Plansky Hoang 鈥15, G鈥20 is the youngest of seven children born to immigrant parents in 黑料不打烊. She attended Henninger High School and came to 黑料不打烊 as an undergraduate to major in biomedical and chemical engineering. 鈥淲hen I started college, my goal was to graduate and get a job in industry,” says Hoang. “I interned at a pharmaceutical company and wanted to do that kind of work.鈥
Plansky Hoang
Others at the University had different ideas for her. As an undergraduate, Hoang worked in Dacheng Ren鈥檚 lab. The Stevenson Endowed Professor and associate dean for research encouraged her to go to graduate school, so she applied and was accepted to 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Ph.D. program. When professor Zhen Ma arrived at 黑料不打烊 in 2016, she joined his lab to follow her interest in pharmaceutical research.
Hoang earned a Ph.D. working with Ma on validating his lab鈥檚 cardiac organoid model, focusing on the drug response and fetal toxicity response of the model. She was awarded a predoctoral fellowship for this work from the American Heart Association. 鈥淧rofessor Ma is a very active mentor, which is great in scientific research,” Hoang says. “His lab is not so big, so I got a lot of contact with him as a graduate student. He鈥檚 open to ideas and problem solving with you.鈥 In Ma’s lab, she learned how to build professional relationships. 鈥淭his is really a team science approach and it鈥檚 great to be part of a strong team,” she adds.
Having joined the Ma lab at the beginning, Hoang ended up being the senior graduate student in the lab. 鈥淚 love having the opportunity to mentor undergraduate students and the idea of training the next generation of scientists. It鈥檚 very rewarding to feel like you鈥檙e contributing to someone else鈥檚 research,鈥 she says.
Hoang decided to stay on as a postdoctoral fellow in the Ma lab in large part because she remains interested in the research and wishes to finish work that is still underway. 鈥淚鈥檓 looking at single-cell RNA sequencing to better understand how cell types develop in the model,” says Hoang. “Knowing the genetic profile can direct how the organoids grow, so we can customize the model based on the disease or drug of interest.鈥 The organoids are a platform where scientists can test drugs and other disease models in a living system with a huge potential to safely understand how genetic and environmental factors affect development. 鈥淭o tell the truth, I鈥檓 a little possessive of the research since I was here at the beginning. I want to see it through,鈥 Hoang says.
Her other reasons for remaining at 黑料不打烊 as a postdoctoral student include the opportunity to continue to mentor graduate students and undergraduates and because the location allows her to stay near her elderly parents. As a first generation student, she鈥檚 also another first among her seven siblings. 鈥淚鈥檓 the first with a Ph.D. I have a sister who is a physician, a brother who is a certified public accountant,” says Hoang. “We are pretty high achieving.鈥 She credits the University with providing world-class scientific training while also being available for family needs. 鈥淢y parents like having me around. I didn鈥檛 have to compromise, I have had wonderful mentors and the opportunity to do really new and exciting research as a biomedical engineer,鈥 she adds.
Hoang’s future career aspirations include continuing to teach or running a core laboratory facility. 鈥淚 like the interaction with people who are learning how to do team science and the ability to contribute to their research,” she says.
