Research Activities
Below is a reverse chronological list of the science research activities I have been involved in. I completed my first research project as a freshman in high school and, since then, have been involved with nine other projects in the fields of tissue engineering, neuroscience, public health, genetic engineering, stem cell biology, behavioral science, spinal cord injury and nanotechnology. For your convenience, the links to the summer fellowships I have completed are provided. Please contact me if you have any questions or comments.
Differential Gene Expression Profiling of the Developing Neocortex and Striatum in Postnatal Mice. Beth Israel Medical Center, Harvard Medical School. January 2009 - Present. Supervisor: Professor Glenn Rosen. View Rosen Lab Members. Research presented at the 2009 Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Meeting in Chicago, IL. This was my thesis research, for which I received highest honors in my major of biomedical engineering. The purpose of the study was to analyze gene expression patterns in the developing mouse neocortex and striatum during the first two weeks of development. We examined the expression of over 46,000 genes/transcripts from two well-characterized strains of mice (C57BL/6J and DBA/2J).
The State of Health Information Technology in Chile. Harvard University/PUC de Chile. Summer 2009 - May 2010. The aim of this independent research was to examine how Chile is adopting health information technology and the effects on its public and private sectors. I became interested in Chile, which offers universal coverage to its citizens, after hearing its then-President Michelle Bachelet speak at Harvard in Fall 2008. I was supported by Harvard's Cordeiro Fellowship.
Fabrication of Single Atom-Wide Nanowires for Applications in Quantum Computation.
Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. Summer 2008. Supervisor: Professor Kohei Itoh. NanoJapan Summer Research Fellow (Rice University). Project description and poster available: http://nanojapan.rice.edu/2008_Gaglani,%20Shiv.html and http://www.jyi.org/JYI-News/jn.php?id=1679. The aim of this study was to create a single atom-thick row of silicon 29 atoms for potential use as qubits in a quantum computer.
Development of TaqMan Assays for Known Drug Resistance Mutations in Plasmodium falciparum (Malaria parasite). Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, MA. Summer 2007 - Fall 2008. Supervisors: Professors Dyann Wirth and Sarah Volkman. Harvard Initiative for Global Health Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship and Harvard PRISE Fellow. The Harvard Crimson profiled my project here: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=521519. The purpose of the project was to create a genetic assay to find single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) correlated with drug resistance in malaria.
A KIM-1 Transgenic Murine Model. Harvard Institutes of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. November 2006 - May 2007. Supervisors: Professors Joseph Bonventre and Benjamin Humphreys. Research Assistant during my Freshman year of college; sponsored by the Harvard College Research Program. The aim of this research was to create a KIM-1 knockout mouse in order to study renal failure.
Quantitative Trait Loci Modulate the Volume of the Cerebral Cortex. Beth Israel Medical Center, Harvard Medical School. June 2005 - May 2009. Supervisor: Professor Glenn Rosen. View Rosen Lab Members. Research presented at the 2006 Annual Academy of Neurology Meeting in San Diego, CA; one of four projects awarded the Neuroscience Research Prize. This research was published in BMC Neuroscience in May 2009. Sponsored by the Research Science Institute of the Center for Excellence in Education and the Harvard College Research Program. The purpose of the study was to find genes that may modulate the volume of the neocortex in mice using recombinant inbred strains and bioinformatics.
Chloroplast Genetic Engineering: A Novel Method to Produce Therapeutic Proteins. University of Central Florida. July 2005 - June 2006. Supervisor: Henry Daniell. The purpose of the research was to genetically engineer the chloroplasts of tobacco plants to produce therapeutic proteins such as human apolipoprotein A1 and insulin. Please see the publication in the Harvard Science Review.
Cardiac Differentiation of Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells Following Epigenetic Modification. University of Central Florida. September 2004 - June 2005. Supervisors: Professor Kiminobu Sugaya and Angel Alvarez. The purpose of the project was to epigentically reprogram adult stem cells into an embryonic state and "redifferentiate" them into cardiomyocytes.
Strategies for Promoting Axonal Regeneration and Functional Recovery in the Chronically Contused Spinal Cord. The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami Medical School. June 2004 - August 2006. Supervisor: Professor Damien D. Pearse. The aim of this research was to investigate the role of cAMP and schwann cell transplantation in regenerating the chronically contused spinal cord or rats.
Rapid Construction of Viable 3D Branching Tubes Composed of Smooth Muscle Cells using a Modified Thermal Inkjet Printer. Clemson University. October 2003 - July 2004. Also known as "organ printing," the purpose of this project was to "print" a functional branching tube of smooth muscle and endothelial cells using an ordinary, desktop inkjet printer.
Improving students' pattern recognition, divergent thinking, and logical reasoning through chess. Independent Project, Brevard County Public Schools. August 2002 - July 2003. The research aimed to show that teaching elementary school students chess resulted in enhanced problem-solving skills.
Publications & Presentations
"Gene Expression Profiling of the Developing Cortex and Striatum in Postnatal Mice." Presented at 2009 Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL (Poster 811.8, pg 83; October 17-21, 2009). Also presented at the Fourth Annual Harvard Undergraduate Research Symposium on November 7, 2009.
Gaglani SM, Lu L, Williams RW, and Rosen GD. "The genetic control of neocortex volume and covariation with neocortical gene expression in mice." BMC Neuroscience. May 2009, Volume 10, Issue 1, starting on page 44. Full text link here and downloadable pdf of paper below.
Barakat DJ, Gaglani SM, et al. "Survival, Integration, and Axon Growth Support of Glia Transplanted into the Chronically Contused Spinal Cord." Journal of Cell Transplantation. June 2005, Volume 14, 225-240. Downloadable file below.
Gaglani SM. "Moving Towards a Cure for Paralysis: Potential Treatments for Spinal Cord Injury." Harvard Science Review. Spring 2007, 43-45. Downloadable file below.
Gaglani SM. "Chloroplast genetic engineering: A novel method to produce therapeutic proteins." Harvard Science Review. Fall 2006, 36-39. Downloadable file below.
"Fabrication of Single Atom-Wide Nanowires for Applications in Quantum Computation." Presented at Second Annual Harvard Undergraduate Research Symposium, Rice Quantum Institute (RQI) 2008, and at the 2008 Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference (won "Superior Presentation" recognition in the category of Engineering.) The presentation can be found in the second YouTube video below.
"Quantitative Trait Loci Modulate the Volume of the Cerebral Cortex." Presented at 58th Annual American Academy of Neurology Conference in San Diego, CA (April 1-8, 2006). Also presented at the Inaugural Harvard Undergraduate Research Symposium (www.hcs.harvard.edu/hurs) on November 11, 2006.
Computer aided designs, "Roadmap to Organ Printing," published in the following two journals:
"Advances in Tissue Engineering: Cell Printing." Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. February 2005, Volume 129
"The Role of Cell Printing in Regenerative Medicine." Biomaterials Forum, second quarter, 2004. Pages 10 and 11, available here.
Gaglani SM. "Improving students' pattern recognition, divergent thinking, and logical reasoning through chess." Chess Life. August 2003.
Gaglani SM and Obaldia ME. "Support for Others." Harvard Crimson. February 29, 2008. The article can be found online here or downloaded below. It argued for increased community support among Harvard undergraduates to offset the intense pressure that students are under.
Shiv Gaglani. "Investing in our Future: Ways to Attract and Keep Young People in Science and Technology." Presented at the National Bureau for Economic Research Conference: "Toward an R&D Agenda for the New Administration and Congress: Perspectives from Scientists and Economists." March 2nd, 2009 at the US Capitol Visitor Center. The Powerpoint Slides and Presentation Audio are in the YouTube video below. More information about the conference can be found here.
| Gaglani - BMC Neuroscience |
| Gaglani - Journal of Cell Transplantation |
| Spinal Cord Research - Harvard Science Review |
| Plant Genetic Engineering - Harvard Science Review |
| Support for Others - Harvard Crimson |