Krithika (she/her) is a senior in the honors program pursuing a double major in Molecular and Cell Biology and Individualized: Health Policy and Racial Disparities (IMJR). On campus she serves as president of the Learning Community Executive council and co-president of UConn’s Pre-Medical Society. She is also student program director of the Community Sustainability Alternative Break to Puerto Rico, a member of UConn’s Leadership Legacy Experience, and volunteers through UConn Health Leaders. Outside of UConn, she enjoys taking coffee trips to different places, playing volleyball, and painting.
The summer after her freshman year, Krithika joined the Dealy Laboratory under the mentorship of Dr. Caroline Dealy in the Department of Orthodontics at UConn Health. Here, her project analyzed the inactivation of the Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) signaling pathway in the postnatal growth plate and the impact during chondrocyte maturation and endochondral ossification. Future implications of her work approach the clinical problem of Osteoarthritis; a painful degenerative disease of the cartilage in adults. At the end of the summer, she presented her findings at the 16th International Conference on Limb Development, Regeneration, and Evolution at Harvard University, the New England Science Symposium also at Harvard University, and UConn’s Frontiers Poster Exhibition in the fall. The summer after her sophomore year, Krithika was granted a SURF Award to pursue an independent project under the supervision of Dr. Dealy, hoping to identify a new chondrocyte population in the postnatal growth plate through proliferation markers, and further experience the question-asking process.
Alongside her work at UConn Health, Krithika is also part of the BOLD Women’s Leadership Network. Through this program she travelled to Chennai, India and pursued a documentary project on Disability Advocacy in South India the summer after her junior year. Here, she conducted interviews with various advocacy initiatives to create awareness and a foundation on the experiences of individuals with disabilities with an Indian context. During fall 2024, she will start as an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Fumilayo Showers lab to conduct interviews and examine the structural/systemic, institutional, and micro level factors that shaped the experiences of frontline and non-frontline health care workers during the various waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the future, Krithika hopes to attend medical school.
Research has been an integral aspect of Krithika’s undergraduate journey. She encourages individuals to be open-minded to research in all disciplines and environments when exploring opportunities. Krithika understands the stressful process of finding undergraduate research opportunities outside of established UConn programs. If you have any questions about finding research opportunities, her research experiences, or about UConn in general, she would love to hear from you!
Student Research Blog Posts by Krithika: