 Prof. Patricia Almeida Carvalho Patricia Almeida Carvalho, a tenured professor of materials science at the Instituto Superior Tecnico in Lisbon, is visiting MIT during the 2008–2009 academic year as a Fulbright scholar. A microscopist with a first degree in metallurgical and materials engineering and a PhD in mathematics and natural sciences, Carvalho is spending her sabbatical year in the laboratory of MIT’s Dean of Engineering, Subra Suresh, a member of MIT Portugal’s Governing Committee. Her visit is the result of a referral from her PhD advisor at Groningen University and Prof. Joaquim Sampaio Cabral at IST, one of MIT Portugal’s bio-engineering focus area leads. MPP: What are you working on in the Suresh Lab? PC: Our work involves cell and molecular mechanics in red blood cells that have been affected by malaria. Basically, I use atomic force micrsocopy (AFM) to study how affected cells are deformed, by measuring nanoscale forces using a cantilever device. Red blood cells that aren’t infected pass through the spleen, but infected cells become rigid and can’t do that. They adhere to capillaries and burst, causing more infection. We’re trying to better understand—and measure—the deformation process. MPP: What are the main challenges for you? PC: Mostly, it’s the time pressure that’s involved. The cells we work with aren’t suspended. They die within a half hour, so we have to work quickly. Also, we need to get new cells from a biologist every two days. Malaria cells are on a two-day cycle, meaning that it takes two days for the malaria strain to burst the cells and infect them. So every two days, we get new supplies to work with. MPP: Has your previous work involved the mechanisms of disease in this way? PC: Not really. But I was finding that more and more of my colleagues were getting involved in research that knits together materials science with biology. I wanted to learn more about this and bring information and techniques back with me to IST. MPP: This is your first extended visit to the U.S.—and you’re here with your 14-year-old son. How were the first weeks and months? PC: Actually, things went well—better than I thought they would. I would tell others that it’s certainly possible to bring their children with them to Cambridge. Pedro is now a student at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School [a public high school]. Last summer, I thought I should bring him here early, so he could do extra work on his English. The school said that wouldn’t be necessary—and after a few days, he’d adjusted! It’s a very inclusive school, which helps; he’s not the only student whose first language isn’t English. He gets to play the oboe there, and he also plays in a wind ensemble at the New England Conservatory [of Music, in Boston]. MPP: What about your own adjustment? PC: Well, I believe in immersion. I like eating the food Americans eat and going the places they go. That’s why I’m here: to experience something different, inside and outside the lab. Also, at home in Portugal, I teach six hours of classes a week. It’s been great to be able to focus on research this year, and learn new methodologies. See images of healthy and infected red blood cells (RBCs) being stretched by optical tweezers in the Suresh Lab at the lab’s homepage (lower left corner). | 
