Needs Finding Bootcamp + Medical Innovation Bootcamp
¿Todo bien?
The first week in Costa Rica was incredibly eventful! While preparing for the two 3-day bootcamps, I found the article “Optical imaging for screening and early cancer diagnosis in low-resource settings” very insightful (Kortum et al., 2023). The optical imaging machines reminded me of my past Biophotonics class but introduced me to consumer-grade imaging tools. With such advancing technology, who knows, we might one day detect cancer through our phones.
In the Needs Finding Bootcamp, I was fortunate to visit the oncology wards and hematology lab at Hospital Nacional de Niños, shadow brain tumor removal surgeries at Hospital México, and tour the simulation room for clinical training at Centro de Investigación en Cirugía y Cáncer. I noticed some brilliant innovations, including:
- A hematology machine extracting samples and reagents and testing for leukemia
- An all-in-one machine with a shaker, centrifuge, and DNA, RNA, and protein extraction pipetting system
- A stainer.
- A combined ventilation and anesthesia machine
- A selective tissue removal machine
- A surgical navigation system (SNS) for tumor registration
It was fascinating to witness how automation in medical devices ensures a more efficient, accurate, and safer surgical procedures and testing outcomes.
In the Medical Innovation Bootcamp, our team SOMA transformed our previous shadowing observation into a need and proposed a solution. We noticed that while SNS is highly beneficial for tumor registration at the beginning of surgery, surgeons cannot determine how much tumor has been removed during the procedure. Therefore, we came up with the idea of a real-time ultrasound tracking capsule, which allows monitoring of the tumor size during surgery as well as continuous tracking of tumor regrowth post-surgery.
Ultrasound Capsule Endoscopy
Outside of bootcamps, I enjoyed having gallo pinto for breakfast almost every day and trying Julieta’s Gulletas for the first time. I was especially blessed to meet many super friendly Ticos. I did not know any Spanish before coming here, but I made it through the first week. I’ve downloaded Duolingo and am currently on Unit 2 for Spanish. I’ll keep updated my Spanish learning progress. 💪🏼
Gallo Pinto🫘🍚🍳🍌