Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Ph.D. Student Earns American Heart Association Fellowship for Stem Cell Research

Monday, November 26, 2018, By Matt Wheeler
Share
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Plansky Hoang

Plansky Hoang

Plansky Hoang ’15, a graduate research assistant in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS), has been awarded a highly competitive and prestigious predoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association. Hoang is a researcher in the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute—working in the System Tissue Engineering & Morphogenesis (STEM) Lab under Zhen Ma, assistant professor and Samuel and Carol Nappi research scholar, and in the Henderson Lab under James H. Henderson, associate professor.

The purpose of the Heart Association’s fellowship is to “enhance the integrated research and clinical training of promising students matriculated in predoctoral or clinical health professional degree training programs and who intend careers as scientists, physician-scientists or other clinician-scientists, or related careers aimed at improving global cardiovascular health.”

Hoang was selected based on her research with Ma in the STEM Lab in which she is developing an in vitro model that tests various medications on developing heart cells to contribute to the prevention of congenital heart defects. About 40,000 children are born with a heart defect in the United States every year. Hoang’s work will help determine which drugs—when taken by pregnant women—may be harmful to the heart health of developing embryos. She evaluates the effect of drugs that treat everything from acne medication to cancer treatments.

“In the past two years, Plansky has proven to be a mature and capable biomedical researcher with strong scientific curiosity and acumen. Without Plansky’s great effort, I would never have foreseen that my research program at Syracuse University could be as functional and productive in such a short period,” Ma says. “I believe this award will help her navigate the transition from a mentored graduate student to an independent biomedical engineer and build a successful academic career in the future.”

Before her work in Ma’s and Henderson’s labs, Hoang earned her bachelor’s degree in bioengineering at ECS in 2015. During her time at SU, she has also served as a teaching assistant for engineering mathematics, an undergraduate researcher in Professor Dacheng Ren’s Biofilm Engineering Laboratory lab and an academic excellence workshop facilitator for ECS’ Student Success Office.

Says Henderson: “Having had the opportunity to teach Plansky as an undergraduate at SU and to now co-advise her during her Ph.D. studies, it has been a pleasure to watch her develop from an inquisitive student to an independent researcher now competing successfully for funding to support cutting-edge research that promises to advance human health.”

  • Author

Matt Wheeler

  • Recent
  • Ian Hosein Awarded New Patent For Process that Generates Energy from Saltwater
    Thursday, September 28, 2023, By Kwami Maranga
  • What to Expect With the Link Hall Renovations
    Thursday, September 28, 2023, By Kwami Maranga
  • New Student Association Leaders Aim to Get More Students Involved
    Thursday, September 28, 2023, By John Boccacino
  • Chancellor Syverud Addresses Athletics, Benefits, Sustainability at University Senate
    Wednesday, September 27, 2023, By News Staff
  • Setting the Agenda in Biology Research: 2 Professors Join NIH Peer Review Committees
    Wednesday, September 27, 2023, By News Staff

More In STEM

Ian Hosein Awarded New Patent For Process that Generates Energy from Saltwater

The lack of access to clean drinking water impacts billions worldwide. With an estimated 46% of the global population affected, underdeveloped communities don’t have the means to utilize efficient technology for water purification. As the percentage of those affected grows,…

Setting the Agenda in Biology Research: 2 Professors Join NIH Peer Review Committees

The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) is known as the “gateway” for National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications. Expert peer review groups—also called study sections—formed by the CSR assess more than 75% of the thousands of research grant applications…

Satisfy Your Research Curiosity at BioInspired Institute Symposium Oct. 19 and 20

Are you interested in knowing how living cells function? Do you wonder how scientists grow human tissues in the lab? Have you pondered how robots are programmed to work? If science piques your interest, delve into the topic at the…

iSchool Student Selected for Highly Competitive Data Librarianship Internship

Katya Mueller, a student in the School of Information Studies’ master of library and information science (MLIS) program, was selected as a 2023 National Center for Data Services data librarianship internship participant. Mueller, who plans to graduate in spring 2024,…

Exploring the Existence of Life at 125 Degrees Fahrenheit

There are an estimated 8.7 million eukaryotic species on the planet. These are organisms whose cells contain a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles. Although eukaryotes include the familiar animals and plants, these only represent two of the more than six…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.