On August 10th, Dr. Kariman Shama became the first PhD student in the Taylor Lab to defend her doctoral thesis! Her dissertation titled “Extracellular Vesicles in Tendon Biology: Investigating the Endogenous Role of Extracellular Vesicles in Tendon Homeostasis and Disease Using Biomimetic Tissue Models” used physiologically relevant in vitro tendon models to assess how extracellular vesicle biogenesis, cargo composition, and biological function are regulated by the tendon microenvironment during tendinopathy. We are so proud of Kari and cannot wait to see her grow as a scientist during her NIH T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship!