ABSTRACT
First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Biology Open, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Tien Comlekoglu is first author on ‘ Modeling the roles of cohesotaxis, cell-intercalation, and tissue geometry in collective cell migration of Xenopus mesendoderm’, published in BiO. Tien is a MD/PhD Candidate in the lab of Douglas W. DeSimone and Shayn M. Peirce at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA, investigating computational modeling of collective cellular behavior.
Tien Comlekoglu
Describe your scientific journey and your current research focus
I am an MD/PhD student at the University of Virginia currently pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. My research focuses on computational modeling of multicellular systems and collective cell migration. I began my medical training in the MD program at my institution and I had some experience with research in applied mathematics from my work as an undergraduate. I wanted to spend a year learning to apply computational techniques to biological systems and I found a wonderful research opportunity with my current advisors. Early on in my research year experience, I became excited about my project and decided to stay to see it through as a PhD student before returning to my medical training. I found the opportunity to transfer into the MD/PhD program at my institution and am now excited to share my work applying agent-based modeling to understand collective cell migration in the developing embryo at Biology Open.
Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?
I have always been excited to learn to apply computational and mathematical methods to understand complex biology. I decided to pursue a PhD to spend time learning to develop and apply computational methods to investigate multicellular biological systems.
I have always been excited to learn to apply computational and mathematical methods to understand complex biology
How would you explain the main finding of your paper?
My paper shows the use of a computational model I have developed alongside biological experiments to understand (1) how cells pull on each other within a tissue, (2) how cells rearrange with respect to each other within a tissue, and (3) how the shape of the tissue all effect how these tissues move early in the development of the embryo.
What are the potential implications of this finding for your field of research?
I hope that the model of collectively migrating cells that I have developed may be further developed upon and extended by other scientists to help investigate their multicellular biological systems of interest.
I hope that the model of collectively migrating cells that I have developed may be further developed upon and extended by other scientists to help investigate their multicellular biological systems of interest
Which part of this research project was the most rewarding?
The most exciting part of this research project is being able to both work on a fundamental basic science research topic and engineer a computational tool to help investigate our active research questions in this field. I am fortunate to be able to collaborate closely with the co-authors on my work for this effort. I appreciate the wealth of expertise and insight that everyone brings to the work to help it move forward.
What do you enjoy most about being an early-career researcher?
Being a PhD student is exciting because I feel that I have the time and resources to dedicate to learning new and exciting technologies to investigate biological questions of interest while being guided by experts in multiple fields.
What piece of advice would you give to the next generation of researchers?
My advice for new researchers is to find a supportive training environment. I feel fortunate to have the advisors and co-authors that I have guiding me in my work and the resources and expertise to continue on in my studies.
What's next for you?
I plan to continue to pursue my research interests until I earn my PhD degree. Beyond that, I will return to my medical training and hope to continue to chase my research interests as a physician-scientist.
Tien Comlekoglu’s contact details: Department of Cell Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA.
E-mail: [email protected]
