Olivia Lazorik
Program: Unspecified
Current advisor:
Undergraduate university: Washington University
Research summary
Spin defects in the 2D material hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) are highly sensitive to environmental perturbations, such as temperature, magnetic fields, and mechanical strain. The sensitivity and multifunctional read out positions hBN as a promising platform for sensing and probing cellular processes, with the potential to uncover new information about cellular pathways, cell-cell interactions, and therapeutic responses at high spatial and temporal resolution. In my second rotation in the Piston lab, I demonstrated the biocompatibility of U2OS cells on hBN flakes and obtained electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra from both dry hBN and samples in cell media.
Conventional MRI with diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) has several limitations, including confounding effects from stromal hyperplasia and inflammation. Diffusion Basis Spectral Imaging (DBSI), which deconvolutes diffusion signals into anisotropic and isotropic components, can more accurately depict underlying structural heterogeneity within a tumor image voxel compared to conventional DWI.
In my first rotation project, I analyzed pre-radiotherapy treatment DBSI MR images acquired from cervical cancer patients enrolled in the U54 CRATR study. In collaboration with the Schwarz, Song, Ippolito, and Zhang labs, I registered DBSI images to corresponding PET scans and correlated DBSI metrics, serving as proxies for the tumor microenvironment, with metabolically active tumor regions.
Graduate publications