Eric Magill

Class of 2017

Education: Blended BS and MS in Biomedical Engineering at Cal Poly

 

Biography

Eric is interested in regenerative medicine because the field combines engineering, research, and medicine all in one. Studying all of these topics at once will help him better define his future career path as well as make him a better all-around student. In the regenerative medicine field, he would like to concentrate on producing scaffolds and bioreactors to help grow new organs. In the future, he will attend an MD or combined MD/PhD program. He plans to practice as a surgeon while also continuing to pursue research in the regenerative medicine field to help discover new treatments and procedures.

Eric is currently working in the lab of Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences studying brain metabolism. They are primarily interested in how the brain's metabolic profile changes during development. Understanding how the metabolism of neural cells change during differentiation and reprogramming will give them the building blocks to better understand how metabolism can be targeted to potentially treat diseases such as dementia, Alzheimer's, and cancer.