Kristina Bishard

Class of 2017

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

 

Biography

Kristina has been interested in stem cell research since she was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 11. She is fortunate enough to have access to modern technology to help monitor and regulate her blood sugar, but she can only hope that one day cell therapy will be able to cure her diabetes. Her experience living with a chronic illness has enhanced her interests in the potential of regenerative medicine, and she is so excited to be a part of this future technology. She is really interested in induced pluripotent stem cells, and specifically in the application of tissue engineering or full tissue regeneration. Her dream job is to research in industry for a cell therapy company, where stem cell based products are manufactured and readily available to patients. She wants to make this incredible technology commercially available and publicly accepted.

Kristina is interning at Organovo, Inc. in their Platform Systems department, under the guidance of Anke Hartung. The practical relevance of her project is to guide the design of 3D printed biological tissues. Her role is to develop analytical assays for characterizing 3D printed tissues.