Hi! I’m Harshini, a potential Neuroscience major and Statistics minor in Wellesley’s class of 2022. I joined the Tetel lab in the spring of my first year. 

Over the summer, I am interning at Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, one of our lab’s collaborators. I am analyzing microbiome data from the Tetel Lab as well as clinical trial data using machine learning algorithms. Specifically, I am trying to determine better ways of analyzing time-longitudinal, high throughput microbiome data by developing an optimal clustering algorithm using predictive analysis. Soon I will be writing out the methods for this analysis. Our hope is to be able to find a relationship between the gut microbiome and anxiety. Having been exposed to research in an academic and Pharma industry setting, I’m able to appreciate the differing perspectives of research in both.

Outside of research I am the Social Media Chair of Awaken the Dawn, an acapella group at Wellesley. In my free time I love to play tennis with my brother and crochet stuffed animals. I am also the founder of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Artistic Hearts, which allows students to perform music for patients undergoing hemodialysis treatment. Currently, this program has over 150 enrolled members in both NJ and MA. I started this program in high school to address the impact of chronic illness on mental health, and I hope to continue expanding it to more areas at Wellesley and beyond! In an effort to inspire students to give back to their communities, I presented Artistic Hearts to over 6000 students at WE Day UN 2017, in Madison Square Garden, NYC.