Lia Strait — the URECA researcher of the month for November 2021 — is a senior majoring in biomedical engineering who has been doing research since freshman year under the mentorship of Mei Lin (Ete) Chan and Clinton Rubin from the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Center for Biotechnology. Earlier this year, Strait also began working on a collaborative mechanobiology research project with Chan, Rubin and Stella Tsirka, from the Department of Pharmacological Sciences, on “The Effect of Low-intensity Vibration Therapy Decreases Levels of Inflammatory Proteins in the Brain in Mouse Model.” Her work on this project was supported this past summer through the URECA Summer – PSEG Explorations in STEM programs, and was presented at the virtual 2021 Summer Symposium. This research will be the basis of her senior departmental honors thesis. Strait plans to pursue a PhD in bioengineering, focusing on mechanobiology.
Strait also worked as a research assistant for Lahara Bio, a start-up biotechnology company, and was involved in her sophomore year in a Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) team, where she worked on designing and developing Roflex, a motion sensing athletic smartwatch, which she presented at Stony Brook’s WolfieTank pitch competition in 2020. Strait has served as a teaching assistant for BME 205: Clinical Challenges of the 21st Century in Spring 2020 and as a peer tutor for the Academic Success and Tutoring Center in 2021. She also dedicates much of her time to the Stony Brook Equestrian Team, serving currently as president (and formerly as secretary); and is an avid cyclist. She is from Salt Point, NY.
Read the interview with URECA Director Karen Kernan
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