Michael Frassica is pursuing his doctoral degree in biomedical engineering at Texas A&M University. He said he was drawn to the research area because he was interested in the crossover of medicine with chemistry and biology.
“I wanted to find a way to utilize those fields to solve macro-level problems in the field of medicine,” Frassica said.
His research focuses on treating osteochondral defects, such as loss of tissue in the knee, with templated hydrogel scaffolds to aid in regeneration.
“We aim to provide an off-the-shelf synthetic device that can repair damaged osteochondral tissue without the limitations of current surgical approaches,” Frassica said. “In doing so, we can stop these defects from progressing to osteoarthritis and eventual total knee replacement.”
Frassica said since he started school at Texas A&M, he gained more skills in time management, communication and collaboration.
“I’ve enjoyed the access to equipment, facilities and high-level personnel in the department and across the entire university,” Frassica said. “The department provides a lot of collaborative opportunities between labs and research, and also through coursework and seminars. The department really tries to get you and faculty together as much as possible to foster that collaboration.”
As an out-of-state student, Frassica said he was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the transition to Texas A&M went.
“Texas A&M itself is built to take in anybody from anywhere. It’s home in and of itself. The transition is a lot easier than I think anybody could ever imagine it would be,” Frassica said.
After he completes his doctoral degree, Frassica said he plans to pursue research and development, either in academia or industry.
So far, one of his biggest takeaways has been to stress the importance of time management — most graduate students run their own schedule — and his advice is for students to come in ready to accomplish a diversity of tasks.
“Be prepared to solve a wide variety of problems across several different topics and fields. If you’re excited about doing something like that, then it’s definitely the right place,” Frassica said.