Arjun Shyam

Biography

About me

I am Arjun Shyam, a PhD student (biomedical engineering) at the University of Calgary. My hometown is Thiruvananthapuram, a monsoonal city in the southernmost region of the Indian subcontinent. After graduating with a high school diploma from the Jesuit-run Loyola School, I moved to the USA to pursue a college education. Courtesy of my Jesuit school education, one of my core driving principles is to strive to do more for others. From 2015 to 2018, I was a Computer Science major at De Anza College (Cupertino, CA). However, it eventually became clear that I yearned for a career that would put me in a position to improve lives from a more direct standpoint. When I attended the ‘Public Health, Primary Care, and Health Disparities’ seminar hosted by Stanford University, Dr. DeTata’s detailed take on the challenges that plague today’s medical field made me think of how my late grandfather lost his life to gas gangrene. His untimely death had a lot to do with how the medical industry put profit above everything. Although it was evident that medical science had come a long way, it was clear to me that there needs to be an effort from the grassroots level to restore the humane component of healthcare. That is why I decided to steer my career in a direction where I could make a holistic contribution to healthcare. In the fall of 2018, I transferred from De Anza College to San José State University (SJSU) and began pursuing a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering. For my undergrad capstone project, I optimized the design of a paper microfluidic device for the colorimetric assay of serum creatinine. During my senior year at SJSU, I also had the privilege of interning at Simple HealthKit (SHK), a medical device startup in Silicon Valley. In 2021, I graduated from SJSU and moved north to Calgary to pursue a graduate degree in biomedical engineering. What drew me to Calgary was the pathbreaking spinal cord injury research at the Phillips Lab. After meeting with Dr. Phillips and his dynamic team, albeit virtually, I was convinced that being a trainee at the Phillips Lab would allow me to grow as a biomedical engineer and also give me the opportunity to make impactful contributions to healthcare. My pastimes include cooking, gardening, hiking, and road cycling. I also happen to be a high-fidelity enthusiast.

My research

I am conducting my thesis research under the supervision of Dr. Aaron Phillips, where my research focuses on developing a disruptive medical device that facilitates closed-loop neuromodulation after spinal cord injury. In addition to my thesis work, I have had the privilege of being a data scientist for these cutting-edge projects at the Phillips Lab and the RESTORE Network: Bridging the Gap Plus Program (DARPA-funded, multi-site project that involves the development of novel medical devices to treat spinal cord injury) & the HEMO trial (a clinical trial that is piloting a novel medical device which uses electrical stimulation to rescue falling blood pressure in spinal cord injury patients).

BRAIN CREATE program aspirations

During my time as a BRAIN CREATE trainee, I hope to complete an internship in the medical device industry. Through this internship, I aspire to work on dynamic projects that involve one or more of the following disciplines: data science, machine learning, and software development.

Commercialization

As part of my doctoral research, I will test the in vivo functionality of the medical device that I’ve been developing. Once I establish that this device can facilitate closed-loop neuromodulation in murine models, I hope to further develop this into a potent platform (hardware + software) that could improve the lives of spinal cord injury patients. If I can secure a patent for this platform, I could see it generating the interest of leading neurotech companies.

Awards

BRAIN CREATE Graduate Scholarship