{"id":533,"date":"2026-05-14T10:52:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T14:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bioinspired.syr.edu\/emirge-bio\/?page_id=533"},"modified":"2026-07-09T10:45:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:45:46","slug":"nrt-student-features","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bioinspired.syr.edu\/emirge-bio\/nrt-student-features\/","title":{"rendered":"NRT Student Features"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NRT Associate, Fahima Jannat Koly, is driven by the desire to help people. This desire rests in medical science but being a doctor was not the path she wanted to take. She began her journey to help people by enrolling as an undergraduate in the Pharmaceutical Sciences major at the University of Dhaka. \u201cAs a doctor, you help people one on one, in pharmacy you can help a lot of people by developing lifesaving drugs,\u201d Fahima explained<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an undergrad, she worked in drug formulation and development. She wanted to find a field where pre-clinical trials could be duplicated without using animals. She found that in the Blatchley Lab at Syracuse University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy advisor, Dr. Michael Blatchley, works in the field of tissue engineering, biomaterials and intestinal organoids. By integrating these components together, we can develop models for mini-organs that can mimic healthy and disease states and potentially be used for preclinical trials. Testing doesn\u2019t have to be done on mice. This model can mimic what is happening inside the body outside of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Human physiology differs from animals used in preclinical trials. Building these in vitro models for disease gives a better understanding of the role individual components play in specific diseases. Human relevant models can be built to better replicate disease conditions. This helps to accurately predict therapeutic conditions and supports the pipeline of better drug development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Fahima\u2019s research focuses on intestinal fibrosis. \u201cIt develops from chronic inflammation, stiffening the tissue, and lowering regeneration of the epithelium. Our intestines regenerate its cells. Fibrosis slows this down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One area Fahima tests is the effect of Collagen I on the intestine. Collagen I is upregulated in disease conditions like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and intestinal fibrosis. \u201cInvestigating the specific role of Collagen I in such conditions would shed light into the mechanisms involved and open new doors for therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Fahima is not working in the lab to research new models for testing lifesaving drugs, she likes to travel. She recently went to the Catskills. Fahima\u2019s way of capturing her travels is through painting. \u201cWhen I go places, I like to paint what I see on canvas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From engineer to research, traveler to artist, Fahima is always taking in the world around her. Daily learning is a part of being a PhD student at Syracuse University. Fahima has developed a healthy philosophy of being a PhD student. \u201cDon\u2019t stress out. Do all the thinking of the lab stuff while you are in the lab. When you are home, take your time, don\u2019t think so much about the lab work. Travel, see the world. Take time out for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n
\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

As a teen, Anton Jayakodiarachchige found his science inspiration in a Neil deGrasse Tyson docuseries. Soon after watching the famous astrophysicist, Anton entered a self-described \u201crabbit hole\u201d exploring science. His interest in science blossomed leading him to enroll as an undergraduate Biology Major at the University at Buffalo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t sure if I wanted to do medical school, do research or something else,\u201d Anton recalls. During Anton\u2019s junior year he took Genetics Lab and conducted research, which helped him decide research was his path. He also had the opportunity to put research into practice when halfway through his undergraduate career Covid hit. Anton joined the Vax New York Consortium to assist in identifying optimal hubs for public vaccinations. The Public Health Department needed data to be analyzed, and Anton became one of the students that helped identify sites for best access.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating, Anton weighed his next steps. He is a first-generation college student, so the best pathway he understood was to continue through the college pipeline. He completed his Masters at the University at Buffalo and found inspiration in pursuing a PhD much closer to home. \u201cMy aunt finished her PhD when I finished my Masters. That was my exposure to consider a PhD. She advocated for it. She told me it would be stressful, so I should find something I am passionate about and find a helpful PI.\u201d He found that at Syracuse University in his PI, Dr. Sarah Lucas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally, Anton was interested in two labs at Syracuse University, but joined Dr. Lucas\u2019s lab after his first-year lab rotation. \u201cWhen I went through the faculty, I saw that Dr. Lucas worked on gut microbiome and bacteriophage. I knew a little bit about these topics from undergraduate, but never explored it. I rotated in Dr. Lucas\u2019s lab first and the research was very interesting. From that point on I knew I wanted to continue researching microbiology, because I\u2019ve always been more focused on human health. With Dr. Lucas, I could directly work with microbes, or the disease patients are dealing with and figure out the science behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anton\u2019s research looks at an inflammatory disease called Crohn\u2019s disease. There is a bacteria highly present in the disease and it is unknown if this bacteria is causing the disease or if it is just able to survive in the environment. There are multiple strains of this bacteria, and Anton is trying to figure out which strains could be influencing the disease, or which strains are better adapted to the environment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we can differentiate the strains that could be influencing the disease we could create antibiotics or therapeutics to target only the harmful bacteria while preserving your \u2018normal\u2019 gut microbiome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anton\u2019s career goal is to work in the biotechnology industry to develop therapeutic drugs or applications, and working in Dr. Lucas\u2019s lab is preparing him for that career. The root of all his efforts begins with his desire to help others. That desire was learned from his parents and reinforced by all his friends\u2019 support through the years. \u201cI\u2019ve always been in the environment where I got a lot of help and I am thankful for that,\u201d Anton says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Anton has no ambitions to create his own science docuseries, he does leave the door open to joining Neil deGrasse Tyson\u2019s StarTalk podcast later in his career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NRT Associate, Fahima Jannat Koly, is driven by the desire to help people. This desire rests in medical science but being a doctor was not the path she wanted to take. She began her journey to help people by enrolling as an undergraduate in the Pharmaceutical Sciences major at the University of Dhaka. \u201cAs a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-533","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bioinspired.syr.edu\/emirge-bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bioinspired.syr.edu\/emirge-bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bioinspired.syr.edu\/emirge-bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bioinspired.syr.edu\/emirge-bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bioinspired.syr.edu\/emirge-bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bioinspired.syr.edu\/emirge-bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":598,"href":"https:\/\/bioinspired.syr.edu\/emirge-bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/533\/revisions\/598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bioinspired.syr.edu\/emirge-bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}