As an undergraduate studying chemical engineering at Tulane University in New Orleans, near the heart of oil country, Jennifer Munson modeled how fluids move through pipes.
Five years later, she aimed that understanding at the human brain.
“The majority of our brain is water,” said Munson, an associate professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC. “It just made sense to apply that kind of information.”
Today, Munson is a biomedical engineer and one of a handful of scientists examining how interstitial flow – the flow of fluids in the spaces surrounding cells within human tissues – can aggravate cancers, accelerate Alzheimer’s disease, and effectively deliver drugs.