News

May Faculty Spotlight - Kareen Coulombe

May 1, 2018
interview

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

For me, it wasn’t a Eureka moment – more like the research process itself.  I tried out a lot of different research areas; I struggled, and then found I needed to ask more questions.  What has been interesting now is how all of those different experiences are coming together in my research. I worked in an embryology lab, a biomechanics lab before settling on cardiac tissue engineering.  It turns out both of those areas are vital to my research now.

 

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

I'm very proud of a 2017 study we published on the developmental maturation of our human iPSC-derived tissues.  It took a long time and a lot of work to pull together all of this data and understand it's impact in the field, because it unites developmental biology, stem cell differentiation, muscle biophysics, tissue engineering, and cellular metabolism -- some of which we had to learn de novo just to get this project done.  In sharing this work at conferences, I have learned that there are leaders in the field of cardiac regenerative medicine who are interested in adopting our use of the morphogen neuregulin to promote cardiomyocyte maturation, and that's an honor!

 

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

(Laughs) Of course. In my case, it’s published! We thought that assembling cardiomyocytes into spheroids before injecting them into the heart would vastly improve heart regeneration and function over injection of single cells.  It turned out that our hypothesis was wrong and there was no change in the in vivo outcomes, but this was important to inform future studies by other researchers.  The story became much more nuanced and pointed to the important contributions of the microenvironment beyond just the presence of cells.

 

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

I take into account student interest as well as the direction of current work in our lab and in the field.  I like to merge the ideas of the students with where we find need in the field and the literature. Even new PhD students can be equipped to identify new projects and areas of interest.  I look at it as a collaboration between me and the student because I want to push them to become independent scientific thinkers as soon as possible. I try to nurture growth as part of my mentoring style.

 

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

Hard work, creativity, and excitement