Hometown: Surrey, BC
Program: PhD in Biomedical Engineering
What attracted you to your field?
My decision to start the program was driven by a combination of curiosity and perfect timing. Prior to enrolling, I earned my Master of Science degree and spent several years working as a research assistant. During that time, I was introduced to the promising field of cell replacement therapy and the significant challenges related to scaling up cell production. Intrigued, I wanted to delve deeper into the subject. Fortunately, I was in the right place at the right time, fully prepared to seize this opportunity.
What is your favourite moment from your time at UBC?
My favorite moments occur when I see the sparkles in my mentees’ eyes as they gain confidence in their abilities both inside and outside the lab. It brings me immense joy to know that I have played a role in helping them achieve their goals or discover new ones.
What is one piece of advice you have for students entering your program?
Find your village — a group of friends who rejoice, laugh, cry, challenge and empower you. While it’s possible to navigate this journey alone, having a supportive village by your side makes it all the better.
Tell us briefly about your research in layperson’s terms, and the impact you hope it will have?
Diabetes is a serious global health issue and one way to treat it involves transplanting islet cells — pancreatic cells that produce hormones, including insulin — from donors into people living with diabetes. However, there aren’t enough donors to meet demand. To address this, researchers have developed methods using human pluripotent stem cells, which can grow indefinitely and can become any cell in the body, to create islet-like cells. This method involves several steps and uses special containers and bioreactors to grow the cells. My research focused on understanding the ingredients and methods used to manufacture these cells.
Additionally, I worked on identifying challenges within the manufacturing process to ultimately enable the production of these cells in quantities sufficient to help the millions of people living with type 1 diabetes.
What’s next for you?
I’m thrilled to begin my career in the biotech industry. I’m also looking forward to traveling and enjoying some well-deserved rest.