Hrshita Gowda

Wanda K. Neu Fellow, Biomedical Engineering

Hi, I’m Hrshita a first-year Ph.D. student in the Reker Lab. I completed my undergraduate program in biotechnology from India and worked at Biocon Research Limited, India as a research scientist for a period of over 4 years. As part of my undergraduate thesis, I worked on FMRP, an FXS related protein, and the effect of starvation on its mRNA levels. At Biocon, I characterized the primary structure of proteins such as insulin, its analogs, and a complex polypeptide aimed at treating multiple sclerosis using chromatographic and mass spectrometric systems. It was interesting to note how the structure is relevant to the protein’s critical quality attributes and its function. I pursued my master’s in biotechnology at Northeastern University to further my knowledge of protein structure relevance using different analytical platforms and how it could help us make better biologics. During my master’s, I also undertook an internship at Nektar Therapeutics, California for six months where I experimented design a flow through the platform to separate differently pegylated IL-2 on a cation exchange platform. These industrial experiences have been enriching and given me strong analytical skillsets, it gave me the visibility to see the development of a biologic from research to regulatory approvals. This visibility highlighted the void that exists in our research efforts towards lead generation. This void can be fulfilled by the application of computational strategies to lead generation and make such biologics affordable. Another field of interest is the gut microbiome and how it shapes our body’s response to pathological conditions.  

Contact Information

  • Email Address: hrshita.gowda@duke.edu

Education

  • B.Eng. Biotechnology (Visvesvaraya Technological University, 2013)
  • M.Sc. Biotechnology (Northeastern University, 2020) 

Research Interests

  • Gut microbiome

  • Active machine learning in lead generation