Event 1 - Biomimicry in the Garden
I was lucky enough to be able to attend the an event on April 11th: Biomimicry in the Garden: Drawing Inspiration from Plants for Technology. The event was held for a speaker named Nestor R. Gonzalez. Gonzalez, a previous ER doctor at UCLA now working both with UCLA Health and Ceder Sinai, is the principal investagator of a clinical trial. This trial, nicknamed ERSIAS, is aiming to create a surgery that makes an unmodifiable factor in strokes: collaterals, modifiable instead.
Gonzalez began his talk by discussing inspiration, and his specific inspiration as it spurred from the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden. Dealing with emotion and stress after immigrating to Los Angeles, Nestor was told to take the day off by a superior and to go to the garden just across the street from the hospital. Throughout that day off, and several other visits, he began to notice that the tree's branches resembled arteries and vessels of the brain.
The 'art of nature' is what helped to inspire Gonzalez as he faced his sole concern as a brain surgeon: strokes. Strokes, having not enough blood to an area of the brain or a burst of vessels due to clots are common occurances in Gonzalez's work. As of now, we don't really have a good way of treating strokes. Where there are medicines that can control blood pressure and high cholesterol and surgeries that can help to repair damage, its a dilemma of many in medicine.
One of the unmodifiable causes for strokes is collaterals. Having worse collaterals with poor circulation leads to worse and larger strokes. Collaterals are their own factor as well, independent from age, weight or medical history.
Throughout developing the EDAS surgery, Gonzalez used his knowledge and admiration of nature. The surgery seperates arteries from the surrounding tissue, these arteries then begin to create forming vessels to the brain. These vessels are collaterals. Through looking at this process, Gonzalez notices the pattern better as roots than of branches. This led to better understanding of the brain, its vessels and the surgery. The surgery, if and when it is successful, makes collaterals a modifiable cause of stroke!
The event was really informative and interesting, despite the fact that I don't find myself particularly interested in medicine. Gonzalez was a good speaker and I think that his underlying message of inspiration from unexpected places is something that all students can benefit from.
I here will attach both the Facebook event and the Clincial Trial Registry for the surgery. As well as, an unfortunately terrible photo of me outside of the La Kretz Pavilion after the event.
https://www.facebook.com/events/304293440257772/?notif_t=event_ticket_registration¬if_id=1555002931823359
http://www.strokecenter.org/trials/clinicalstudies/surgical-indirect-revascularization-for-symptomatic-intracranial-arterial-stenosis/locations
The 'art of nature' is what helped to inspire Gonzalez as he faced his sole concern as a brain surgeon: strokes. Strokes, having not enough blood to an area of the brain or a burst of vessels due to clots are common occurances in Gonzalez's work. As of now, we don't really have a good way of treating strokes. Where there are medicines that can control blood pressure and high cholesterol and surgeries that can help to repair damage, its a dilemma of many in medicine.
One of the unmodifiable causes for strokes is collaterals. Having worse collaterals with poor circulation leads to worse and larger strokes. Collaterals are their own factor as well, independent from age, weight or medical history.
Throughout developing the EDAS surgery, Gonzalez used his knowledge and admiration of nature. The surgery seperates arteries from the surrounding tissue, these arteries then begin to create forming vessels to the brain. These vessels are collaterals. Through looking at this process, Gonzalez notices the pattern better as roots than of branches. This led to better understanding of the brain, its vessels and the surgery. The surgery, if and when it is successful, makes collaterals a modifiable cause of stroke!
The event was really informative and interesting, despite the fact that I don't find myself particularly interested in medicine. Gonzalez was a good speaker and I think that his underlying message of inspiration from unexpected places is something that all students can benefit from.
I here will attach both the Facebook event and the Clincial Trial Registry for the surgery. As well as, an unfortunately terrible photo of me outside of the La Kretz Pavilion after the event.
https://www.facebook.com/events/304293440257772/?notif_t=event_ticket_registration¬if_id=1555002931823359
http://www.strokecenter.org/trials/clinicalstudies/surgical-indirect-revascularization-for-symptomatic-intracranial-arterial-stenosis/locations
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