A cellular imaging CDIO project for 2nd semester students in engineering biology

The demand for exact engineering within the life sciences is growing and the Engineering Biology programme at Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden, prepares students for a career at this interface. Conceive – Design – Implement – Operate (CDIO) was recently pioneered in an introductory project course. Groups of six to seven students apply a LIPS scalable project model from traditional engineering educational environments on, for example, a cellular imaging task in a hospital setting, prior to taking courses in cell biology/optics. Besides facilitating the implementation of CDIO in higher courses, students gain early career insight and enhance their communication skills. A customer (senior teacher) needs to visualise structures in cells, and the student group is contracted to deliver an applied and optimised method to meet specified requirements. The customer reviews deliverables before the tollgates and communicates with the student project leader. Other students are responsible for documentation and subsystems. The project is allocated laboratory facilities and hardware, and two fictitious subcontractors supply samples and consumables. Extra teachers perform supervision and methodological consultation. In summary, CDIO is indeed applicable and rewarding in cellular imaging, yet is also challenging.