Graduate Student Alice Li. (Photo: Arthur Lo)
After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin in 2009, Alice Li matriculated to Georgia Tech where she quickly became involved in the biomedical engineering community. Li is currently a graduate research assistant in the Guldberg Musculoskeletal Research Lab and works primarily with composite models and tissue engineering. Li makes animal bone defect models, one of which involves removing a small portion of a rat’s femur, fixing it with a plate, and allowing it to heal to study regeneration.
As an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, Li participated in a research program sponsored by Women in Engineering (WIE). Through this program, Li performed research on kinesiology, the study of human movement. She mostly focused on the effects of fatigue on muscle coordination and stability. In addition, Li spent a year researching embryonic stem cells and how the cells can be differentiated through markers. Li also worked in the University of Texas Learning Center tutoring fellow students in subjects such as organic chemistry and calculus.
After graduating with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2009, Li choose to come to Georgia Tech because “Tech has a really good program for tissue engineering, and the atmosphere and social life were somewhere [she] saw [herself] fitting in really well.” Since coming to Georgia Tech, she has become heavily involved in the community, participating in BBUGS – Bioengineering and Biosciences Unified Graduate Students. Li served as the Research Committee Co-Chair and organized the Techniques Symposium as well as seminar talks. Li has also been involved with the Biotechnology Career Fair as the Advertising Co-Chair where her main responsibilities include increasing student participation in the career fair and contacting biotech companies. When not occupied with research, Li enjoys participating in GT Salsa.
In the Guldberg Musculoskeletal Research Lab, Li develops composite models to help demonstrate what the after effects of an injury – such as a bullet wound – would be on a bone and to study the methods through which the affected tissues regenerate. When a bone is injured, multiple cracks and trauma to surrounding tissues and muscles occur; rarely are there single, clean breaks. The composite model simulations have helped point out several areas which must still be explored, such as the loss of cells which could help with healing properties as well as problems with blood vessels. In the future, this research will expand to encompass more areas of research – including that of stem cell – and to provide advances in treatment for composite injuries.
For all undergraduate students, Li has a few words of advice: “Georgia Tech is such a great school with excellent biomedical research; it’s a good opportunity for undergrads to get their hands wet with research. It also provides you with some hands-on experience that companies typically like. Explore a lot of different things and find yourself a hobby – this is the best time to gain lots of different experiences. Also, find yourselves some really good friends; once you head out to the work force (if you’re not going into higher education), most of the people that you meet will probably not be the same age or will not have the same hobbies/interests as you. College is a good time to make some great friends that you can stay in contact with for the rest of your life.”
