04/17/2024
By Marla Hilderbrand-Chae

The Francis College of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation proposal defense by Marla Hilderbrand-Chae on a Split Thesis: “Enhancing STEM Identity Through Interventions Designed to Foster Home STEM Talk in Underrepresented Minority Participants in a High School Research Internship” And “Unraveling Transfection Challenges: Exploring Transfection Efficiencies and Nuclear Pore Mechanics in Hard-to-Transfect Cells”

Candidate Name: Marla Hilderbrand-Chae
Degree: Doctoral
Defense Date: Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Time: 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Location: Perry Hall 415

Those interested in attending should contact Marla_hilderbrandchae@student.uml.edu and committee advisor, Yanfen_li@uml.edu at least 24 hours prior to the defense to request access to the meeting.

Committee:

  • Yanfen Li, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Teresa Lee, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Hsien-Yuan Hsu, Ph.D. Associate Professor, School of Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Adam St. Jean, Associate Teaching Professor, Biomedical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Panagiota Athinelis, Ph.D. Associate Principal of Teaching and Learning, Burlington Public Schools

Brief Abstract:
"Enhancing STEM Identity Through Interventions Designed to Foster Home STEM Talk in Underrepresented Minority Participants in a High School Research Internship"

The strength, innovation and sustainability of the US STEM workforce pipeline is dependent upon contributions from all populations, including underrepresented minorities (URM). Understanding the factors involved in choosing a STEM career pathway and identifying elements positively influencing persistence during rigorous STEM education and training programs can enhance URM success in STEM. One of the pillars of STEM identity is recognition of the self as a STEM person and studies have found that family support through home STEM talk (HST) can increase this component of STEM identity. This proposal aims to study whether interventions can be designed to increase HST and whether this will in turn increase STEM identity in high school students. The research setting will include applicants and participants in the PROPEL Careers high school summer internship program. Interactive family outreach strategies will be implemented and resulting data will be collected through a mixed-methods approach.

"Unraveling Transfection Challenges: Exploring Transfection Efficiencies and Nuclear Pore Mechanics in Hard-to-Transfect Cells"

Gene therapy and other biological studies rely on efficient transfection. Transfection is the introduction and successful expression of exogenous DNA in a cell and requires entry through the cell membrane, trafficking through the cytosol, and entry into the nucleus. While viral-mediated transfection is more efficient in overcoming these barriers, nonviral methods such as cationic polymers or lipid-based nanocarriers have reduced toxicity and increased flexibility of DNA insert size. However, low transfection efficiencies for certain cell types, such as Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs), has stimulated research on methods to increase transfection rates, including nanocarrier modifications, cell cycle manipulation, and substrate modification. Due to the role of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in proliferation and intracellular trafficking, modulating substrate stiffness and topography can create favorable cell environments for transfection, allowing for successful cell membrane penetration, endosome formation and transfer to the nuclear envelope. Additionally, stress fibers triggered by ECM stiffness can activate the Linker of Nucleoskeleton and Cytoskeleton (LINC) complex, which transduces ECM force to the nucleus and causes conformational changes in the nuclear pore (NP) to allow nuclear translocation of transcription factors. This proposal seeks to influence transfection rate by inducing favorable transfection conditions for hard-to-transfect cells using substrate stiffness and micropatterning to manipulate cell mechanobiology. The mechanics of the nuclear pore and the LINC complex in successfully transfected cells will be investigated and described.