Before joining Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT as an ultrasound research specialist at the Preclinical Imaging and Testing (PI&T) Core Facility, she earned a degree in animal sciences and aspired to go to veterinary school. Instead, she found herself working in animal husbandry, and soon, in facility and project management. While she enjoyed her work, it wasn’t enough.
“I wanted to do more research, particularly helping with other people’s research,” Henning says. “I wanted to try something new. I wanted more freedom to learn to do new things and experiment in my own way.”
Virginia Spanoudaki, scientific director of the PI&T, had a vision for implementing a new ultrasound imaging method. The core facility had an ultrasound machine that could potentially be used to produce larger quantities of less-biased information about the effects of different therapies on mouse models of cancer than other standard imaging techniques. However, one key ingredient was missing: dedicated research staff who could operate and improve the system for research use.
Read more at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Photo: Nicole Henning in the Koch Institute Public Galleries. Credits: Photo courtesy of the Koch Institute.