Mei Hirano, MPhil Student

Mei obtained her Bachelors degree at Imperial College London (BSc Medical Biosciences) and continued her studies as an MPhil student at the University of Cambridge (MPhil in Translational Biomedical Research). 

Mei was in the Sinha Lab from 2020-2021 under the supervision of Professor Sanjay Sinha and Dr. Hongorzul Davaapil. Her project focused on investigating glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3β) as a potential therapeutic target that could improve Marfan Syndrome (MFS) disease phenotypes. The team generated MFS vascular disease models in vitro using patient-derived hiPSCs and conducted pharmaceutical inhibition and genetic silencing of GSK3β using small molecule inhibitors and siRNA, respectively. 

After finishing her MPhil, she moved back to Japan and is now starting work at Novartis Pharmaceuticals in Japan.