ABOUT ME
My name is Christopher Wu, and I am currently a senior at the University of South Carolina. I will graduate in May 2019 with a degree in Biomedical Engineering (B.S.) and a minor in Chemistry.
During my time at the University of South Carolina, I have had the opportunity to participate in two major research project within the Chemical/Biomedical and Mechanical/Biomedical Engineering departments as well as to be a part of major organizations including: Phi Delta Epsilon, Alpha Epsilon Delta, Engineers Without Borders, Cross Country Club, and First Baptist Church. Through these unique experiences, I have decided to pursue a career in translational research.
Cell Biology and Polymer Science Research in the Jabbarzadeh Lab
Biomedical Engineering Class of 2019
I have had the opportunity to travel to Boston, MA and Managua, Nicaragua with First Baptist Church and Phi Delta Epsilon, respectively, where I was able to serve communities in need through service or medical volunteering. These two trips showed me the fulfillment of helping others and the impacts that can be made by utilizing what I have learned to improve the others' quality of life. To me, translational research is a way to both see the direct impact made on patients while, at the same time, provide scientific discoveries that may one day lead to much more significant impacts to the medical community.
Starting at an early age, I have always found a desire to help those in need and a passion for physical science, scientific investigation, and engineering. With a MD/PhD degree, I intend to cultivate a career that combines medical research with
clinical practice that will hopefully provide a new perspective to the medical and research fields when compared to a more traditional MD or PhD degree. By doing research in the field of stem cell engineering, I have realized the potential life-saving applications of stem cells in both regenerative medicine and drug delivery (i.e. cancer research) and intend on emphasizing research in this field for my graduate studies as well as my future research career. As an undergraduate student, to pursue my aspirations, I have emphasized experience in biomedical research, patient care, and networking. Careers being a physician-scientist performing clinical research require not just clinical and research experiences, but also substantial mentorship, collaboration, and organization infrastructure development.
My positions as the lab manager for the Biomedical Engineering Program and Teaching Assistant for BMEN 101 and BMEN 361 taught about several of the necessary skills required to be successful in the field of research. These include organization and mentorship skills.
My undergraduate research career has been highlighted in two major research experiences: Dr. Ehsan Jabbarzadeh’s group in Chemical/Biomedical Engineering and Dr. Tarek Shazly’s group in the Mechanical/Biomedical Engineering. I joined the Jabbarzadeh Research Group in the Fall semester of my sophomore year (September 2016) where I have working on developing a temperature-responsive hydrogel platform to mechanical deform cells for intracellular delivery applications. I joined the Shazly Research Group in the Fall semester of my senior year (August 2018) as an extension of my engineering senior design project, where we have been investigating various variables that affect the excipient microstructure of drug-coated balloons (DCBs) for angioplasty and drug-adhesion mechanics. Through these experiences, I have not only been introduced to basic research techniques but have also been directly mentored by several people including the Jabbarzadeh lab’s post-doctoral fellows, Dr. Maria Yanez and Dr. Sara Eslambolchimoghada, the Shazly lab’s PhD candidate, Dr. Dara Azar, and, of course, the primary investigators, Dr. Ehsan Jabbarzadeh and Dr. Tarek Shazly.
Medical Service trip to Nicaragua Spring Break of 2018 with Phi Delta Epsilon International Medical Fraternity
Upon graduation from the University of South Carolina, I will be taking two gap years to gain more research experience. During these two gap years, I will be working at the Carolina BioOncology Institute (Huntersville, NC) for three months on the only-privately funded Phase I clinical trial in the US related to circulating tumor cells, then I will be working at the Mayo Clinic (Scottsdale, AZ) on developing a cell culture system for the study of tumors.