Sahana Subramanian
Sahana Subramanian is a junior pursuing degrees in Bioengineering and Biochemistry at the University of Washington. Interested in research from an early age, she joined the Zheng Lab at UW the summer before her freshman year, beginning work in the field of artificial tissue engineering. She was named a Mary Gates scholar, and a Robinson Center Experiential learning scholar in her freshman year, an Undergraduate Research Fellow by UW’s Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine in her sophomore year, and a Levinson scholar during her junior year.
Currently, she is working with the Zheng Lab to study endothelial cell (EC) response within a perfusable engineered heart tissue (EHT). 3D in vitro models, such as EHTs, have the potential to replicate human cardiac physiology, but often lack the critical element of vasculature. Vasculature networks are critical to heart function and homeostasis in vivo, and are thus key to include within in vitro models. Sahana is investigating the effects of various flow rates, and their corresponding shear stresses, on EC function within a perfusable EHT developed by the Zheng lab. With this research, she hopes to find key data regarding the function of ECs that can be used in future experiments with this perfusable EHT model.
Sahana is passionate about engagement within the scientific community. Research is highly individualized, with the questions in the field reflecting the researchers asking them. The more individuals engaged in research, the more diverse and representative questions that get asked. Scholarships not only provide funding for her to continue her work within fields of interest, but also allow her to engage with a large community of driven individuals. Engaging with this community supports her eventual goals of pursuing higher education within artificial tissue engineering, and future work as a researcher in this field.
Sahana would love to thank her fantastic mentors Dr. Ying Zheng, and Ariana Frey for their constant reassurance and never ending support. She would not be able to do this work without them!
Goals
Short-term, I intend to complete my undergraduate degree and pursue higher education within the field of artificial tissue engineering. I intend to use this degree in my long term goal of dedicating my efforts towards the development of translatable, novel, artificial tissue therapies
Tips
Being able to integrate different parts of your life into different application components is crucial to making your application impactful. Making connections between the various work that you do, whether it is personal interests or coursework, and seeing how it applies to your research is what I believe makes applicants stand out. Integrating these parts of your life not only helps reviewers resonate with your work, but also helps you center yourself and realize the impact of the work you are doing.
