Stroka Wins NIH Grant for Cardiovascular Research

This image shows a confocal image of endothelial cell monolayers on a stiff surface under TNF-alpha-activated conditions. TNF-alpha is a treatment that induces the inflammatory response of endothelial cells and allows immune cells to attach to the surface. This image allows Stroka to observe the major sites of force transduction, i.e. the F-actin cytoskeletal network (red) and the focal adhesions (green). Cell nuclei are shown in blue.

Graduate Program in Bioengineering (BioE) student Kimberly Stroka, advised by Assistant Professor Helim Aranda-Espinoza (BioE), has received the National Institutes of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award. The award, a predoctoral fellowship which includes a stipend, tuition, and allowances for health insurance, travel, and materials, will fund her final two years of graduate school.

Stroka, who conducts her research in the Cell Biophysics Lab, won the fellowship for her proposal to study how artery tissue stiffened by atherosclerosis (a type of cardiovascular disease) affects how leukocytes (white blood cells) enter through the endothelium, the layer of cells lining blood vessels. While her proposal is mainly targeted at understanding the forces involved as leukocytes migrate along and transmigrate through the endothelium, someday her results may help to find better ways to predict the onset of potentially deadly conditions such as strokes and heart attacks.

For more on this research, please see an expanded article on our Fischell Department of Bioengineering web site.

Published January 19, 2010