Shirae K. Leslie highlights how using AI could have unlocked key information in the materials engineering portion of her PhD.
🔒 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁, 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲, 𝗰𝗮𝗿, 𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲?
You know that sinking feeling—the frustration of knowing what you need is *right there*, but you just can’t access it.
That’s exactly how I felt during my PhD.
I had successfully embedded cells into a hydrogel (alginate), but the real challenge was:
👉 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗜 𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆—𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘆, 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁?
This question consumed weeks, months—even years.
Many labs, even at top institutions, have struggled to crack alginate degradation for controlled cell release.
And lately, I keep wondering:
💭 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗔𝗜 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻?
This week, I’m diving into how AI could have transformed the 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 portion of my PhD.
If the right polymer and enzyme data existed, AI could’ve accelerated:
* Identifying the right enzyme
* Predicting optimal degradation conditions
* Designing smarter, more responsive biomaterials
Sometimes you’re ready to pop out and show the world what you’ve built.
Other times, you’re stuck behind a locked door, searching for the key.
I hope the former is your story.