ANU Engineering student Kiara Bruggeman has won the people’s choice prize at the Famelab Australia science communications awards by presenting her research in rhyme.
Ms Bruggeman, a third year PhD student, works in tissue engineering in the ANU Laboratory of Advanced Biomaterials where researchers are working to help damaged brains recover to a healthy state. Ms Bruggeman said using rhyme in one of the world’s leading science communications competitions made sure she was conveying her research to a non-technical audience. “It’s really hard to rhyme scientific jargon,” she said. As one of 12 finalists, Ms Bruggeman said the challenge was condensing into three minutes her research on drug delivery to the brain. “My PhD is focused on incorporating drug delivery into those tissue engineering materials,” she said. “There are a lot of specific issues to do with drug delivery to your brain because your brain has a lot of defences against letting drugs into it.” This competition followed on from Ms Bruggeman’s win in the College of Engineering and Computer Science 3-Minute Thesis Competition last year.
KIARA’S RESEARCH RHYME
Would you let me put drugs in your brain?
I just want to make it healthy again
I’m thinking of brains
After injury or strokeI want to give them drugs
To help those poor folks
Most drugs are quite plain
By needle or by pill
They get into your veins
And find what makes you ill
We can target your liver
We can target your heart
But it gets a bit different
When it comes to your smarts
Your brain is important
And very well protected
So drugs from the blood stream
Just get rejected
Between your blood and your brain
There’s a barrier maintained
And all it seems to do is complain
This molecule’s too big
Or too watery
Or just different at all
It only likes things recognisable, and small
We could also try
A direct injection
Getting drugs right into
The damaged section
But those drugs won’t last long
They’ll be gone in a day
And daily brain stabbing
Won’t keep the doctor away
Every injection
Is a new damaged section
With more brain to heal
And more chance of infection
But my mum always said
There’s more to life than drugs
So let me explain
How we’re solving it with hugs
New and healing brain cells
Need structural support
So we’re using sturdy gels
As a base for drug transport
It needs to be positioned
Right at the damage in the brain
And the gel is far too large
To travel through your veins
So we absolutely need
At least one injection
To get the structured gel
Into the damaged section
And if it has to happen
Well then we might as well
Use that one injection
To deliver drugs as well
Inside the structured gel
Are supportive nano sticks
And they get interesting
When we add drugs to the mix
On a molecular level
The sticks are quite sticky
They hold drugs in place
So they don’t deplete so quickly
The drugs are always there
Protected in the gel
And a little at a time
They diffuse out to the cells
So far I’ve managed
Using this technique
To stretch out that one day
All the way to six weeks
So now I have to say
That I’m feeling quite clever
I’ll put lots of drugs in your brain
And they’ll all be there forever
But wait
That’s not right
That just wouldn’t work
If we got all the drugs at once
Our brains would go berserk
Drugs give cells instructions
They tell them what to do
But timing is important
Step one, and then step two
First grow the new brain tissue
Then connect it to your veins
But we have just the one injection
As I’ve already explained
So how to control the timing?
By attaching molecular chains
Now one single injection
Carries all the drugs together
But only some disperse initially
While those with chains are tethered
The molecular chains
Hug the sticks in the gel
Keeping those drugs stuck
Held in place for a spell
They stay for four hours
Locked in that embrace
Before untangling enough
To move around the place
So now we can deliver
The right drug at the right time
Without multiple injections
And we’ve done it all in rhyme
It seems we have things sorted
Just one point remains
Now would you all let me
Put drugs into your brains?