Students represent NTU at Posters in Parliament Exhibition

NTU physics students, Charu Vijayvargiya and Matt Thomas represent the university at the Posters in Parliament 2019 Exhibition.

On Thursday 7th March 2019, final year BSc Physics student Charu Vijayvargiya and Year 4 integrated Masters student Matt Thomas (MMath Mathematics) represented NTU at the Posters in Parliament 2019 exhibition at the House of Commons.

This event, organised by the University of Sussex, exhibits research undertaken by undergraduate students from across the UK and is attended by MPs and policymakers to witness first-hand some of the most innovative and cutting-edge research taking place around the country. Research presented by the two NTU students included creating some of the first ever samples of lateral flow diagnostic strips made of nanofibre, and character recognition using artificial neural networks; both projects that were highly commended and applauded by the attendees.

Interview with Charu

What was your project about?

My project was to establish a standard operating procedure for lateral access diagnostic strips using nanofibres. I spent 8 weeks over the summer, testing a polymer solution of PAN (Polyacrylonitrile)-DMF (Dimethylformamide) with different percentages of PAA (Polyacrylic Acid) in the solution, creating nanofibre sheets, and performing different physical tests on the sheets, such as contact angle measurements, thickness measurement of the nanofibres, and wicking test, to test how long it would take for a liquid to flow through the different samples created. Since these are initial samples to create diagnostic strips, the wicking test is especially important.

Where did the idea come from?

I came across this project on the list of PURS project advertised to us. Professor Bob Stevens came up with this interesting project and provided me with guidance through my PURS. The reason I chose this project was because of the practical skills I got to learn from it, which are slightly outside of the area we normally study in Physics as part of our course. I have always been very fascinated to go into the biomedical side of things and possibly use my knowledge from Physics in the medical field.

How was your experience?

It was definitely a very memorable experience, to present at such a prestigious platform while networking and meeting other students and MPs from all around the country; and being able to present some amazing research fields NTU is involved in. This project made me realise my passion in the field of research in biomedical, and I am now starting a masters in biomedical engineering this September. In the future, I would like to be able to come back to this particular project, and be able to take it forward with Professor Stevens. Successfully finishing this particular research could definitely result in a much more cost effective and environmental friendly way of manufacturing and providing access to diagnostic strips.