What drives our IMPACT Fellows? What groundbreaking research are they pursuing, and what personal motivations fuel their journeys? Through this bi-weekly interview series, we look into the minds of our fellows to uncover not just the science but the stories behind their work. Explore their experiences in the IMPACT programme and the unique perspectives they bring to their fields. This week we had the chance to interview Anubhav Bussooa.
Can you briefly describe your research project and its potential impact on society or the economy?
In my research project MICROFUSE, we are developing a microfluidic chip for long-term 3D cell culturing and monitoring. 3D cell cultures are more representative of the 3D tissues and organs in the human body. The 3D nature of this method comes with 1 significant challenge: getting oxygen & nutrients to the cells at the centre of these 3D cultures. We are trying to overcome this challenge by inducing the formation of a blood vessel network (through the 3D cell culture) which connects to microfluidic channels, filled with culture medium. This network supplies the cells at the centre of the 3D cultures. This helps the 3D culture to stay healthy and functional, thus improving the reproducibility of the experiments.
In the long term, the MICROFUSE project could help to make drug testing more accurate. This could decrease the cost and time needed to develop new drugs. Thus, it will help bring new efficient medical treatment to patients faster.
Coming from Mauritius, what unique perspective do you bring to your field of study at VUB?
Mauritius, being a small island in the Indian Ocean, relies heavily on imported pharmaceutical drugs. There is a growing push for local pharmaceutic manufacturing, but the high cost of drug development is a major stumbling block. It is clear to me that there is a need to increase the accuracy of drug testing and decrease drug development costs. This would enable small countries such as Mauritius to locally produce pharmaceutical products tailored to the local health needs.
What’s been the most surprising or valuable aspect of the IMPACT programme for you so far?
The 1st training week was extremely insightful. The leadership and project management coaching sessions gave me a lot of food for thought. I also particularly enjoyed all the interactive group exercises. Collaborating with researchers from different fields during these exercises, was an enriching experience.
If you could instantly become an expert in another field of study, which would you choose and why?
Healthcare and the environment (health of the planet) are 2 fields that are very important to me. I am currently working as a biomedical engineering researcher in healthcare and it’s a bit frustrating not to be able to contribute to environmental research, given the climate emergency. So, I would choose to instantly become an expert in environmental research.
Last but not least: what’s your favourite invention of all time?
For me, it has to be the microscope. The field of biology would not have been possible without microscopes. I always find it magical to observe cells proliferate, migrate and divide inside the microfluidic devices which I design and fabricate.