Dr. Abigail Koppes-
Principal Investigator

Erika Wheeler

Investigation and Characterization of Sex-Based differences in Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Irritable Bowel Disease are both medical conditions of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. IBS alone affects 60 to 70 million people in the United States and women are twice as likely to be diagnosed than men. Erika’s work focuses on investigating and characterizing sex-based differences in IBS and IBD patients.

Erika joined ABNEL as a bioengineering BS/MS student in January 2021. She began her master thesis in ABNEL in Fall 2021. Prior to this, she co-oped at Sanofi and Cygnal Therapeutics in their oncology department investigating and validating novel oncology targets.

Abby Featured in Northeastern University Feature Article

Abby is featured in a News@Northeastern article titled, “If cells could talk … actually, they do. But what are they saying?” Details included below: Abigail Koppes, assistant professor of chemical engineering, is isolating cell groups on tiny plastic chips, enabling her team to observe the specific roles of cells that have gotten lost in the noise […]

ABNEL Welcomes New PhD Students Kyla and Kirstie

ABNEL welcomes Kyla Nichols and Kirstie Belanger as new PhD students.  Kyla comes from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (B.S. Biomedical Engineering) and Kirstie is joining on rotation from the University of Maine (B.S. Biomedical Engineering).