Medical Scientist Training Program

Karen Hansen

2nd Year Medical Student
2nd Year MSTP

kahansen@mcw.edu

Research Interest

• Undecided

Education

• M.S. 2006, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
  • Molecular Neuroscience
• B.S. 2004, College of Idaho
  • Major: Biology

Research Experience

• Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, 6/2001-8/2011
  • Summer Research Student
  • Advisor: Dr. David Harder in collaboration with Dr. Alan Mast, Dr. Anne Hoch
  • Project: Comparison of Growth Factors and Platelet Concentration and Activation from a Commercial Platelet Rich Plasma Separation System and a Standard Table Top Centrifuge
• Medtronic Corporation, Minneapolis, MN, 5/2009-8/2010
  • CNS Therapy Program Coordinator
  • Provided project management support for CNS Drug Therapy products in the R&D pipeline.  Therapeutic landscapes included Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s Diseases and Pain and Mood Disorders.  Developed Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) plan for producing therapies for Phase I/II Clinical Trials.  Helped develop antibody for Alzheimer’s disease and established technology transfer with GMP manufacturer.
• Humanetics Corporation, Minneapolis, MN, 2/2008-4/2009
  • Project Manager
  • Provided consulting support for product development of pharmacological countermeasures for ionizing radiation.
• Acorda Therapeutics and University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 7/2006-1/2008
  • Biopharmaceutical Engineer and Protein Production Program Manager
  • Developed GMP purification process for recombinant human monoclonal IgM biotherapeutic for Phase I Clinical Trials for Multiple Sclerosis.  Managed protein production and purification projects, including testing of all stages of master cell line development and protein manufacturing.
• Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN, 8/2004-6/2006
  • Biomedical Research Graduate Student
  • Advisor: Dr. Joseph Poduslo
  • Project: Performed pharmacokinetic analysis of the efflux of amyloid beta protein in Alzheimer disease transgenic mice.  Helped develop and analyze molecular probe-contrast agent for detection of plaques in parenchyma of Alzheimer brains using MRI.
• Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 6/2003-8/2003
  • Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow
  • Advisor: Dr. Mark McNiven
  • Project: Investigated direct interaction between actin-binding proteins, cortactin and dynamin, and their involvement in cell motility in pancreatic cancer.  Purified proteins and performed biochemical studies of protein interactions after post-translational modifications.

Publications

• Giles KE, Kandimalla KK, Ramirez-Alvarado, Poduslo JF.  Development of Aβ40 derivatives that do not form fibrils as MRI contrast agents for detecting Alzheimer’s disease amyloid plaques.  Journal of Neurochemistry 2005: 94 (Supp 1), 27.

Interests

• Running, cycling, triathlons, Telemark skiing, reading, and spending time with my husband.