Colon disease doesn’t stay in the colon, with many who suffer from inflammatory bowel disease also seeing extraintestinal effects in their eyes, joints, skin, immune system and other organs.
UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering PhD Candidate Madison Plaster is working to better understand this process, researching the organism-wide effects of colon diseases.
“Often an immunologist will focus on a specific cell type or specific tissue,” she said. “We look more holistically across the whole body.”
The daughter of two engineers, Plaster grew up loving science. But it wasn’t until her undergraduate studies at the University of Akron that she discovered biomedical engineering and immunoengineering, the field she now pursues at PME as part of the Chevrier Lab.
“Madison is an exceptional and thoughtful researcher. Her work is making an impact on our understanding of human diseases in the colon and throughout the body” said Assoc. Prof. Nicolas Chevrier. “Madison is also fearless. It took courage to take on such an ambitious project while being the first PhD student to join our group.”
For Plaster, PME’s immunoengineering research theme combined several interests.
“I liked the combination of engineering and solving problems, and also helping people,” she said. “There are a lot of ways to go with engineering. I wasn't really interested in the stereotypical cars or mechanical engineering, but I liked that biomed had more of like a human-focused health aspect.”
Mentee to mentor
Plaster received a stellar education at the University of Akron, but when applying for her PhD, she worried applicants from Harvard, Johns Hopkins, MIT and Stanford would push her out based on their schools’ reputations alone.
She soon found out PME considers the student, not their alma mater.
“I want to let students know you don't have to go to a specific school to have opportunities for grad school available to you,” she said.
PME’s Peer Mentoring Program helped her acclimate to UChicago’s vigorous and inspiring academic environment. The program, launched in 2021, pairs first-year PhD candidates with students further along in the program. Mentors and mentees meet regularly to talk shop, give and receive advice and provide support through the demands of a global-tier graduate program.
The program helped her so much that, after her first year, she signed up to be a mentor herself.
“I wanted to be paired up with a mentee who also didn't go to another Ivy League school or who didn't have parents who had PhDs,” she said.
Soon, she was meeting weekly with her mentee Ha Ram Kim, a PhD candidate in the Tirrell Lab who obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Central Arkansas.
“Mentors are really an open ear in the sense that they are always willing to answer your questions and give you feedback," Kim said. "Madison was exactly that person for me.”
From there, the cycle continued. Kim became a mentor to other students starting his second year.
“Having Madison as a mentor really encouraged me to become a mentor myself,” he said. “I appreciated and admired her willingness to help others.”
Although she didn’t come from a family of PhD’s, she’s part of one now. Her mother, a University of Akron professor, recently defended her own doctorate in Education. Her younger sister has also started her own graduate studies.
Plaster said part of the appeal of PME is that global-tier work doesn’t require an Ivy League background, just an innovative mind and a willingness to work.
“I got a full ride to my regional public university and still made it here,” she said. “I'm really proud of that.”
- Click here for more information on the Molecular Engineering PhD and PME’s other world-class programs.