Biomedical Engineering Graduate Student Chris Bobba Invited to Participate in the The Midwest PhD Student Speaker Exchange

This year for the annual Midwestern Speaker Exchange, Ohio State was paired with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Every year, the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Student Assosication (BMEGSA) arranges for Ohio State and another Midwestern university swap senior PhD students to present their research at a seminar for the Department of BME at the respective college. Chris Bobba, a member of BMEGSA since fall of 2013, was selected to speak at UIUC in December.

Bobba completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Rhode Island where he studied Chemical Engineering. Following completion of his degree, he began the Medical Scientist Training Program (MTSP) in 2013. Over the summer of 2013, Bobba rotated through Dr. Samir Ghadali’s lab, who is a professor for the Department of BME and Director of Graduate Studies at OSU. Bobba immediately knew this is where he wanted to complete his thesis work. He left the lab for about a year and a half to complete the first half of medical school, and later returned in the spring of 2016.  He has been working with Dr. Ghadiali since. After graduating with his PhD from Dr. Ghadiali’s lab, Bobba plans to finish the second half of medical school. After graduating from there, he wishes to pursue a research-intensive residency in pulmonary/critical care medicine or cardiothoracic surgery.

Bobba’s research deals with the minimization of harm of mechanical ventilation of patients in the ICU. Specifically, they are trying to understand how the mechanical forces cause cells to react in an inflammatory manner. They are also working towards a type of gene therapy that will work on mitigating that specific inflammation.

Congratulations to Chris Bobba and best of luck!