UC student honored by Goldwater Foundation

Since applying to the Goldwater program, Stamper has continued to expand his skill set. Stamper’s most recent co-op experience was overseas at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology in Stuttgart, Germany, where he worked in a division of of the institute that focuses on 3D tissue engineering and organ-on-a-chip technology.

The goal of organ-on-a-chip technology is to accurately simulate human biological environments by creating the functions and conditions of organs in miniature form. Currently, organ-on-a-chip systems would be primarily used to test efficacy and toxicity during the preclinical screening of drugs and new therapies. Government regulations require new drugs and substances to be tested for quality, safety and efficacy before they can be authorized for human consumption.

Various types of animal experiments (pigs, rats, etc.) are used in drug research prior to clinical trials, and a lack of equivalent alternative methods necessitates the non-human testing stage. Unfortunately, animal experiment results cannot always accurately indicate a human response to new substances due species-specific differences.

Fraunhofer IGB has been increasingly engaged in the development of alternative human test systems that mimic the complex characteristics of the body. These organs on chips could potentially streamline the testing phase (bypassing animal-based experiments) and yield more accurate results for human applications.

There is currently no gold standard for developing organs on a chip, so rapid prototyping and scaling are major focuses in development. The lab in Stuttgart was experimenting with all types of cells — fat, heart, retina and more — that could be integral in the future of the pharmaceutical industry.

Specifically, Stamper worked on integrating electrodes into a heart on a chip. By creating micro-physiological systems, researchers can introduce substances, or electrical or mechanical stimulation, and observe the results.

Stamper was connected to Fraunhofer through the Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE) program, offered by DAAD (German Academic Exchange Office). RISE Germany offers undergraduate students from North American, British and Irish universities the opportunity to complete a summer research internship at top German universities and research institutions.

Stamper is optimistic for the future, envisioning his research will relate to human-machine interfaces.

“With my minor, my goal would to go the Ph.D. route, or enter industry in an innovative biotech startup," he says.

In fact, he has been working closely with colleagues at Amplify Science, a local biotech startup company (created with support from UC Technology Accelerator for Commercialization) with front-end research and development. He enjoys doing freelance engineering in his free time. “I enjoy exploring engineering in different applications,” he says.

His senior capstone centers around spinal cord injury and efforts to regenerate muscle control, reduce nerve pain and assist in temperature regulation. He is excited to see future applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning for the biotech industry, like (Elon Musk’s) Neuralink, which is developing ultra high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers.

Stamper constantly pushes his comfort zone, and applies what he learns to his engineering. He attended a few hackathons recently to develop his computer science skills, but he frequents make-a-thons more often.

“I’m not a hacker; I’m a maker,” he laughs. “I enjoy 3-D printing, laser-cutting, woodworking. I love building, ideating, innovating — I like trying to push things forward.”