Synergy Undergraduate Research Day marked the exciting finale of the SBME Synergy Undergraduate Summer Research Program, a unique opportunity for students to dive into hands-on, paid research in UBC’s world-class biomedical engineering labs. Throughout the summer, students explored real-world challenges, contributed to innovative projects, and built valuable research skills. On Research Day, they took the spotlight—presenting their work to peers, faculty, and the wider SBME community. Two students earned top prizes for their Trainee Rapid Talks, recognized for delivering clear, engaging, and jargon-free presentations that made their research easy to understand and impactful.
Congratulations to Leo Chung, who worked in Dr. Annie Ciernia’s lab exploring The role of inflammatory bowel disease in the neurological immune response to the development of Alzheimer’s disease pathology in mice, and to Corliss Chu, from Dr. Calvin Kuo’s lab, whose research focused on Applying deep learning to PPG signals for sleep apnea detection in children. Their outstanding work and compelling presentations stood out among a strong field of emerging researchers.
“The Synergy Program provided me with valuable first-hand experience in academic research, in both self-directed and collaborative settings. I especially appreciated being exposed to diverse projects aimed at improving human health, which broadened my perspective on the potential within biomedical engineering. These experiences not only strengthened my technical skills in motion capture and machine learning, but also gave me confidence in navigating the research process, from defining needs to analyzing and presenting results. Building on this, the highlight of my project was applying data-driven biomechanics and physiology-guided machine learning to address real-world needs.” said Corliss Chu.
“The Synergy program was fantastic in meeting like-minded individuals across many different biomedically related fields. Interacting and learning about researchers who study topics ranging from brain biomarkers, diabetes, heart disease, and sleep apnea gave me tons of insight into how research looks in other biomedical fields, and also helped me learn more about myself as a scientist and my place in the world. Synergy helped me work towards my future goals through providing me with an experience to conduct academic research, while giving me the opportunity to present my work in an oral setting — which was my first formal experience in this medium! My Synergy research also allowed me to discover regions of interest which I am passionate in studying, and helped me uncover specific research topics which I hope to continue working on, such as microglia.” said Leo Chung.
From building technical skills to clarifying career paths, the Synergy Undergraduate Summer Research Program offered students an immersive, enriching experience—one that continues to shape their academic journeys and future contributions to biomedical engineering.