Shamira Sridharan
EDUCATION
Master of Science in Bioengineering January 2011 – Present
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering August 2006 – May 2010
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Concentration in Medical Imaging, Cognitive Psychology
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Quantitative Imaging Laboratory February 2010 – Present
Graduate Research Assistant, Asst. Professor Gabriel Popescu
- Exploring the use of optical parameters to predict recurrence of prostate cancer
- Designing spatial spectroscopy as a technique to quantify individual component contribution (epithelium, nuclei, connective tissue) to tissue scattering spectrum and studying contribution changes with cancer progression in prostate biopsy
- Completed a project on the characterization of optical parameters that vary in prostate cancer tissue of differing severity (Gleason Grades)
- Set up the biology lab and started S2, HeLa cell cultures and working on fluorescent signal transduction to characterize intracellular transport
- Worked on a project to study unlabeled intracellular transport in fibroblasts
- Completed a project on correlation between cellular motility and cell growth
Magnetic Resonance Functional Imaging Laboratory June 2008 – September 2009
Undergraduate Research Assistant, Asst. Professor Bradley Sutton
- Analyzed data from a breath-hold study to examine calibration differences due to differential oxygen absorption in the brain
Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory February 2008 – September 2009
Undergraduate Research Assistant, Professor Monica Fabiani
- Analyzed fMRI and optical imaging data from study on aging effects on the brain
- Conducted EEG scans in a study on how different methods of learning affects final performance
Dr. Romana Nowak’s Laboratory May 2007 – February 2008
Undergraduate Research Assistant, Professor Romana Nowak
- Performed immunohistochemistry experiments to characterize DDR receptor expression in human uterus and leiomyoma as well as different stages in mouse pregnancy
PAPERS
- Kim, T., Sridharan, S., Popescu, G. Gradient field microscopy of unstained specimens. Optics Express 20(6), 2012.
- Zhu, R., Sridharan, S., Tangella, K., Balla, A., Popescu, G. Correlation induced spectral changes in tissues. Optics Letters 36(21), 2011.
- Sridharan, S., Mir, M., Popescu, G. Simultaneous optical measurement of cell motility and growth. Biomedical Optics Express 2(1), 2011.
- Sridharan, S., Tapping, R., Tangella, K., Kajdacsy-Balla, A., Popescu, G. Detecting stromal changes in grade 3 and 4 prostate adenocarcinoma using SLIM. (Manuscript in preparation).
BOOK CHAPTER
- Kim, T., Sridharan, S., Popescu, G. Fourier transform light scattering of tissues in Coherent-domain optical methods, Second Edition, Edited by Tuchin, V.V., Springer (2012).
CONFERENCE PAPERS/POSTERS
- Sridharan, S., Tapping, R., Tangella, K., Kajdacsy-Balla, A., Popescu, G. SLIM as an optical tool to support pathologists in prostate diagnosis. United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology’s 101st Annual Meeting (2012). Vancouver, Canada. March 17-23, 2012.
- Sridharan, S., Wang, Z., Tangella, K., Kajdacsy-Balla, A., Popescu, G. Refractive Index as marker for Gleason grading of prostate cancer. College of American Pathologists (2011). Dallas, TX. September 10-14, 2011.
- Wang, Z., Emmadi, R., Tangella, K., Kajdacsy-Balla, A., Sridharan, S., Popescu, G. Tissue refractive index as an objective measure of pathologic processes. International Academy of Digital Pathology (2011). Quebec, Canada. August 3-5, 2011.
- Wang, R., Sridharan, S., Lei, L., Wang, P., Levine, A.J., Popescu, G. Spatiotemporal transport of fluorescent markers in live cells. SPIE Photonics West (2011). San Fransisco, CA. January 22-27, 2011.
- Mir, M., Wang, Z., Sridharan, S., Jiang, A., Shen, Z., Bednarz,M., Blehm,B., Chaney,E., Liang,X., Boppart,S., Golding,I., Selvin,P., Prasanth,S., Popescu,G. Quantitative optical measurements of cell dry mass as a tool for studying cell growth. Annual Meeting of Strategic Initiative on Imaging (2010). Urbana, IL. October 14-15, 2010
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Programming languages: MATLAB, C.
Research Software: ImageJ, OriginPro, FSL, FreeSurfer.
Biology: Tissue sectioning, immunohistochemistry, tissue staining, cell culture techniques, sterilization methods, setting up and installing components in biology labs, preparation of media and gels, gel electrophoresis, PCR.
