BME Student Places in UCI Grad Slam Competition

April 20, 2016 - Biomedical engineering graduate student Jessica Hsieh won third place and $250 in this year’s local Grad Slam competition, held earlier this month at the UC Irvine Newkirk Alumni Center. The UCI competition is part of a wider University of California contest to showcase the best three-minute research presentations by graduate scholars systemwide.

Hsieh’s research seeks to change the body’s natural response to foreign materials. Any implanted substance – stents, hip implants, and even (future) encapsulated cell therapy – triggers what’s known as the foreign body response (FBR), resulting in inflammation and eventual fibrous encapsulation of the material.

Hsieh seeks to control this natural immune response by studying macrophages, a specific type of immune cells, to see if they can be coaxed into becoming more accepting of foreign bodies. Specifically, she studies the biochemical and mechanical signals to and from blood clots to macrophages during the wound-healing process. She hopes this insight will lead to the development of new coating materials that interact with the immune system in an anti-inflammatory way.

The third-year doctoral student, who works in the lab of biomedical engineering professor Wendy Liu, says she enjoyed competing. “I had a great time doing Grad Slam because I really like the challenge of communicating my research using non-scientific terms,” says Hsieh. “I would definitely compete again next year.”