{"380781":{"#nid":"380781","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Lab Partners","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s a widespread practice among Chinese students to assume an English name as they start learning the language. When it was Yichen Wang\u2019s turn to pick a new alter ego, he chose what he considered the road less traveled by, a route that has served him well in his education.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI wanted an uncommon name, so I opened up the dictionary of names and pointed and, oops, that\u2019s how I got my name,\u201d says Wang, a \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/petitinstitute.gatech.edu\/petit-scholars-class-2015\u0022\u003E2015 Petit Undergraduate Research Scholar\u003C\/a\u003E who answers to Payne, and never wanted to follow in anyone else\u2019s footsteps. \u201cMost of my classmates in China liked following a set path, but my style always has been to do what I like, to do what interests me.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt turns out a lot interests him, and that\u2019s what attracted him to the Georgia Institute of Technology, \u201cthe free space to explore whatever you want,\u201d ways Wang, who is pursuing a dual major \u2013 biomedical engineering and electrical engineering, with a minor in biochemistry. It\u2019s a work load, \u201cwhich sounds totally insane,\u201d according to Wang\u2019s lab mentor (and now his Petit Scholar mentor), Robert Mannino. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI had enough of a challenge just maintaining my biomedical engineering grades,\u201d adds Mannino, a former Petit Scholar. \u201cPayne is managing all of this and I don\u2019t even notice it when he\u2019s in the lab, because he\u2019s 100 percent in the lab.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThat would be the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/lamlab.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Elab of Wilbur Lam\u003C\/a\u003E, where Wang, the undergrad from Beijing, and Mannino, who grew up in Atlanta, work as part of an interdisciplinary team intent on developing and applying micro\/nanotechnologies to study, diagnose, and treat blood disorders, cancer, and childhood diseases. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EClose to Home\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWhen he was six months old, Mannino was diagnosed with beta thalassemia major, a rare blood disorder that reduces the production of hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that delivers oxygen to cells throughout the body. One of his little brothers also has the disease. He comes by his interest in medical research honestly.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI\u2019d been in and out of hospitals every three weeks getting blood transfusions since I was a baby and that exposure to the medical field influenced my college choice,\u201d says Mannino, who was drawn to the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E, a joint program of Emory and Georgia Tech, and Wilbur Lam, who had come from the University of California-San Francisco to start a lab.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELam, a biomedical engineer and pediatric hematologist, and a member of the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, employs a \u0022basement to bench to bedside\u0022 approach to biomedical research, enabled by dual locations at Emory and Tech, and affiliations with the hospitals of \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/choa.org\/\u0022\u003EChildren\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta\u003C\/a\u003E, where Mannino spent so much of his time growing up.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI\u2019ve been going to Children\u2019s my whole life, and I\u2019ve lived close to one of the best biomedical research institutions in the country, Georgia Tech, my whole life,\u201d says Mannino. At some point, a biomedical degree just seemed inevitable. He graduated from the Coulter Department in 2013 and is now in his second year of graduate studies. For the past several years he\u2019s worked with Lam, who has described Mannino as, \u201ca star,\u201d for the student\u2019s determination in developing new technologies to help others with his disease.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EUndergrad in the Lab\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMannino already was a key player in the Lam lab when Payne Wang started looking for research positions a few semesters ago.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cWilbur includes the group on any decision that involves adding people,\u201d Mannino recalls. \u201cPayne\u2019s skills and work ethic just jumped off his resume.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWang had research experience from high school, and there was the double major and the high grade point average. Plus, the timing was perfect. Mannino\u2019s project, a device he\u2019s calling a \u201cdo-it-yourself in vitro vasculature model,\u201d was at a good stage for another pair of eyes. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EFrom his vantage point, Lam has seen Mannino make the transition from a wide-eyed undergrad in a research lab to more of a teacher\u2019s role as Wang\u2019s mentor. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI fill in the gaps and the empty spaces,\u201d says Wang, underplaying his role.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cPayne did more than you would typically expect from an undergraduate in the lab, even to the point that he was coming up with his own research ideas to help my project,\u201d says Mannino who (along with another former Petit Scholar in the Lam lab, Meredith Fay) encouraged Wang to apply for the program. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMannino has been a Petit Scholar, so he can sell the experience convincingly. \u201cIt was instrumental in preparing me for grad school. I was able to get in on two publications as an undergraduate, and the experience fostered my idea for the research I\u2019m doing now, which I expect to publish soon.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHe wanted that kind of experience for his lab buddy, Payne Wang. But he also says there were ulterior motives. \u201cWe\u2019d like to keep Payne around in our lab for a while,\u201d Mannino says.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELam, who has the benefit of the principal investigator\u2019s perspective, would agree. He\u2019s seen Mannino in action for the past few years, and he\u2019s seeing the same kind of qualities in Wang. For example, both came to his lab with solid backgrounds in coding.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cWhen Rob joined, he was a good programmer. He learned a lot of biology and his project leverages both sets of skills. It\u2019s been fabulous to watch him grow from a student to a teacher\u2019s role, and see Payne go through some of the same things, coming into a research lab as wide-eyed undergrads,\u201d says Lam. \u201cRob taught Payne a lot of the biology that he learned, and Payne is applying his own programming skills for Rob\u2019s project, and now Payne has his own project as part of the Petit Scholarship. So it\u2019s like things have come full circle. Payne is on the same trajectory that Rob was on \u2013 a talented undergrad researcher destined to go to grad school.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EFor his part, Wang seems giddy over the scholarship, and pleased with the lab arrangement. \u201cA full year of research! I\u2019m really thrilled. This is a great opportunity for an undergraduate. This isn\u2019t typical,\u201d says Wang, who is using Mannino\u2019s device to help answer his questions and further his own research. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECONTACT:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/node\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Paying it Forward the Petit Scholar Way"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPaying it Forward the Petit Scholar Way\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Paying it Forward the Petit Scholar Way"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2015-02-20 17:42:49","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:01:54","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-02-20T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2015-02-20T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"380751":{"id":"380751","type":"image","title":"Payne and Robert","body":null,"created":"1449246231","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:23:51","changed":"1475894398","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:58","alt":"Payne and Robert","file":{"fid":"75265","name":"payne_and_robert_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/payne_and_robert_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/payne_and_robert_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1332859,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/payne_and_robert_0.jpg?itok=T01fqgZM"}}},"media_ids":["380751"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1808","name":"graduate students"},{"id":"857","name":"Petit Scholars"},{"id":"98491","name":"Research Experience for Undergraduate Students"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/node\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}