Women in Research #LINO25: Irina Kopyeva

Irina from the USA is a Postdoc at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University, NY, USA.

Her research focuses on developing improved 3D models of the extracellular matrix (ECM) (the protein and sugar-rich environment surrounding cells in our tissues) to study how it contributes to disease progression. She mainly utilizes hydrogels, which are water-swollen polymeric networks that are soft and squishy like our bodies. During her PhD, she designed several bioorthogonal chemistry-based strategies (reactions that can occur “invisibly” in the presence of cells) to modulate the mechanical and biochemical properties of hydrogels to study how these cues affect stem cell differentiation and colon cancer proliferation. In her postdoc, she is switching gears to a more bio-focused project, looking at how menopause remodels the ECM and promotes breast cancer invasion.

Irina participates in the 74^th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.

Enjoy the interview with Irina and get inspired:

What inspired you to pursue a career in science / in your discipline?

My grandmother and my high school biology teacher! My grandmother was a pathologist in the Soviet Union and her stories of pursuing just and ethical science in the backdrop of a charged political climate always inspired me to do my very best work and to stick to my principles. Furthermore, her main mantra was to always ask questions, regardless of how silly I think they might seem. My high school biology teacher was also very influential, as she always encouraged me to read and wonder about various scientific topics, as well as introduced me to wet lab work through simple DNA isolations or looking at plant vasculature under a microscope.

Who are your role models?

I aspire one day to be half as cool as Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi. Her seminal work in bioorthogonal and click chemistry has led me through my research career. Also, I love how down-to-earth and fun she is!

How did you get to where you are in your career path?

I did my bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at the University of Michigan, where I was a Stamps Scholar. I didn’t even really know what ChemE entailed other than I liked chemistry, wanted to do engineering, and possibly work in the pharmaceutical industry someday. My first research experience in Dr. Joerg Lahann’s lab at UM was focused on creating and modifying surfaces with biocompatible polymer brushes to reduce bacterial adsorption. Intrigued by how these materials interact with cells in our bodies, I did a summer internship in Dr. Stephanie Bryant’s lab at CU Boulder, where I worked on modifying fibrous hydrogel biomaterials with cell-adhesive peptides. Post graduation, I moved to Seattle to the University of Washington to pursue a PhD in bioengineering in the lab of Dr. Cole DeForest, who is an expert in light-sensitive chemistries for hydrogel synthesis and modification. Throughout my PhD, Cole was a very supportive mentor, allowing me to shape my research direction, as well as improving my writing skills by encouraging me to submit multiple personal and lab grant proposals. I also ended up closely collaborating with Drs. Bill Grady and Ming Yu at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, who broadened my research perspective and how my materials could be applied to cancer biology. I’d say the PhD was full of ups and (probably more) downs: lots of experiments failed as I learned how to be a researcher, but also many celebrations when things worked out! I’ve just started my post-doc in Dr. Claudia Fischbach’s lab at Cornell, so I’m excited to see where this path takes me.

What is the coolest project you have worked on and why?

My PhD lab focuses a lot on using light to spatially control protein immobilization in hydrogel materials, typically employing high-end microscopes, to study or direct cell behavior in response to these biochemical cues. The end goal would be to direct tissue regeneration with the help of these materials. Some of my fellow labmates hijacked a basic 3D printer purchased from Amazon, and I helped them pattern peptides into our hydrogel systems to control stem cell morphology. It was such a wild project: they had come up with the idea at home and had been testing it after work on agar they took from the lab. We patterned flowers and other fun designs into the hydrogels, which contained cells embedded within them. It worked so well for a fraction of the cost!

What’s a time you felt immense pride in yourself / your work?

My proudest achievement has been all the collaborations I’ve led or participated in. One collaboration used open microfluidics to create intricate suspended tissue geometries for engineered heart tissues. Their materials kept getting stuck to the walls of the device, so we worked together to utilize some of the enzymatically degradable materials I had developed during my PhD to release the gels. After lots of troubleshooting together, I remember one postdoc texting everyone at 1 AM, saying, “IT FINALLY WORKED!!” It was cool to see how creative we could be with different research backgrounds.

What is a “day in the life” of you like?

That’s a tough one, as it changes every day! Some days, there will be experiments in the tissue culture room all day; on other days, there will be a lot of microscopy and data analysis. Currently, I’ve been writing grant applications.

What are you seeking to accomplish in your career?

I hope to lead a lab in a biomedical or chemical engineering department, focusing primarily on mentoring early-stage scientists, such as undergraduate and graduate students. I also really hope to continue doing more interdisciplinary research, as I believe innovation needs collaboration across many disciplines.

What do you like to do when you’re not doing research?

I love spending time outdoors skiing, kayaking, and biking or curling up inside with a nice mystery novel and our cat.

What advice do you have for other women interested in science / in your discipline?

Don’t be afraid to ask questions! If you don’t understand it, it was likely unclear, and others are probably wondering about it too! Also, find mentors in various niches. I’ve found it very helpful to have people to talk to about chemistry, biology, materials, etc. and people outside of your research who can advise you on career and life moves. Finally, you need friends who aren’t scientists to get away from the craziness of research and who can support you when things in the lab aren’t working out.

In your opinion, what will be the next great breakthrough in science / in your discipline?

3D bioprinting of complex tissues. I think we’re close, but we need to figure out how to effectively vascularize large tissue constructs. My PhD lab is certainly thinking about this from a chemistry and microscopy perspective, but I think some of the microfluidics and 3D printing work coming out of groups such as Jennifer Lewis’ at Harvard and Jordan Miller’s at Rice is really powerful.

What should be done to increase the number of female scientists and professors?

We need to expose girls to engineering from a young age, showing them that it encompasses a wide variety of topics, such as those found in biomedical or chemical engineering. You could be building genetic circuits or making new polymeric materials (or combining the two!) for drug delivery.