Name: Kanaga Arul-nambi-rajan
Hometown: Placerville, California
Hobbies: Photography, cooking and baking (a lot!), hiking, writing
What do you study? I study an organ called the placenta that helps the baby get nutrients during pregnancy. The placenta is the thing that is attached to the OTHER end of a baby’s umbilical cord (the first end is attached to the baby via the bellybutton). Our lab uses different stem cells to model and understand how the placenta develops and how pregnancy is effected by placental defects.
Why is it important? Right now, there are no “cures” for placenta-related pregnancy complications (example: Preeclampsia). To develop treatments, we need to first better understand healthy placental development so that we can identify stages where defects occur. Even though the placenta is essential (it is your first organ!) and despite advances in science and technology, it is difficult to study the placenta in humans so there is still a lot we don’t know! These stem cell models we develop in our lab are therefore critical for our understanding of placental development and disease.
What do you like about being a scientist? I love being able to work in field where I get to constantly learn. My entire job is to ask questions and then try to answer them! Plus, since the science community is so large and international, I love that I get to work with scientists all around the world.
Here is a picture of stem cells (top) that changed (differentiated) into placenta cells (bottom):
