Bioengineering alumna completes a fun(gal) summer internship with NIH

George Mason University bioengineering alumna Alessandra Coogan took advantage of all the opportunities associated with her internship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, this summer. That included NIH workshops and seminars where Coogan was able to tap into various institutes and branches of engineering, as well as network with professional engineers.  

“I thought interning at NIH meant that you come to the lab, work, then leave, but it's actually a huge institution and offers so many opportunities to socialize, network, and developing yourself as a professional scientist. It was really amazing,” said Coogan.

Coogan’s internship through the Biomedical Engineering Summer Internship Program (BESIP) ran 10 weeks from June 3 to August 10.  

“It's a little bit more competitive for bioengineering-related lab research. There's only 24 of us [in the BESIP program] in total, and it’s a very close-knit community program,” said Coogan, an Honors College student who graduated in May with her bachelor's in bioengineering with a concentration in biomaterials and nanomedicine from the College of Engineering and Computing. 

The lab project pertains to immuno-engineering, which combines immunology and engineering, and explores the origins and potential mitigation of autoimmune responses triggered by implants in the body. 

Coogan conducted research and development on drug delivery, tissue engineering, and scaffold development, which is a particular interest of hers. 

“I love wet lab and getting my hands dirty while working on projects and experiments, and this experience definitely solidified that for me in terms of what I hope to do professionally,” said Coogan. 

Coogan was also given the chance to work on a second independent project, which is pretty rare. It focused on the treatment of fungal infections in the upper respiratory tract. 

“A lot of treatments for fungal infections in your mouth, your lungs, your nose, especially in the nasal cavity, are aggressive and very systemic,” said Coogan. 

For certain treatments, medical professionals might have to inject an antifungal medication through an IV into the bloodstream, she explained. 

“It’s kind of overkill,” Coogan said. “The treatments are harmful to patients’ kidneys and liver. My research aims to provide a local application of an antifungal medication using a hydrogel, so my experiments consist of staining cells and processing tissue. It’s been a very fun but very difficult project,” she said. 

Coogan credits George Mason’s Bioengineering Department for preparing her to take on a role of this caliber with NIH.  

“Our department is small but mighty, and they really focus on creating excellent scientists,” said Coogan. “I've done a lot of research with Professor Rémi Veneziano in the [Laboratory for Bio-Inspired Nanoarchitectures] for two years now, and I've learned a lot from him. His research is on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, which really interested me.” 

“I feel that I have been very lucky to have Alessandra as a student in my lab,” Veneziano said. “She is very driven, and has the background, the knowledge, and the technical skills to become an excellent researcher.” 

Coogan is always willing to lend a hand to her peers, training them and sharing her research, said Veneziano. 

“She also developed excellent [problem-solving] skills that she was able to leverage to perform complex experiments and help one of my graduate students in a very challenging project,” said Veneziano. 

Whenever possible, Veneziano encourages his students to attend conferences and present their work to other researchers in order to build a network and also see what other labs are doing in their fields and other fields. Earlier this year, Coogan presented her work on prosthetic liners at the topping off ceremony for Fuse at Mason Square alongside her peers. 

Coogan returns to George Mason this fall to earn her accelerated master’s in bioengineering, and Veneziano will be her committee chair.