Julia Measmer was sorting through a bag of raw spinach in her dorm refrigerator 鈥� some leaves had begun to rot 鈥� when she remembered the experiment that inspired her to major in biomedical engineering.
On her 15th birthday, she and her father visited Worcester Polytechnical Institute, where her brother was a student. On a tour of the biomedical engineering labs, she met researchers who had removed all the living cells from spinach leaves so that only the cellulose skeleton remained, a process called decellularization. Then, they grew heart muscle cells on that cellulose scaffolding.
鈥淚 was absolutely hooked. It was so cool, the things they were doing, especially with tissue engineering,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 wait to be the person who鈥檚 blazing that trail.鈥�
Measmer then took every science elective she could at Billerica Memorial High School, a Project Lead the Way school with a strong biomedical science curriculum.
During her first semester at UMass Lowell, that bag of spinach and the memory it recalled gave her an idea for an experiment. She鈥檇 learned that most laundry detergents contain a key ingredient in plant decellularization: sodium lauryl sulfate. So she tried soaking spinach leaves in different detergents at varying concentrations.
She sent pictures of the results to Asst. Teaching Prof. Yanfen Li, her professor for Introduction to Biomedical Engineering. With Li鈥檚 encouragement, she turned her experiment into a research project.
After multiple trials in Li鈥檚 lab, some involving spinach provided by Dining Services, Measmer is developing decellularization experiments that students can perform in campus labs or at home.
In her sophomore year, Measmer applied for a job as a monitor in the Lawrence Lin MakerSpace. She began spending a lot of time there and experimenting with the 3D printers 鈥� and ultimately, she was hired.
Diagnosed late in her high school career as having severe ADHD, Measmer is grateful to UMass Lowell, 鈥渢he best place possible for biomedical engineering,鈥� for taking a chance on her and giving her research opportunities.
鈥淏ecause I struggled so much in high school with the undiagnosed ADHD, my GPA didn鈥檛 reflect what I was capable of,鈥� she says.聽
Disability Services has provided her with accommodations, including extended time to take tests and the use of a low-distraction testing center, she says. Most professors put their lectures online, which she also finds helpful.
Measmer says she鈥檚 had to repeat a couple of classes over the winter and summer sessions because she overextended herself. But she knows it鈥檚 important to make time for her physical and mental health, so she鈥檚 active in the and the club swim and dive team.
She鈥檚 open about her struggles to manage her time, stay on track and find balance.
鈥淚鈥檓 a fierce advocate for educating about the invisible disabilities, because there are so many stereotypes that surround these disorders,鈥� she says. 鈥淔or me, it鈥檚 slow but steady, making strides at not being overwhelmed.鈥�