As we approach the One Day, One Mount campaign, it is important to highlight student’s research that is made possible by such an initiative.
Students in the science majors have the opportunity to conduct independent research with an individual faculty advisor. Matt Koury (C ’17), has conducted many independent research projects being a Biology and Biopsychology major with a minor in Chemistry. Due to his wide range of research, he had the unique experience of working with many different members of the Mount St. Mary’s School of Science staff.
Among these research projects was his cellular biology research project under Dr. Ward. Matt has spent the past 2 years on this research project. He talks about the progress he has made, in addition to the current status of his research. He says, “the project that I have headed has been the production of a lab-on-a-chip device to visualize angiogenesis in vitro or an angiochip. We are currently in the process of 3D printing the angiochips rather than traditional soft lithography methods to save hours of time and resources in the production of the angiochips.”
Dr. Ward notes the real-life applications of Matt’s researching saying, “such lab-on-a-chip platforms offer a reproducible and economic way to generate a three dimensional microtissue. We can then use these microtissues to study many aspect of blood vessel form and function!”
Since his sophomore year at the Mount, Matt has been able to present his research through various outlets. He has presented at the Mount’s SPARC festival, as well as the UMBC Undergraduate Research Poster Presentations.
This spring, he will be presenting a lightening talk on his biology research as well as an honor’s talk on his biopsychology research. Matt has accepted a post-baccalaureate position at NIH to work on the Wnt signaling pathway and its implications in cancer development.