Mantila Gains Experience at Mayo Clinic
When Michigan Tech students talk about three dimensional modeling, they are usually referring to engineering components. However, this summer Michigan Tech biomedical engineering student Sara Mantila had the opportunity to create a 3-D model of something that the average student might not think about modeling.
"My objective for the summer was to create a three-dimensional model of a rat's spinal cord," Mantila said.
Mantila earned a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from Mayo Graduate School. She spent the summer working under Richard A. Robb, a professor of biophysics and computer science.
"Sara's project involved the study and modeling of functional repair of nerve tissue in spinal cord injury," Robb explained. "She joined a multidisciplinary team at Mayo involved in a preliminary study of implants in transrected rat spinal cords."
Mantila had a choice of several projects, but opted for the spinal cord. "I was most interested in the neuroscience project because it was very cutting edge, and it had a clinical tie, allowing me to work with researchers and engineers, as well as physicians."