Nathan Sorenson, a PSM Biotechnology candidate

PSM Biotechnology Profile: Nathan Sorenson

Nathan Sorenson, an MS candidate in Biotechnology, sits down with the College of Science Graduate Program staff to talk about what it’s like to study at Northeastern University.

What is your favorite part about Northeastern?

Location. It’s close to the middle of Boston, with easy access to any area you might choose to visit. I split my time between Northeastern and MIT in Cambridge. It’s easy for me to walk right across the Harvard bridge and grab a slice of pizza from Il Mondo on my way to school.

Why did you choose Northeastern?

Northeastern offers a unique blend of high quality education mixed with real-world experience with the co-op program. It is invaluable that this program has professors who currently work in the industry and have a good idea of how fast it’s changing. This program also offered a great mix of specialty courses that meet my goals of blending the business and science together.

What is your favorite part of Boston?

It’s hard to pick a favorite part of Boston, there are so many good locations spread throughout the city. The North End is high on the list – lots of small high quality Italian restaurants, historic architecture and colonial sites. Not to mention Mike’s and Modern for the best cannolis in the city.

Are there any perks of being a Northeastern graduate student?

If you ask, you can get access to a wide variety of colloquiums, symposiums, and professional networking events throughout the Northeastern school network. I was able to attend some great translational science workshops through professional associations here at Northeastern.

What advice would you give to an incoming graduate student?

Network and apply your knowledge. I think it’s important as you enter a graduate program to get to know the staff and educators well. It’s a great way to get a handle on the industry and gives insight on what you may want to do after you graduate. It’s also a really good idea to do as much independent study as you can. There are an unlimited amount of ideas and problems you can explore at school, with all the resources you have it’s easy to find a small project or independent study that you can apply your in-class learning to.

What are your plans after degree completion?

Currently, I’m employed at MIT working at the Tissue Chip Testing Center, a translational science center for drug testing using micro-physiological systems. Micro-physiological systems aim to recreate the human organ environment in vitro as closely to in vivo condition as possible. Each day at work I get to apply what I learn in class to novel problems. Using my degree knowledge the plan is to help develop the center and research how we can better predict drug safety with these tissue chip systems.

Biotechnology