As a little boy growing up in Kolkata, India, Ayan Sengupta fondly recalls his mother reading to him before bed every night. But rather than adventure, mystery, or other fictional bedtime stories, what most captivated him was learning about the digestive system and different functions of the human body.
“Indian families are very science focused,” he said. “That’s just how it is in our culture. Science is the culture.”
Sengupta, assistant professor in the Department of Health Physics and Diagnostic Sciences, housed within UNLV’s School of Integrated Health Sciences, grew up in a massive city of more than 15 million people.
“My parents and my grandmother are still there. When I go back, I stay in the same house I was raised in,” he said. “A lot of the things I am today come from how I was raised.”
In addition to teaching MRI physics, radiation science, and dosimetry courses, Sengupta is conducting research on NASA astronauts and how space travel and microgravity affect the human brain.
He is also an assistant director of a new functional neuroimaging facility, which is housed under UNLV's Division of Research to provide the campus community access to high-quality imaging for research and collaborative opportunities.
When did you discover your love of science?
When you grow up in India, you’re taught about the Earth in a very inherently, cultural way. You learn early on that "Saturday" comes from "Saturn." Every child in India learns all of this, which is a big reason why we are so good in STEM. Also, we were a British colony for a long time, and the school system is still very much British. I learned physics, math, and biology in English. I never really "discovered" a love for science because it was always there.
Was it always your goal to work in medical imaging?
Growing up, I wanted to be a physician, and my parents really went out of their way to help. We were middle class, and they helped with extra tuition so I could prepare for the medical entrance exams. I did get into a dental school, but I didn’t like it that much. I went to an engineering school instead, and got my bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering … [and] got a job in the IT and software development sector.
I worked for a company that developed back-end software platforms for JPMorgan Chase. It was a stable job, but after two years, I realized that it wasn’t for me.
What did you do after changing career paths?
I really wanted to get into higher education and pursue my dreams of contributing to medical sciences. I took the entrance exams for American universities and looked into programs that involved imaging and biomedical sciences.
Fortunately, the University of Nebraska provided me with a teaching job and I started my master’s program in computer science. My research focus was on medical imaging and MRI focusing primarily on brain imaging. I collaborated with the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha to use a 7-Tesla animal MRI scanner on which I developed some novel image analysis algorithms for my master's thesis.
Then, I got a prestigious scholarship to do my Ph.D. in Germany. Within a year, I moved to Germany and worked on a Siemens Magnetom 7-Tesla Human MRI system, which was the first of its kind in Europe. I was looking at AI and machine-learning algorithms for decoding cognitive states of the brain from functional MRI. After finishing my Ph.D., I worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the imaging center of Nobel laureate Sir Peter Mansfield in Nottingham, U.K.
After two and a half years in Nottingham, I joined the University of Cambridge as a research scientist to continue my research with the 7-Tesla MRI. I am honored to hold a lifelong Honorary Affiliateship with Hughes Hall, a distinguished college of the University of Cambridge.
Can you talk about the potential you see within the School of Integrated Health Sciences and within UNLV?
I see immense potential here. Not just for my research, but for interdisciplinary research as well. Right now, I’m collaborating with physical therapy and with kinesiology and nutrition sciences. I’m designing studies with other faculty within our school, and I am also a graduate faculty within the interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in neurosciences. The leadership in SIHS has really encouraged the collaborative environment here. All of these things are happening, and it’s very exciting.
Tell us about your research working with NASA astronauts.
Everything had to be done in Houston, close to the Johnson Space Center. We had previous studies on astronauts showing evidence of the structural changes in their brains due to microgravity. In space, the lack of gravitational pull causes fluids to shift upwards, moving the brain within the skull and compressing the upper part of the brain against the skull, a process that can affect balance, movement, and vision.
Almost 70% of astronauts have been diagnosed with this condition, also known as Spaceflight Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome, or SANS. We need to learn more about this because space flights will be more accessible to us in the coming years. Now, we are analyzing the data so it can be disseminated to the public. We hope that this will lead to more interesting findings and open future funding opportunities.
I had never worked in space science before, but everyone at UNLV encouraged me and supported me throughout this journey. It’s a high-risk endeavor and it’s a high-stress situation, but it’s worth it. Other scientists and flight surgeons in NASA have expressed particular interest in my research as my study is quite unique in its ultra-high-field imaging endeavors.
