Sanjana

Sanjana
duPont Manual High School
Louisville, KY

Mentors:
Gillian Phillips and Shannon Carpenter
Center for the Science of Therapeutics

Sanjana became interested in science at a young age while spending time observing her mother’s scientific research. She wanted to spend her summer experiencing a more advanced level of science than she could find elsewhere.

Sanjana worked to prove that the single quadrupole mass spectrometer, which is cheaper and easier to use than other mass specs, could be a useful tool in metabolomics research. Metabolomics is the study of various metabolites, like amino acids and nucleic acids, that constitute the functional molecules of life. Understanding these metabolites is key to fully understanding the incredible variety of cellular processes as well as the ways that medicine can affect these processes. Sanjana’s group succeeded in demonstrating the effectiveness of the single-quadrupole mass spectrometer for metabolomic study, thereby opening the field to a wider group of labs and researchers.

Sanjana’s favorite part of working at Broad was the collaborative atmosphere. “Listening to people bounce ideas off one another really inspired me,” she said. “You could always see people working together, huddled around a whiteboard, and it was so amazing.” Her summer at the Broad opened her eyes to how much she enjoys research, and she is now interested in pursuing an MD-PhD in order to allow herself the opportunity to make research and medicine a part of her career.