Throughout the year, we highlight Van Andel Institute Graduate School’s doctoral students. This month, we’re featuring Elshaimaa Ali, a Ph.D. candidate in the lab of Dr. Hong Wen.
Elshaimaa is from Alexandria, Egypt. Prior to joining VAI Graduate School, she worked in Connecticut at UConn Health as a summer intern doing ChIP-seq technique and analysis on eye development. Elshaimaa also participated in a research project about liver cancer treatments in Egypt.
What is the focus of your thesis research at Van Andel Institute?
In every cell, there is a mixture of DNA and protein. That mixture is called chromatin. Chromatin can be present inside the nucleus into two different structures: dense and light. What I’m studying is those dense regions inside the nucleus of the B cells.
What do you hope to achieve with your Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology?
I want to study this more to improve the quality of life of blood cancer patients.
