I was awarded a prestigious training fellowship from the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. The fellowship provides up to two years of funding, expanding mentorship, and additional training in areas critical to translating research into clinical products. This training fellowship will allow me to receive further mentorship from professors and clinicians within the fields of translational research, including the areas of discovery, demonstration, and dissemination. In addition to formal training in translational science, the fellowship includes training in entrepreneurship, grant and manuscript writing, communication, management, and leadership development. Receiving this fellowship is important as it will give me the skills necessary to bring research from the bench to patients’ lives. This training will prepare me for my career goal of working in neurotechnology. As a researcher in biomedical engineering, translating research into clinical solutions and products may be the most critical step of the research process, as it is necessary to impact any patient population. This fellowship will train me in this area prepare me for a career in translational medicine in neurotechnology. In addition to the fellowship, I have recently accepted a summer internship offer with Ripple Neuro. This local neurotechnology startup spun out of the Center for Neural Interfaces here at the University of Utah. At the internship, I will be working with the Research Support team. As part of the internship, I will have the opportunity to work with their state-of-the-art recording system for bioelectric signals and develop software to help researchers use this system in their labs. I am excited for this internship as it will give me valuable experience working at a leading company in neurotechnology and prepare me for after my graduate studies to work in this field and help bring products from the lab to the patients who will most benefit from the technology. BME alumnus, Dr. Daniel McDonnall, cofounded ripple.
Our recent study published in Nature Communications focuses on VDAC2’s role in influencing mitochondrial calcium dynamics and cellular calcium signaling. Using VADC2 agonist, efsevin, we rescued heart failure phenotype in mice, identifying a new heart failure therapeutic target.