SURF Mentoring
Potential projects/topics: The Veiseh Lab is focused on developing implantable cell-based therapies for a wide range of human diseases by leveraging the latest techniques in synthetic biology, immunoengineering, and material science. I am leading a new project in the lab (THOR: Targeted Hybrid Oncotherapeutic Regulation) where I have the goal of engineering cells to produce different immunotherapies in response to electrical stimulus for ovarian cancer treatment. In this project, I am working to ensure the cells meet the necessary potency, are resilient to the inflammatory environment, produce effective immunotherapy combinations, and are viable/safe in vivo. I work alongside researchers in several labs both at Rice and across the country to integrate our individual components into a complete implantable device that is able to sense and respond to the disease state.
I hope to mentor an undergraduate student this summer through the SURF program! I envision this student working with me to design and clone a plasmid to produce an immunotherapy agent of interest, transfect cells with their designed plasmid, select the cells that contain the plasmid, and test the engineered cells' production of the immunotherapy agent. Through this process, the student will also learn cell culture skills including changing media, passaging, and freezing cells. Additionally, the student will be provided with background material to increase their knowledge on the project and the overall cell therapy and immunotherapy fields!
Feel free to contact me at (gm52@rice.edu) with any additional questions regarding the potential project!
Potential skills gained: The student will gain skills in cell culture, molecular cloning, synthetic biology, quantitative assays, and data analysis
Required qualifications or skills: Preferably the student should be a Bioengineering or related major. While there are no required skills or background knowledge necessary, students must have an interest in immunology, cancer therapy, or cell engineering!
Direct mentor: Graduate Student