An infusion of nature: Biomimicry and medical devices

My name is Kiru. Me and my grandfather used to watch a lot of Nat Geo documentaries when I was a kid. “A feast lies just below the surface.” One particular documentary that stuck with me is this biomimicry concept. How the termite house is helpful in designing the natural cooling system for the buildings or how the snout of the kingfisher is helpful in redesigning the Japanese metro train. That helped me grab new interest towards biometry. He's really inspired by nature. I hired him because he's genuinely curious about the science behind it. That curiosity and that sort of deep pro level thinking is really important. That might this one here. I like doing research work. That is one of the reasons I came to the US in the first place. I wanted to try to pursue masters in Virginia Tech. I just shifted to a PhD in mechanical engineering where I really find a lot of interesting projects I like. I have been working on a couple of projects. The important project for me is the self-powered microfluidic device that pumps drug delivery. My uncle back in India, he has this diabetes. He often feels very insecure to take this medication out whenever we are going for a family trip or something like that. He always feels tired because he is not taking the medication. I often feel bad because he used to be like a very lively person and very happy person, but when he is not taking his medication he always feels down. A lot of people report that the number one reason that they don't stick to a prescribed insulin regimen is because it's inconvenient, bulky, embarrassing, painful if they're injecting with needles. I just wanted to break that feeling he has, like that is one of the reasons I joined Dr. Staples lab because she's working on a drug delivery device that is very small and sleek and cheap. If we can make a nicotine patch size version of insulin infusion that could really be life-changing for so many patients. These devices were inspired by insects. Imagine insects like a small packet of liquid floating around nature. They are in many ways considered the most successful organisms. Insects just breathe right into their tracheal system and carry the O2 right to the cell. We wanted to develop a device that can automatically work without any need of a battery or external power source. They're these little microfluidic devices, insects themselves. Let's learn from evolution about how to handle fluids effectively at the micro scale. This membrane will be strapped against our wrist, our skin. Due to the pulse that we won't be needing any external source to activate those membranes. Our medical device is more like it's very small, sleek, transparent and it will often go unnoticed in crowded places. When people use such devices on their wrist it's easy for them to break these insecurities and they can still have the proper medication they wanted. Medication is more like education, it has to be common and necessary for all the people rather than being non-essential or luxury. VT personally is, it has, I don't know how to say, it's like an undefined attractive force that draws me in every time I go, as I would say, to Blacksburg. Whenever I come back to Blacksburg it's like I'm home. I'm back home. I can be myself. VT has that kind of power on me. Working with Dr. Stables was the best decision I ever made. After my PhD, I definitely want to go back to India and want to teach kids from 8 to 15 what the world can really do for them. My name is Kiru and I'm really glad that I chose PhD at Virginia Tech.