Upper St. Clair High School junior Priyasha Itani has always had a knack for science. As a child, she watched Disney’s “Big Hero 6” on repeat, glued to the story of a robotics whiz and his mechanical companion on a mission to avenge his brother’s death.
“That movie really got me interested in biomedical engineering as a whole,” says Itani.
But around the same time, Itani saw a real-world scenario where science almost faltered. When she was only 6 years old, she nearly lost her mother to complications from a disease that affects millions of women worldwide — endometriosis. While not generally fatal, some rare complications associated with the disease can be life-threatening.
Itani’s mother recovered, but the ordeal left its mark. “That experience brought my personal awareness to the disease itself,” she says.
Now, the 16-year-old student is working to better understand the cause of endometriosis through a research internship at the Vascular Bioengineering Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering.
Endometriosis is a chronic disease in which the tissue that normally lines the uterus grows elsewhere, leading to excessive bleeding and severe pain during menstruation and sex. The disorder can also cause infertility.
According to the World Health Organization, endometriosis affects as many as 10% of women of reproductive age worldwide. Researchers still don’t understand its cause, and it often takes up to 7 years for women to receive a diagnosis. Currently, no cure exists.
Itani began her work on endometriosis through the Hillman Cancer Center Academy, a summer program where students are connected with scientists and labs in the Pittsburgh Area.
Her research focused on how estrogen influences the development of endometriosis. Endometriosis patients often exhibit levels of the hormone at 250% to 500% above average, she says. Researchers think these surging estrogen levels promote growth of more arteries, which can intensify the symptoms of the disease.
“The idea is that if there's more arteries around a cluster of cells — in this case, endometriosis cells — the disease can flourish, because there's more nutrition being provided,” she says.
To test her hypothesis, Itani examined cultures of arterial cells under different conditions. She found that when estrogen levels were bumped above normal, the arterial cells multiplied more quickly. But after a certain estrogen level threshold — what Itani calls an “estrogen overload” — arterial cell growth dropped off again.
Itani says she hopes her research can be used to help treat endometriosis patients and develop more advanced studies. Because so little is known about the biological forces that drive endometriosis, basic research like hers is key to better understanding the disorder.
She also shared her results at a poster session of the Biomedical Engineering Society Conference last October in San Antonio, Texas. Itani was just one of 15 high school students to present at the sprawling conference.
“It was a great experience to talk about what I've been doing and to hopefully educate people on endometriosis,” she says.
Itani conducted her research under the guidance of Vascular Bioengineering Laboratory director David Vorp, associate lab director Justin Weinbaum, and Ph.D. candidate Isabelle Chickanosky. She says their mentorship and support has been paramount to her growth as a scientist.
“Everyone at Hillman and VBL saw so much potential in me — far beyond what I actually saw myself at the time,” says Itani. “They forced me to go outside my boundaries and to not be afraid to share my thoughts and try new things.”
While balancing being a high school student and working in a research lab may seem exhausting, Itani says she loves finding the overlap between what she learns in school and what she learns on the job.
“At times, sitting through lectures, you can just wonder, ‘How is this ever going to connect to my life?’” she says. “It's great knowing that the things that I'm learning in my science classes are actually connecting to my life on a daily basis.”
Itani hopes to become a physician scientist and combine her interests in both clinical care and research. She says she’d like to pursue either cardiology or obstetrics and gynecology — the two specialties encompassed by her research this year.
When Itani isn’t in the lab, she works on assistive design projects for her high school classmates, is the vice president of the Upper St. Clair speech and debate club, and volunteers with Generations Giving Back, which offers tech assistance to elderly Pittsburghers.
While her accomplishments at such a young age may seem superhuman, Itani says she’s still a regular person and loves to unwind at the end of the day with a Netflix binge.
Her current favorite show? “New Amsterdam” — a medical drama about a doctor trying to reform a neglected hospital and save lives.
Marilyn Perkins (marilynperkins7@gmail.com) is a freelance science writer and graduate student based in Los Angeles.
First Published: February 17, 2023, 11:00 a.m.