Student Shares Research with President Biden
Leah Roldan, a PhD candidate, met President Biden during the “American Possibilities: A White House Demo Day” in Washington, D.C., in November. The demo day showcases science and technology spurred by federal R&D and the president’s Investing in America agenda. As a graduate student researcher at the Advanced Platform Technology Center and Human Fusions Institute, Roldan participates in Dustin Tyler (Kent H. Smith Professor II of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University) and CWRU Assistant Professor Emily Graczyk’s “Neural Interfaces for Prosthesis Sensory Feedback” study with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. “It was a really cool experience to learn about other research and tech being developed and such an honor to get to explain some of our lab’s work to President Biden,” shared Roldan on LinkedIn.
Grad Student Wins Travel Award to NIH BRAIN Initiative Meeting
Muthumeenakshi Subramanian, a PhD candidate, won a travel award and honorarium to the National Institute of Health’s 9th annual BRAIN Initiative® Meeting in June 2023. Subramanian works in the laboratory of Dominique Durand, Elmer Lincoln Lindseth Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, where she studies the non-synaptic propagation of neural activity, such as epileptic events and theta waves. During the BRAIN Initiative Meeting, she presented a poster entitled, “Extracellular voltage clamp suppresses epileptic activity in mice hippocampus.”
PhD Candidate Earns Award from Parkinson’s Foundation
Prajakta Joshi, a doctoral candidate in biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University, received the Visiting Researcher Award from the Parkinson’s Foundation. The award, which includes a $4,000 stipend, facilitated Joshi’s journey to work with Dr. Sanjay Pandey, head of the Department of Neurology at Amrita Hospital, Faridabad, India. Working alongside Dr. Pandey, Joshi gained experience conducting intraoperative microelectrode recordings of the subthalamic nucleus in response to external stimuli-like vibration. Neural recordings offer immense potential for identifying aberrant brain processes that underlie intricate disease states.
Doctoral Candidate Lands on 30 Under 30 List
Palak Gupta, a biomedical engineering graduate student at Case Western Reserve University, was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Cleveland Local list. She was recognized for her research on understanding the effects of electrical stimulation on visuospatial navigation and visuomotor deficits in movement disorders, primarily Parkinson’s disease.
Two Students Awarded Fellowships
William Wulftange, an MD/PhD candidate in the Case School of Medicine, earned a predoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association. Wulftange, who is pursuing a doctorate degree in biomedical engineering, works in the lab of Umut Gurkan, Wilbert J. Austin Professor of Engineering, where he is investigating CAR-T cell interactions with the blood-brain barrier.
Zoe Sekyonda, a PhD candidate who also works in Gurkan’s lab, received two awards. She earned the American Society of Hematology Graduate Hematology Award and Fellowship, as well as the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) new RADx® Tech DIVE fellowship. The NIBIB fellowship helps underrepresented biotechnology innovators advance their products. Sekyonda built a device that quickly measures oxygen levels in blood samples.
Papers and Posters Win Awards
Four students in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University won awards at conferences. Victoria Laney, a graduate student, won a poster award in the oncology category and the Science Slam Award for her presentation, “MRI Molecular Imaging of anti-VISTA mAb Therapy in Pancreatic Cancer” at the World Molecular Imaging Society 2023. Ved Shivade, a third-year undergraduate, won Best Paper of Session at the 2023 Cornea and Eye Banking Forum for his presentation, “Donor Cornea Automatic Endothelial Cell-Density Analysis.” Graduate student Kihwan Lin’s abstract, “The Effect of Long-term Exercise Training on Metabolic Responses in Obese Zucker Fatty Diabetic Rats using Phosphorous-31 MRS,” was selected as one of the top 100 abstracts at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2023 Annual Meeting. Undergraduate student Chuba Ozor won the oral portion of the Technical Research Exhibition at the National Society for Black Engineers Region IV Conference
Scholar-Athlete Honored
Aniya Hartzler, an undergraduate biomedical engineering student at Case, was named to the United Soccer Coaches’ Scholar All-America First Team. She is the first player in the university’s women’s soccer program to earn first-team honors. Hartzler was a pivotal member of the Spartan backline, helping the defense record nine shutouts and allow just 10 goals during the 2023 season.