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I am a Ph.D. student in the Medical sciences department studying ovarian cancer. Particularly, I am interested in studying a specific type of cancer cells, called cancer stem cells, that cause resistance to chemotherapy in patients. When not in the lab or reading research papers, you would find me trying out new recipes, enjoying masala chai (spiced Indian tea), or taking long naps. If you would like to chat about my research or my interest in science communication, please feel free to reach out to me through vmuralik@iu.edu

Entries by Vaishnavi Muralikrishnan

Meet xenobots: The world’s first living robots

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[(Left) Block like structure created using green and red blocks. (Right) A blob of cells red and green in color.]

What comes to mind when you think of machines? Perhaps structures made of metal, plastic, or ceramics. What if I told you scientists have built tiny robots from frog cells that can move, remember things, and heal themselves? I am talking about Xenobots 2.0, the world’s first living robots, which were made using cells derived from frog embryos…

Cancer cells and their invisibility cloak

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[T- cells attacking a cancer cell (Illustration of an electron microscopy photo). Source: royaltystockphoto.com/Shutterstock.]

I remember being mind blown when I first read about how Harry Potter was able to disappear into alleys by wearing his invisibility cloak. The idea that someone could hide in plain sight always fascinated me as a child. What if I said that this happens right in the human body, where certain cells are able to use an invisibility cloak to camouflage themselves? You read it right: cancer cells have this extraordinary ability to hide in plain sight in the body. But, scientists are working on ways to get cancer cells to come out of hiding and to target them for destruction…

COVID-19 lockdown: Some good news for the environment

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[smoggy vs clear photo of an arch in Delhi, India]

Since the coronavirus outbreak, many of us had to shelter-in-place or practice social distancing. For some of us, this meant working from home, and for others, it meant traveling to their workplace fewer days of the week. Either way, people commuting less to work can mean many different things: fewer cars on the streets, fewer factories, office and school buildings utilizing electricity. Though all these sound like a massive disruption of plans, there is a silver lining to it: the positive impact the lockdown has on the environment…

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