Buckeye engineering student does heavy-lifting for research community

Posted: October 8, 2016

Research by an Ohio State Graduate Fellow in biomedical engineering may lead to identifying potential biomarkers for aortic aneurysms.

David Yeung, a fifth-year biomedical engineering PhD candidate, was awarded a pre-doctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association. The honor includes $51,900 to fund his research at the Ohio State Davis Heart and Lung Institute.

In addition to his research, Yeung is also the vice president of Ohio State's Powerlifting Club. This summer in Minsk, Belarus, Yeung helped the team win the first annual University Powerlifting World Cup.

Yeung is working with advisor Gunjan Agarwal, associate professor of biomedical engineering, to study the reaction of type 1 collagen and how it reacts to certain proteins.

Type 1 collagen makes up different tissues in the body, including the aortic artery. Through is research, Yeung is trying to discover if certain proteins break down the collagen in the aorta. This would allow doctors to test for those proteins in patients’ blood to see if they would be at risk of an aortic aneurysm.

Yeung decided to pursue a PhD in biomedical engineering at the Ohio State University to gain the expertise necessary to excel in his future career. “I wanted to have more of an understanding of how research is done and what is out there.”

After receiving his PhD, Yeung hopes to get an industry job in tissue engineering or regenerative medicine.

Yeung is also set to compete individually in powerlifting at the national level in October.