1) When did you know you wanted to be a biomedical engineer/researcher?

When I entered a PhD program, my plan was to leave with a Masters and go into industry, but once I got a taste of research, discovery, and invention, I got hooked.  It was really that first study that I was able to do to completion. It was fulfilling to realize that I was the first person to discover this or understand it. Through research, you uncover something that no one was able to see before. Discussions with my graduate advisor reiterated these realizations.  The freedom of curiosity is amazing. It’s always new, always different.

 

2) Of all of the publications you have written, is there one that you are most proud of? Why?

That’s a hard question. A study that I did as a postdoc was a turning point for me.  I was looking at the properties of cells across all different tissues with samples from OR patients.  There were not many other groups looking at cells across all of these systems, and I realized that the similarities and differences were applicable across fields.  It focused on imaging and mechanical properties and was a linchpin paper in getting my K99/R00 award. As a trainee I had fairly easy reviews, but as an independent investigator without mentor names on my papers the reviews became more difficult. The reviews make papers better, though, and I know the reviewers don’t just want to tear people down.

 

3) Did you ever do experiments that didn’t work?

All the time! Negative results are still good science, but there were times when I had uninterpretable data.  That’s worse. It’s important to realize that it not necessarily an issue with you as a researcher, but you need a different approach. Early in my career I was studying chondrocytes from rabbits and needed to figure out how to digest the tissue. I tried enzymatic digestion and it didn’t work at all. It wasn’t a nearly consistent enough technique for the thin layers of tissue we wanted. I tried several different approaches and eventually found an abrasion approach of scraping the tissue with a scalpel that worked well for the tissue. It seemed like a bit of a rough approach but we realized that the structure of the chondrocytes allowed it to work well.

 

4) How do you choose the projects your group works on?

The lab is currently funded by large grants, and projects have to fall within a larger umbrella.  I let students be guided by the grants and experiments that I laid out, but I try to give them leeway because PhD students need to learn to develop their own projects.  Rarely do the grants and experiments happen as originally described. It’s a process of discovery. Good grad students have fantastic ideas. We try to map out a thesis early on and pick some low hanging fruit for their early projects to learn the process all the way through, but few do the exact things initially planned.  I don’t want to force them to do something that they don’t want to do, but I may ask them to show me that it isn’t feasible or fruitful before moving on.

 

5) What three qualities are most important for ensuring success as a young researcher?

Enthusiasm, creativity, diligence.

 

6) What is creativity in research?

Creativity is often just a leap in understanding. Taking knowledge from one area and applying it to work in another area. BME is so diverse and there are many ways creativity can exist. For example, a student can apply polymers to actin cytoskeleton.  This creativity can lead to new interpretations of projects and data.