Stephanie Iring
Research Summary
Biochemical Research after a blast induced trauma
Past Research
Axon fibers are covered by myelin sheath. After axonal damage, demyelination follows with the production of debris. In the Central Nervous System many studies have been performed to observe and analyze stretch injured axons, but very little has been done to study the white matter axonal tracts, oligodendrocytes. Schwann cells can help take a first look into stretch injured glia cells from the Peripheral nervous system. In order to observe changes in Schwann Cells, a stretch injury device is used to produce the effects of severe and moderate injuries. Schwann Cells are stretch injured in both their undifferentiated and differentiated stages. In characterizing both states of Schwann Cells we observe different outcomes for the influx values in the presence of a calcium-containing buffer and non-calcium containing buffer. In undifferentiated Schwann cells we observe a clear transient influx while in differentiated we see minimal response. To observe morphological changes in myelinated cells after injury we induce Schwann cell differentiation. In differentiated Schwann cells images are taken and analyzed as follows: pre-injury, 1 hour after injury, 4 hours after injury, and 24 hours.
About Me
I attended New Jersey Institute of Technology in the year 2000 as a 5th grader for The Women in Engineering and Technology Initiative-FEMME Program. Every year after that I attended the Summer Program for 4 weeks until I reached 9th grade. The summer of my 8th grade year determined my career path. That summer we focused on Biomedical Engineering and I instantly knew what I wanted to do in the future.
https://www5.njit.edu/precollege/studentprograms/summer_programs_FEMME.php
I completed my undergraduate degree in Rutgers School of Engineering and shortly after pursued my master’s degree in New Jersey Institute of Technology. I was scheduled to graduate in Spring 2015, until I decided to do research along with a thesis. I reached out to Dr. Bryan J. Pfister, NJIT, and under his guidance, I was able to complete a Master’s thesis on stretch-injured Schwann Cells. Right before graduation I met with Dr. Bryan Pfister and Dr. Dr. Namas Chandra and we decided that I could assist in the CIBM3 laboratory as a lab technician and gain more experience in Blast Induced Traumatic Brain Injury.
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