internships
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
I interned under Dr. Prakriti Tayalia, Associate Professor in the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Bombay, over the span of 45 days in the Cell and Tissue Engineering lab. It was inspirational to be under Dr Prakriti, a PhD from Harvard University; her lab has been developing various kinds of material-based systems for replicating and understanding in vivo physiological phenomena. In this pursuit, her team has developed three-dimensional (3D) cell culture platforms for delivery of bioactive molecules.
They have been working on material-based gene delivery to deliver vectors and allow in situ (or in vivo) genetic modification of cells for applications in immunotherapy and tissue regeneration. They have also developed porous cryogel scaffolds for 3D cell culture and have demonstrated their utility for immunotherapy and spheroid formation. These scaffolds enable them to recreate systems to understand underlying cellular mechanisms in normal and pathological conditions and for drug screening applications. Specifically, these platforms can be used to study co-cultures, cell-cell and cell-ECM interactions, the influence of immune cells on tumour cells and vice versa.
During this internship, I shadowed post-doctorate fellow Dr. Hemavati Dandapani. I interacted with several other post-doctorates and doctorates and understood their research focused on immunotherapy, tissue regeneration, and spheroid formation. I also followed their clinical trials and experiments. I learned about material-based gene delivery, a method to introduce genetic materials through the cell membrane artificially. I also learned through hands-on experiments how porous cryogel scaffolds are used for 3D cell cultures by observing the chemical cross-linking of hydrophilic polymers. These experiences helped me learn more about the research side of the medical field and expanded my knowledge about cutting-edge research topics and experimental procedures.