Our students reflect on how PI mentorship has helped them on their research journey.

Benjamin's Reflections on Research and PI mentorship:

My undergraduate research was primarily focused on investigating Amyloid-b and its role in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis. In particular, the question to answer is if the Amyloid-b ion channels formed in the cell membrane exhibit cytotoxic behavior. Our answer to this question employed a combination of Atomic Force Microscopy and Planar Lipid Electrophysiology to characterize both the structure and electrical conductance of Amyloid-b variants. I worked with fellow recent-Bioengineering-graduate Andrew Nguyen, who deserves just as much recognition for this research as I do. I am extremely grateful to Dr. Abhi, who took the time to teach me AFM and trusted me with a lot of freedom to handle the electrophysiology side of his project.

Given all this, I'd say that the best guidance Professor Lal gave me was forcing me to be independent and self-driven to do research. Instead of assigning me to a project, he forced me to reach out to the (at the time) graduate student who was working on AFM, Abhi. Now, I consider myself lucky that l'm so easily enamored by pretty much every topic I've come across thus far, but this ensured that I was invested - this was research that I want to devote excess time to. I think this genuine interest in a project is lacking for some people; I'm mostly thinking about some undergraduates who only join a lab for credits or to get their name on a paper or two. If you don't really want to do research, then don't do research. At the end of the day, the lack of passion is almost always reflected in the quality of research.

To sum, I was fortunate to be guided toward something that I was entirely invested in, something I would put off classwork or dinner for and was always cooking in the back of my mind. What I did is simply the result of investing time and effort into a project.

His future plan is to enter the PhD Graduate Program in Bioengineering at UC San Diego.

Rachel's Reflections on Research and PI Mentorship:

I was lucky enough to match into Dr. Engler's lab in my first quarter as a part of my scholarship program. In my first two years, I worked on a project investigating the effect of polymorphisms in a coronary artery disease risk locus on blood vessel dysfunction. Specifically, we modeled how high vessel shear stress enhances the permeability of stem cell-derived endothelial cells by testing them in a microfluidic vessel device at varying stress levels. We found that the level of shear stress regulates the impact of the genetic variance, with pathological shear levels correlating to altered expression of extracellular matrix and adhesion genes. For the past two years, I have been working on developing electrospun conductive polymer scaffolds to support the maturation of cardiomyocytes from stem cells, which could have a significant impact on heart disease research and modeling. 

Dr. Engler has been an incredible mentor to me for the past four years in my research, academic, and professional pursuits. One particularly helpful piece of guidance from him was to picture what I want my life to look like in 10 or 20 years from now, and to craft my career path based on that vision. This advice has guided me in many decisions, solidifying my desire to go to medical school while maintaining a research focus, and also encouraging me to maintain a good work-life balance in order to one day have the life I want. I’m thankful to have had Dr. Engler’s mentorship, as well as the mentorship and friendship of all my labmates and particularly the graduate students I worked under in my time here.”

Scott's Reflections on Research and PI Mentorship:

Once students were able to return to campus after the Covid pandemic, I joined Dr. Adam Engler’s lab. His lab focuses on the mechanobiology of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and aging. Within the lab, I was fortunate to work with Dr. Natalie Kirkland, a postdoc with expertise in molecular biology. For 18 months, I investigated how age-dependent lamin remodeling induces cardiac dysfunction using a Drosophila model. This included learning and perfecting skills such as Drosophila microdissection, PCR, RNA FISH, and confocal microscopy. The research I dedicated the most time to individually was focused on showing that if Lamin C was preserved in adult flies, so was cardiac transcription factors and heart function, which together extended lifespan. 

Dr. Engler has been an exceptional source of support and motivation throughout my journey. What truly sets Dr. Engler apart is his openness to new ideas. He not only listened attentively but also fostered an environment where new concepts could flourish. This was further enhanced by his commitment to frequent communication. Dr. Engler placed great importance on staying connected and maintaining a strong rapport with students. Through regular interactions, Dr. Engler ensured that I remained on track and focused on our goals. This proactive communication allowed us to catch and address any mistakes or obstacles early on, preventing them from derailing our progress. This proved invaluable in keeping on track while performing revision experiments to complete them on time, and successfully.

Scott's Reflections on Research and PI Mentorship:

I received research training while working in Dr. Sheng Zhong’s Lab on the Alzheimer’s Disease liquid biopsy project. The goal was to find extracellular RNA biomarkers of four different dementia-related diseases in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid samples. We constructed cDNA libraries from more than 700 plasma samples and over 500 cerebrospinal fluid samples. With the help of my mentor in the lab, we organized complicated donor information based on which we divided the samples into tiers. When the RNA library from cerebrospinal fluid samples wasn’t as robust as expected, I looked into publications and learned about possible causes. 

With the guidance of my PI and mentor, we were able to solve this problem. Throughout this project, I received great support and encouragement from my PI. I felt very honored to participate in this project as I acquired hands-on experience in research projects from the discreet planning and preparation step to carrying out large-scale experiments and looking for the cause of unexpected outcomes and trying to find solutions.

Helen graduates in her class with Cum Laude honors. 

The MiaFit team is a Bioengineering senior design group that designed and prototyped a mechanotherapeutic intravaginal dilator for the treatment of vaginal stenosis and other gynecological disorders. Vaginal stenosis is a long term side effect of pelvic radiation therapy treatment for gynecological cancers, and it involves symptoms relating to the narrowing and shortening of the vagina. Vaginal stenosis can negatively affect the quality of life of cancer survivors by causing physical and emotional discomfort and impairing sex life following an already painful, uncomfortable radiation treatment.  The MiaFit dilator device is designed for affordability, portability, privacy and ease, which will revolutionize the way we treat vaginal stenosis. This group was mentored by both Dr. Frank Talke and Dr. Melissa Ledgerwood Lee, and one of the most valuable pieces of advice given to this team was given by Dr. Ledgerwood Lee towards the beginning stages of this project. She told them that most devices are made to make the most amount of profit possible, so it is important to have a good understanding of the clinical need in patients to design ethical and beneficial medical devices. This advice really allowed us to focus on the needs of vaginal stenosis patients and to explore why current devices on the market don’t meet these needs. 

Ritika Singh, BS ‘23 

Stella Kotzabasakis, BS ‘23

Melina Tsotras, BS ‘23

German Gonzalez, BS ‘23

The Adjustable Prosthetic Socket Team is a Bioengineering senior design group who developed a new adjustable prosthetic socket to adapt to the daily volume changes in the residual limbs of amputees using force sensing elements and air bladders, avoiding complications associated with poor fit such as sores and skin irritation. Below knee (BK) amputees face acute diurnal volume changes in their residual limb. These daily fluctuations cause pressure sores, poor gait, decrease in proprioception, and pistoning within their prosthetic often leading to rejection of the device or, in extreme cases, reamputation. Despite this, prosthetic sockets built today remain rigid and non conforming to the human body. Our team developed a method of adjusting the internal volume of the socket. Utilizing force sensitive resistors (FSR) and custom designed 3D-printed air bladders located in critical locations of the socket, changes in fit can be detected and adapted for, to maintain total contact throughout daily activities. Paired with a phone app programmed by the practitioner, the socket can maintain ideal fit per patient and record volume change trends to further improve fit.

Jay Chok, B.S. '23

Anton Gerasimov, B.S. '23

Savanna Turner, B.S. '23