Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • 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
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • 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
  • “Syracuse University to rename the Carrier Dome – what name would fans choose?”
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Lily Datz
  • Digital Badges at Syracuse University: Recognizing and Authenticating Microcredential Moments in Higher Education
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Lyndy McLaughlin
  • Social Work Student Bre’Yona Montalvo Receives First Sunflower Scholarship
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Matt Michael
  • 5 Things to Know About the JMA Wireless Dome
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Jen Maser
  • NBA Player Shares Personal Experience With Stuttering With CSD Students
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Dan Bernardi

More In STEM

Matt Cufari Named as a 2022-23 Astronaut Scholar

Matt Cufari, a senior physics major in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), a computer science major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, a Coronat Scholar and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program, has…

Dean Rajiv ‘Raj’ Dewan to Step Down as Dean of the School of Information Studies

Rajiv “Raj” Dewan, dean of the School of Information Studies, has announced he will conclude his deanship on June 30, 2022. Dewan plans to return to full-time faculty duties while continuing his research. David Seaman, dean of Syracuse University Libraries…

Biology and Earth and Environmental Sciences Departments Come Together on Diversity and Engagement Initiatives

In 1948, Professor James Hope Birnie became Syracuse University’s first African American faculty member in biology, teaching here until 1951. He was also one of its first biology faculty members to be supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)….

Black Hole Image Shows Einstein Was Right, Once Again

Today a team of astronomers announced they successfully captured the first direct image of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Duncan Brown is the Charles Brightman Endowed Professor of Physics at Syracuse University’s College of…

Biomedical and Chemical Engineering Professor’s Research Team Receives Multiple Awards at Society for Biomaterials Conference

Biomedical and chemical engineering Professor Mary Beth Monroe attended the Society for Biomaterials (SFB) 2022 meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, with Ph.D. students Anand Vakil, Henry Beaman, Changling Du and Maryam Ramezani, master’s student Natalie Petryk ’21, G’22 and undergraduate students Caitlyn…

Subscribe to SU Today

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

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • 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
© 2022 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.