Goldwater Scholar Shares Her Research Experiences
Kaitlyn Ramesh, E’25, bioengineering, has recently been awarded the prestigious 2024 Barry Goldwater Scholarship for her undergraduate research in the Lu Lab and the Prigozhin Lab. Aside from her research, she has been involved with groups such as the Women’s Research Engagement Network and received other awards such as the AJC Merit Research Scholarship.
Kaitlyn Ramesh, E’25, bioengineering, sought out on-campus research opportunities right from the start. In her first year, she was selected for the Undergraduate Program for Leaders in Future Transformation, or UPLIFT. Through this program, she works with BioE Assistant Professor Mingyang Lu in the Lu Lab, one of the labs in the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics. Ramesh recognized the importance of longevity in research positions right away, so she was eager to get an early start.
“Your research experience is much more fulfilling if you’ve been in that research position for a longer period of time, so starting as a freshman was quite helpful,” Ramesh says. “Having a lot of peers that were in the UPLIFT program and have had a similar experience was also great.”
While in the Lu Lab, Ramesh uses data analysis and mathematical models to understand how genes cause specific biological processes, such as cancer metastasis and stem cell differentiation. Her project incorporates bioinformatics to build an algorithm that can help detect pseudotime.
“You can think of it as a Google Maps for cells where we want to go from cell A to cell B,” Ramesh says. “Pseudotime will tell you the time scale it takes to go between those two positions.”
Using pseudotime, Ramesh is able to learn the different rate parameters of various genes and determine how they behave and how quickly they act. Keeping track of when different cells activate makes it easier to figure out what processes are set in motion and what cell types can emerge as a result.
Ramesh with the Lu Lab team.
Over the summer between her first and second year, Ramesh interned in the Prigozhin Lab at Harvard University. This internship provided a vastly different lab experience for her, which gave her the opportunity to see the many paths she could take as a bioengineer. Her work in the Prigozhin Lab expanded her research on visualizing cell signaling processes, but it focused more on device development and instrumentation.
“My particular project was to build a microfluidic device where we can facilitate stimulation of samples,” Ramesh says. “We can inject a drug and see how it responds and then visualize that process.”
Ramesh used live imaging to see the drug responses in real time and froze samples at particular times to observe the response with a higher resolution imaging modality. She also built 3D printing and CAD skills through programs like SolidWorks.
Through her AJC Merit Research Scholarship from the Undergraduate Office of Research and Creative Endeavors, Ramesh continued her work in the Lu Lab as her first co-op. With more time to devote to the lab, she was able to present her work at RISE, Northeastern’s interdisciplinary research conference. She was also selected to speak at UQ-Bio Research Symposium in Colorado, which helped her connect with scientists interested in computational biology and biophysics.
Ramesh is a recent recipient of the 2024 Barry Goldwater Scholarship, which recognizes her undergraduate research accomplishments. The Goldwater Scholarship is one of the nation’s most prestigious, merit-based awards for undergraduate students who plan to pursue research careers in natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics. In the application process for the scholarship, she prepared a personal statement and a research essay discussing her algorithm and progress in the lab. Receiving this recognition was a full-circle moment for her.
“I’ve been doing research for a while at Northeastern, and it’s been a really big highlight of my experience,” Ramesh says. “I came to Northeastern because I wanted to do this research, so it was super exciting for me to have this opportunity to showcase myself and get recognized for it.”
Ramesh has had plenty of guidance through her research, but unsurprisingly, she says that one of her closest mentors is Professor Lu. By introducing her to computational biology, he set her on the path to success from the start. His guidance was key in her ability to achieve the AJC and Goldwater scholarships, she says.
“When I was applying for the Goldwater [scholarship], regardless of what happened, I knew that he was one of the mentors that could always support me no matter what,” Ramesh says.
She also found mentors in Dr. Prigozhin, who gave her a wealth of advice about graduate school, and BioE Assistant Professor Helen Markewich, whom she has stayed in contact with for guidance about co-ops, scholarships, and research opportunities.
Ramesh and Janani Elumalai, winners of ViTAL’s Husky Health Innovation Challenge 2024.
Ramesh has also received the competitive PEAK Ascent and Summit awards, which provide grants for student research, from Northeastern’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors. As part of ViTAL and Northeastern’s Health Innovation Core, she collaborated with a friend to design and propose a hospital simulation tool to help autistic patients communicate with hospital staff and improve their experiences. This project won them first place in the Husky Health Innovation Challenge. In her Cornerstone of Engineering course, she was part of a team of students who designed an EMG-based rehabilitation sleeve for athletes, which they presented at RISE and the American Society for Engineering Education conference.
Ramesh is also involved with the Women’s Research Engagement Network, or WREN, at Northeastern. WREN fosters a community between women at all undergraduate research levels through support events, which Ramesh says have provided her with plenty of mentorship opportunities. During these events, she has been able to pass on her own knowledge while learning from others, creating a give-and-take environment.
Ramesh presents her algorithm at the WREN 2023 Summit.
“I love talking to other girls in research and hearing their experiences,” Ramesh says. “I think we all grow together and look up to each other.”
Especially with graduate school on the horizon, Ramesh has taken time to figure out exactly what impact she wants to have on the bioengineering field. She sees precision medicine as the future of medicine, and that’s where her passion lies.
“Being able to use the computational tools to analyze genomics data and infer what therapies would be most effective… and be able to prescribe the medicine that suits their needs, I think that would be really cool,” Ramesh says.
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