Seniors Camille Bridgewater and Nikki Keith were presented research posters as plenary speakers at the 2023 Beckman Symposium, held in Irvine, California, in early August.
Camille Bridgewater
Majors: Chemistry and Physics
Research topic: “We are focused on biomimicry and looking specifically at the process of photosynthesis to develop carbon-neutral or carbon-free fuel sources. In photosynthesis, plants use water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight to generate nature’s fuel – sugar. However, the overall process is relatively inefficient and requires constant repair. So, we are working to artificially mimic this process with higher efficiency and stability. We are aiming to mimic plants with compounds called metal-organic frameworks as we can tailor these compounds to have similar properties and environments found in plants.”
Nikki Keith
Majors: Biological Sciences and Clinical Neuroscience
Research topic: “My research [is] developing histotripsy as a non-invasive cancer therapeutic. … Histotripsy employs high-pressure ultrasound pulses that are focused to a point inside a targeted tissue (i.e. tumor) in order to generate acoustic cavitation. The mechanical action of the cavitation— rapid expansion and collapse of cavitation bubble clouds — allows histotripsy to selectively and precisely destroy only the targeted tumor into acellular debris while sparing healthy tissues. My work has specifically focused on developing a next-generation handheld, image-guided histotripsy device for higher precision intraoperative tumor ablations.”