Gurneet Sangha Joins UCI Biomedical Engineering Faculty
April 10, 2025 - Gurneet Sangha comes to the UC Irvine Samuel School of Engineering from his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Maryland. He earned his bachelor’s degree and doctorate in biomedical engineering at Rutgers University and Purdue University respectively.
Sangha’s research integrates preclinical cardiovascular imaging and vascular mechanobiology to study blood as a mechanosensitive tissue that actively regulates vascular health. His goal is to develop diagnostics and regenerative medicine approaches to detect and address abnormalities in blood cell mechanosignaling before the manifestation of cardiovascular risk factors, a concept known as primordial prevention. This work will redefine blood cell mechanosensing as a key biological pathway that regulates vascular health and inspires novel strategies to treat cardiovascular dysfunction early in disease progression.
"My research aims to reimagine blood as a mechanosensitive tissue that communicates with the cardiovascular system. It focuses on how red and white blood cells respond to mechanical forces in blood flow,” Sangha said. “We also want to understand how different types of stress, such as exercise or anxiety and depression, alter this communication and affect cardiovascular function.”
He hopes that by measuring blood cell function, he’ll be able to develop new diagnostics that can help patients improve their cardiovascular health.
He looks forward to working with students, faculty and others at UCI. “I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect fit to launch my independent research career. UCI offers an ideal environment to advance my work, with its interdisciplinary strengths in biomedical engineering, cardiovascular innovation, exercise physiology, and life adversity research,” said Sangha.
