Research Project

Currently, I am in the process of developing my own research project studying MYH7 in planarians.  MYH7 is a gene expressed in human heart walls, made of muscle, to power contraction. This gene is a central gene in cardiomyopathy because when mutations are created they cause inefficient or dysregulated contraction of the heart muscle. While planarians themselves do not have hearts, they are primarily made of muscle, which is made from ancient cells that precede the development of human hearts. In this project, I will perform single cell sequencing analysis and examine the history of planarian muscle. I hypothesize that MYH7 is expressed in planarian muscle cells, therefore becoming an excellent and easily accessible research model for studying cardiomyopathy.

Before finding planarians, I was interested in the use of zebrafish as a research model for developmental biology. I find the process of zebrafish heart regeneration through gene editing or stem cells fascinating. After learning to comprehend research papers, I read in-depth about 15 specialized papers representing a range of methods and results. From this base, I synthesized the most interesting materials and data into a 7-page literature review, a roadmap for my project. I then created a research project proposal. I showcased this proposal at the MARC ISR I Poster Presentations, which can be found below.