From Stroke Survivor to Stem Cell Researcher: One Student’s Path to Healing
Jordan Vanni was near the end of her first year of college of Pacific Lutheran University when she suffered a stroke that left her unable to walk or control the left side of her face. She spent three weeks rehabilitating at Harborview Medical Center, an experience that opened her eyes to the power of modern medicine and gave real-world meaning to her human biology courses.
For Vanni, it was a lightbulb moment.
“I realized my calling,” she says. “I wanted to create new tools that help people heal.”
Later in her undergraduate career, while looking for internships, Vanni discovered the University of Washington Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM).
“It was my junior year and everyone told me I needed to have an internship if I wanted to be successful in my career. There were so many opportunities, but I was captured by ISCRM’s message – that they wanted to conduct research in the lab to help patients like me.”
The internship that brought Vanni to Seattle in the summer of 2024 was the ISCRM Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). Supported by the funds from the State of Washington, the ISCRM REU offers paid laboratory experience for undergraduate students from universities from around the country. ISCRM REU participants join a larger cohort of summer undergraduate students for a 10-week shared experience that includes weekly training in professional skills related to publishing, presenting, and communications, and an opportunity to explore the city together.
In fact, when asked about her biggest takeaways from the REU program, Vanni is most emphatic about the sense of community. “My strongest memories aren’t just about the science,” she says. “They have more to do with seeing how science is a community effort, and how collaborations drive the best results. Being part of the REU forged some really wonderful relationships and it taught me that I belong in a place with young people who are passionate about what they are doing and empathetic to others.”
At the time that she was forging bonds with her summer community, Vanni was finding her place in the Tissue and Regenerative Engineering (TARE) Lab, a research team led by ISCRM faculty member Jenny Robinson, an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine and Mechanical Engineering.
Vanni discovered that the same spirit of collaboration existed in the lab, which studies the relationship between hormones, most notably, estrogen, and the difference in injury and regeneration rates between the biological sexes in hopes of promoting more effective healing for all patients.
“As undergrad, it can be a little intimidating being surrounded by scientists who are so well versed in their techniques,” says Vanni. “In the Robinson Lab, I quickly learned how important it is to lean on other people’s expertise and life experiences.”
Over the course of her first summer in the lab, Vanni used immunofluorescent antibody staining, flow cytometry, and quantitative software to characterize the primary cells of the meniscus tissue, all part of the lab’s long-term goal of bringing new treatment options to the clinic.
As her busy summer in the lab drew to a close, Vanni knew she wanted to return to the Robinson Lab and to ISCRM. With Dr. Robinson’s support, she applied successfully to the UW Molecular Engineering & Sciences (MoIES) PhD program and is now back in the lab that welcomed her as an undergraduate student.
“We are so excited to have Jordan join the lab as a PhD student,” says Robinson, “From day one, I have been impressed by her curiosity, her insatiable desire to learn, and her ability to think through experiments and synthesize data to tackle tough research questions. When she was an REU student, I had to constantly remind myself that she wasn’t already PhD student – she just has a knack for research.”
ISCRM faculty Julie Mathieu, PhD, an Associate Professor of Comparative Medicine, helps lead the REU program. She echoes the praise for Vanni. “One of the goals of the REU program is to help aspiring scientists like Jordan launch their research careers,” says Mathieu. “We’re so excited that Jordan came to ISCRM for her summer internship and chose to return to the UW as a graduate student.”
Recently, Vanni received more good news. In June, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded her three years of funding through the prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), which supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing full-time, research-based masters and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering or math or STEM education.
Following the footsteps of her mentor, who received the same fellowship as a graduate student, Vanni focused her proposal to the NSF on sex differences and injuries involving the meniscus. Currently she is investigating whether hormone levels may be linked to higher rates of knee injuries in women.
“The meniscus is mostly made up of extracellular matrix (ECM) and this is what gives the tissue the structure required to function, and we know that under certain conditions at certain concentrations estrogen can impact both the breakdown and remodeling of the ECM,” Vanni explains. “We are trying to determine the conditions and concentrations that impact this process to shed light on why certain injuries are more common in females.”
She’s taking it step-by-step – first examining how estrogen appears in the tissue, then moving into more detailed dosing strategies. “At first the idea of estrogen and meniscus didn’t seem to go together. But the more we learn, the more we can see how injury risk varies by sex. That eventually lead to better prevention or treatments.”
As Vanni builds her resume as a scientist, she is also determined to help foster the same culture of support that has lifted her up. “When I first started, I couldn’t quite see myself in science. One of the things I’m most excited about for my future is creating a space where other people feel welcome and highlighting the voices and stories of people who felt like I did. I don’t know what that looks like yet, but I would really love to be part of a research environment that cultivates that mindset.”