Introducing Aditi Shekhar DC6
My PhD goals: Through this PhD, I aim to bridge the gap between academia and industry, leveraging the consortium’s resources to effectively identify, organize, and address the current therapeutic needs of rare diseases.
My Background: Born and raised in New Delhi, I graduated in June 2024 with an integrated BS-MS in Biological Sciences from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali. I undertook internships to explore research domains, spanning immunology, developmental biology, and biopharmaceuticals while acquiring different techniques. My master’s thesis at the Freie Universität Berlin focused on disease model development and characterizing aerosolization within the context of drug delivery applications, providing a foundation upon which I have developed my skills and interests in precision medicine.
My research interests: I am passionate about scientific research driven by patient needs and aimed at achieving positive clinical outcomes. To that end, this project presents an exciting opportunity as it integrates both wet and dry lab approaches in advanced disease modeling and screening platforms. I look forward to bringing together the diverse disciplines within the consortium to gain deeper insights into the bench-to-bedside pipeline.
My hobbies: I have recently discovered my love for art and try to frequent museums and galleries whenever and wherever possible, preferably with a good book. I’m also a quizzing enthusiast and enjoy learning about the history and culture of those around me—though this often just means I enjoy good conversations.
Master thesis: Characterizing aerosolization and deposition of nanoparticles for Air-Liquid Interface exposed 16HBE cells
The Air-Liquid Interface (ALI) culture technique offers a physiologically relevant in vitro recapitulation of the healthy and diseased human respiratory environment. Combined with commercially available aerosol generation systems, this technique can be leveraged to develop a cell exposure system capable of directly depositing engineered aerosols, allowing for rapid drug delivery applications. We attempted to establish methodologies for developing such a cell exposure system, utilizing the 16HBE cell line for an ALI model and a commercially available aerosol chamber to devise QCM-based detection methods and a fluorescence-based assay to quantify deposited aerosols. The results from this study may assist future investigations in assessing the accurate cell-delivered dose of inhalable therapeutics, particularly for influenza infections and cystic fibrosis.