Raissa Munderere
Ph.D. Student
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Email: raissa.munderere@mail.mcgill.ca
Educational Background:
Bachelor of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering - Pukyong National University (2022)
Master of Science, Department of Biomedical Engineering - Pukyong National University ( 2024)
Favourite Lab Equipment:
High speed Centrifuge <LABOGENE 2236r>
“Curiosity is a strong cross-linker between Now and what we are meant to Do/who we are meant to Be”
Research Project and Interests:
Diabetes is a chronic disorder with rapidly increasing prevalence that is a major global issue of our current era. There are no permanent therapeutic approaches for diabetes, and current therapies rely on regular administration of various drugs or insulin injection. There are two major types of diabetes: type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Specifically, T1D etiology is multifaceted, involving a complex interplay of genetic predispositions and environmental factors, and is believed to arise as the consequence of selective autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing beta cells (β-cells) mediated by autoreactive CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes (T cells). Currently, there is no cure for T1D, even though it is a very prevalent disease. Gene editing is a new technology that could provide promise and more permanent solutions to T1D patients. Targeted genome editing is a fast-growing technology, recruiting programmable nucleases to specifically modify target genomic sequences. These targeted nucleases generate double-strand breaks at target regions in the genome, which induce cellular repair pathways including non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and homology-directed repair (HDR). CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) , clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats, is a novel gene-editing system, permitting precise genome modification. CRISPR/Cas9 has great potential for various applications in diabetic research, such as gene therapy, generation of diabetic animal models, and gene screening.
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Pukyong National University Graduate Recruitment Award (2022-2024)
4th BK21 Graduate Innovation Project Award (2022-2023)
Busan Metropolitan City and the Busan Global City Foundation award (2023)
Busan Finance Center Supporters (2) award (2023)
Global Women Leaders Forum "Design your dream" award by BNCT<John Elliot> (2019)
Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) Excellent scholarship award (2018)
Pukyong National University Undergraduate Special Admission Award (2017-2019)
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Peer-Reviewed Articles:
Munderere, R., Kim, S. H., Kim, C., & Park, S. H. (2022). The progress of stem cell therapy in myocardial-infarcted heart regeneration: cell sheet technology. Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, 19(5), 969-986.
Munderere, R., Gulfam, M., Ali, I., Kim, S. H., Vu, T. T., Park, S. H., & Lim, K. T. (2024). Redox-Responsive Gold Nanoparticles Coated with Hyaluronic Acid and Folic Acid for Application in Targeting Anticancer Therapy. Molecules, 29(7), 1564.
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Conferences:
Raissa Munderere, Muhammad Gulfam, Israr Ali, Seon-Hwa Kim, Kwon Taek Lim, Sang-Hyug Park: Redox-Responsive And Dual-Targeted Folate-Conjugated Hyaluronic Acid-s-s-Gold nanoparticles For Methotrexate Delivery To Cancer, KTERMS 2023 conference, South Korea (poster presentation)
Raissa Munderere, Muhammad Gulfam, Israr Ali, Seon-Hwa Kim, Kwon Taek Lim, Sang-Hyug Park: Drug Delivery Application of Redox-Responsive and Dual-Targeted Folate-Conjugated Hyaluronic Acid-s-s-Gold nanoparticles For the Cancer Therapy, BMES conference 2023, Washington USA (poster presentation)
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Laboratory for Advanced Translational Tissue Engineering (South Korea) Joined laboratory for internship to work on Regenerative Medicine using stem cells for Heart Regeneration (Nov 2020-March 2021)
Laboratory for Advanced Translational Tissue Engineering (South Korea) Research on optimization of drug delivery methods for localized eradication of tumors (2022-2024)
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Extracurricular
Busan Foundation for International CooperationL (BFIC)/ Busan Global City Foundation (BGCE), 2023 South Korea
- Deputy representative, and Vice-leader of International students
- Speaker of the event: 2023 'We study in BusanTalk Show'.
- Global Peace Forum invitation letters to Honorable General Paul J. LaCamera, and the Director of the Barcelona International Peace Center, Honorable Jordi CapdevilaBusan International Finance Center (BIFC) supporter/promoter, 2023 South Korea
Assistant to Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) graduate program and delegation supervisor to develop and build elementary schools in developing countries, 2016-2017 South Korea
Busan National Science Museum (BNSM) for KOREA-RWANDA children education, 2022 South Korea
Volunteer
Volunteer to the Organizing Committee of Fly Asia conference, 2023
Volunteer to Busan Global City Forum 2023
Mentoring at the Mentor-Mentee Project of students from multicultural families, 2023 South Korea
Volunteer to the organizing committee of the Happiness Insight conference, 2023
Volunteer to the organizing Committee of the World Ocean Forum (WOF) conference, 2022-2023
Organizing committee for Global Conference for Women in Maritime 20