[InEDC May 8, 2020]
In 2010 Trojan Cross Country runner LeeAnn Hold of El Dorado Hills took first place in the girls junior varsity cross country race in the Sac-Joaquin Section. She set several Seasonal Records racing as an Oak Ridge runner in 3 Miles and 5,000 Meter races.
In 2020 LeeAnn Hold, University of Idaho human tendon student-researcher is awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Biological Engineering Research Program Fellowships for 2020. Her research examines the mechanisms behind the formation and healing of tendon tissue.
The fellowship program recognizes outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering and math. Fellows earn a three-year annual stipend of $34,000 and a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees.
LeeAnn’s research is partially funded through a National Institutes of Health grant. She was also a 2018 Beckman Scholar. Students receive up to $21,000 over the course of two summers and an academic year to conduct undergraduate research. An additional $5,000 goes to the lab in which the student is conducting research.
LeeAnn’s Research involves Load-bearing tendons, like a human Achilles tendon, are constantly being subjected to different levels of force as we walk, run and move.
Enzymes called matrix metalloproteinases or MMPs within these tendons are continually at work breaking down and rebuilding the internal structure of connective tissues within the tendon.
“Think of it kind of like a scaffold of a building that provides extra support,” LeeAnn Hold said. “These enzymes are able to break down and rebuild this scaffolding in order to optimize the environment for your tendons.”
A Beckman Scholar beginning in the summer of 2018, Hold’s research has focused on how MMPs work and how the same biochemical processes could potentially be used down the road in tendon tissue development.
“Right now, the only way to repair your tendon is to sew it back together,” she said. “Think of that like trying to sew together two paintbrushes. It’s impossible.”
Hold was in the Navy for three years and thought about going into nursing before choosing biological engineering at the U of I.
“Using math and biology at the same time, it’s such a cool bridge between the two,” she said.
3 Miles
5,000 Meters
2,500 Meters
2 Miles
3,300 Meters
3 Miles
5,000 Meters
2,500 Meters
3,000 Meters
2 Miles
3,300 Meters
3 Miles
5,000 Meters
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