Student Spotlights

Monika Tadrous

photo of Monika at poster presentation

Major:

Mechanical Engineering

Expected Graduation Date:

May 2020

" Monika has excelled in every aspect of her work, and has a very bright future ahead of her."

-Dr. Wylie Ahmed

ABOUT MONIKA

 

Question: Please describe your specific area of research.

Monika:  Dr. Wylie Ahmed and I collaborate with the Interdisciplinary physics laboratory at the University of Grenoble Alpes in researching the dynamics of cells in a confined geometry.

 

Question: How would you describe your undergraduate experience in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM)?

Monika:  Throughout my stay at CSUF, NSM has supported me with many opportunities. I was an LSAMP scholar last year and after finishing the program, CSUF LSAMP program supported my travel to France for the summer to conduct research. Currently, I am a MARC scholar.

 

Question: If you could thank anyone on campus, who would you thank and why?

Monika:  While there are many professors who supported me during my stay at CSUF, Dr. Wylie Ahmed has been exceptional to all his students including myself. Dr. Ahmed introduced me to research when I first transferred to CSUF, and he taught me a lot. Not only did he teach me the physics needed for research, but he also helped me develop my professional and personal skills. Dr. Ahmed always encourages his students to reach higher, and he inspired me to further my education by applying to graduate school for a Ph.D.

Nathan Berue

Image of Student Nathan Berue for Student Spotlight

Major:

M.S. in Biochemistry

Expected Graduation Date: 

December 2019

"First year graduate student, Nathan Berue's research has made a breakthrough relating to the biochemistry of copper overload diseases."

-Dr. Maria Linder

ABOUT NATHAN

 

Qutestion: Please describe your specific area of research.

Nathan:  In Dr. Maria Linder's lab, the research I'm involved with is researching liver cell mitochondrial copper-binding proteins in the LPP rat, a rodent model for human Wilson's disease. Wilson's disease is an inherited disorder that results in high levels of copper to accumulate in certain organs of the body, especially the brain and liver, leading to copper toxicity. The symptoms of Wilson's disease, can range from liver failure, cerebral edema(brain swelling), hormone production issues, and death. These symptoms usually begin to appear in those afflicted with the disease, between the ages of 12 and 23, but with early diagnosis and treatment, via chelation therapy(using chemicals that can bind to and take metals out of the body, such as copper, zinc, and others), patients with Wilson's disease can live for much longer. Unfortunately, issues with this therapy can arise, including kidney damage, low levels of dietary trace minerals, low blood calcium, and others.
 

The human body can be thought of as an extremely electrochemically dynamic environment, meaning lots of energy is being transferred to and from various things, which also means a lot of these things, which make up our body or things we eat, inherently have energy, such as proteins, fat, carbohydrates, our muscles, the tissues of our organs, etc. To get this energy transferred to the appropriate locations/target molecules, the body utilizes many different molecules and/or metal ions, that can conduct energy to various targets/locations, similar to how electricity is conducted using copper wiring. This planned and complex energy transfer system keeps our metabolism working and ultimately keeps us alive and healthy.

 

The reason I am investigating the liver cell mitochondria of rodents that express Wilson's disease, is because liver is a central site for copper within humans, and the liver cell's mitochondria is the main site to which excess copper is stored. The interesting thing about copper, as well as many other metal ions within the body, is that it is never freely floating around. Normally, the body makes appropriate amounts of this protein "machinery", called enzymes, that specifically use/bind to copper, to which this copper-enzyme can carry out such functions as (safely) transporting copper, pumping copper in/out of organs, and using copper to transfer energy from one target to another. Because copper is an extremely strong energy conductor, and the human body, exhibiting a lot of reactions that need energy to go to certain places/things, excess levels of copper will indiscriminately interact with parts of our body it normally wouldn't interact with. When excess copper begins to build up though, the body can respond to this by defensively increasing levels of enzymes, that can bind to the excess copper. Some of these copper-binding enzymes could be ones not discovered or ones that have already been identified, but not known to act as copper binding enzymes. I hope my research not only better elucidates possibly how humans deal with the excess build up of copper in their body, but also may provide more insight on copper metabolism, which may lead to better, alternative treatment options for patients, afflicted with Wilson's disease.

 

Question: When and how did you first get involved in research?

Nathan:  I first got involved in research when I was an undergraduate at the University of California, Riverside. I started research in the bioengineering department (even though I was a biochemistry major), under Dr. William Grover, between my junior and senior year of my undergraduate career. As to how I got involved, I literally went to a few different professors at UCR, talked to them about their research, got to personally know them, and then I decided whether I wanted to ask them if I could get involved with their research. I asked Dr. Grover because he was working with a lot of really interesting stuff, including functionalizing 3-D printed parts for various research equipment used in biological process, like creating small-scale bioreactors, as well as using microfluidic mass sensors to make precision measurements of the density of single living cells. As to what drove me to get involved in research was ultimately due to the flexibility on how a problem can be approached, how various perspectives can be generated on a single subject, as well as presenting a metaphorical goldmine of information that can be learned.

 

Question: If you could thank anyone on campus, who would you thank and why?

Nathan:  I would like to thank the undergraduates and graduate students in Dr. Linder's lab, who I've had the pleasure to meet, for providing a helping hand with my research, lab and class presentations, and also for having a decent sense of humor. Dr. Maria Linder, for being the best teacher I've ever had(more than likely will ever have), in academics, research, and, surprisingly, ancient world history. Teddy Kidane, for being a wealth of information and help with various parts of my research, as well as being a great friend. And, totally not related to anyone in my research lab, but is a student on campus and my good friend, Noe de Leon, who is always willing to train martial arts with me and hang out when I need a minute away from the lab.

Ankit Salhotra

Image of Ankit Salhotra for Student Spotlight

Major: 

Biological Sciences

(Cell and Molecular Biology)

Graduation Date: 

May 2018

"Ankit started as a sophmore in my lab. Then completed the BSCR training here at CSUF. He joined Dr. Longaker’s lab at Stanford for his internship. He just published his internship results in Nature, which is an amazing accomplishment."

-Dr. Nilay Patel

ABOUT ANKIT

 

Question: Please describe your specific area of research.

Ankit: During my undergraduate career at California State University, Fullerton, I performed research in Dr. Nilay Patel’s lab, which primarily focused on elucidating a mechanism through which our designed drugs were decreasing HeLa cell proliferation. In Dr. Patel’s lab I was able to screen and identify a few synthesized drug compounds that consistently decreased cell proliferation and -Catenin protein levels through the canonical WNT/-Catenin pathway. I proposed the drug compounds were decreasing cell proliferation by inhibiting mitochondria activity and as a by-product led to lower levels of -Catenin. While in Dr. Patel’s lab, I was accepted to CIRM Bridges to Stem Cell Program. I chose to conduct research at Stanford University School of Medicine in Dr. Michael T. Longaker’s lab. My research at Stanford focuses on studying the properties mandibular bone healing after injury. In particular, we focus on how skeletal stem cells respond to mandibular injury and enact a regenerative program to promote bone regeneration. In this context, we constantly try to elucidate the cellular and molecular signals that allow skeletal stem cells to attain plasticity during injury to promote healing.

 

Question: If you could thank anyone on campus, who would you thank and why?

Ankit:  I would like to thank to Dr. Nilay Patel for giving me an opportunity to work in his lab. His mentorship and guidance allowed me to excel in my undergraduate career at CSUF and during my internship at Stanford. In addition, I would like to thank the mentors of the CIRM program Dr. Alison Miyamoto and Dr. Valarie Rosa for helping me develop as a young scientist. Without the CIRM program and my mentors, I would not be able to amount to success I have achieved today.

 

Question: What are your future career plans?

Ankit:  I plan on applying to medical school during the 2019-2020 cycle and I am hoping to matriculant during the summer of 2020. Through my experience at CSUF and Stanford, I have realized the direct impact scientific research has in advancing medicine forward. Unfortunately, at times, clinical observations may not be reported to scientists due to the lack of collaboration. To address this, I want part of my future professional career to focus on research while I am taking care of patients.