend, we visited Kariakoo Market, one of the largest and busiest markets of East Africa, to find materials for building our hardware. I was amazed by how vibrant and packed the streets were, with vendors selling produce, clothes, accessories, automotive parts, electrical devices, construction materials, furniture, and pretty much anything else you can think of! We talked with a few shop-owners, but didn’t end up buying anything that day. After that, we spent time walking through the entire market and trying some local snacks!

Overall, week four was very productive and eventful, and I’m glad that we’ve made a lot of progress in the first half of the program! Hopefully the next four weeks don’t go by as fast, but are just as significant.

Tutaonana baadaye,

Aryun