Emily Hansen

Class of 2020

Education: BS and MS in Biological Sciences at Cal Poly

 

Biography

Emily is a Biological Sciences Major graduating from Cal Poly in Spring of 2018.  Emily is excited to become involved in the growing field of Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine and specifically hopes to focus on use of stem cells to repair tissue damage in people with auto-immune diseases.  After the program, Emily hopes to continue her involvement in the field, either by continuing with research and possibly obtaining a PhD, or by utilizing stem cell technology to treat patients as a practicing physician. She hopes that through this program she will become an expert in the field of regenerative medicine, while also clarifying her future career aspirations.

Emily completed her internship at the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine in Nicole Coufal’s lab and under Fred Gage at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The Coufal lab focuses on microglia, the resident macrophages of the central nervous system, and their role in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. Emily worked on a project studying the role of microglia in MEF2C haploinsufficiency, an autism spectrum disorder. For her project, she modeled this disease using microglia and cerebral brain organoids derived from CRISPR-modified induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Emily also worked on a collaborative project with the Cherqui lab at UCSD, studying the role of microglia in Fredreich’s ataxia using iPSC derived microglia and cerebral organoids.