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Writer's pictureKendra Oliver

Meet our student-artists: Aimee Li

Hi! I’m Aimee Li, a rising junior studying design and biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Specifically, I’m interested in medical devices, user research, and clear, but fun communication. That aside, I am a huge grass-sitting fan, always looking for new recipes at home.


For this summer, I’m collaborating with Kristy Chiang, where I will be creating a graphic for her research paper. Although my knowledge is limited, her work is on SAVI, a lung disease. She is looking into the endothelial cells of the lung, which she believes causes this disease. STING-associated vasculopathy with onset in infancy (SAVI) is a rare, genetic autoinflammatory disorder. Type I interferonopathy due to constitutive STING (STimulator of INterferon Genes) activation, characterized by neonatal or infantile-onset systemic inflammation and small vessel vasculopathy resulting in severe skin, pulmonary and joint lesions (Sting). SAVI is a rare but fatal disease that primarily affects infants. In short, I will create a graphic summarizing her research paper.


Additionally, because I’m interested in industrial design, I’ll also try to create a concept product that inflates mouse lungs. Kristy uses mouse models in her work, but inflating a lung is difficult (they made a makeshift device, but it’s complicated). I’ll have to see a photo of their current apparatus and know the context and process of inflating a mouse lung, which includes any sterilization processes with the devices.


Regarding the resource I shared, I decided to share Figma. It’s an industry-standard software used to create mobile and web app flows. In other words, it’s great for designing websites and apps! There are two parts of the software: Figjam and Figma. Figjam is akin to Miro or Mural, where open brainstorming and user research are encouraged. Then, once the design components are established, the designer can create a Figma file to make their desired web or mobile designs. Figma is also capable of prototyping, where the user may ‘animate’ their app and have others test how the app works before its official launch. Overall, it’s great software for collaboration and designing applications. It allows designers to work on a design simultaneously, leave comments, etc. However, it does have its limitations too. It has fewer tools for manipulating vector graphics like how you may on Illustrator, and its animation capabilities are rudimentary. Despite that, Figma is great for collaborative design.


“Sting-Associated Vasculopathy with Onset in Infancy - about the Disease.” Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center, rarediseases.info.nih.gov/diseases/12357/sting-associated-vasculopathy-with-onset-in-infancy. Accessed 9 July 2023.

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