In LEADERs Quentin Meslier Learned to Ask Himself a Question: ‘What are Your Values?’

By Anna Fiorentino  

What we know is that tennis players have more bone mass in their dominant arm from repeated hitting. What we don’t know, explains Quentin Meslier, PhD ’24, bioengineering, is “why younger tennis players continue to grow bone in their playing arm while elderly tennis players don’t.”  

Through his PhD research and LEADERs fellowship with Cambridge-based startup LifeCanvas Technologies, Meslier is developing a 3D-imaging technique that looks deep within our bones to find the answers. He’s investigating the forces that trigger how bones strengthen and weaken, changing shape over time. 

“We’re trying to find out why the older bone doesn’t adapt like a younger bone,” he says. “How do mechanical-like external forces that we apply on the bone induce change in bone formation or resorption?” 

Meslier joined LEADERs somewhat unconventionally—demonstrating there’s more than one way to become a fellow. LifeCanvas Technologies, a startup out of Kwanghun Chung’s MIT lab specializing in 3D tissue processing and imaging, had been on his radar, when he took it upon himself to inquire about a fellowship. With help from his lab advisor and principal investigator Sandra Shefelbine, Northeastern professor of mechanical and industrial engineering and bioengineering, he raised the funds to make it happen, landing a supplemental National Science Foundation grant. Then, he turned to the LEADERs team to administer the fellowship.  

“A previous postdoc in my lab, Ester Comellas, had taken the LEADERs course and found it very helpful and so my advisor recommended it,” he says. 

Before even starting, he’d learned a lesson: “Don’t be afraid to find your own way through LEADERs. You can work with your professor to suggest a company that is relevant to your lab and set up a fellowship, developing network collaborators through LEADERs who are beneficial for everyone,” he says.  

Meslier started, like all students in the LEADERs flagship course, Leading Self and Others, gaining the social, emotional, and leadership skills that, he says, “aren’t my natural strength but I needed.” 

“I realized that a leader is not necessarily the most technical, brilliant scientist. I also learned to ask myself a question I never had: What are your values and what type of environment do you want to work in?” recalls Meslier. “The LEADERs course definitely shaped the future in that sense. It forced me to think about what I want to contribute to.”

Then, during his fellowship in November 2023, working with the small startup allowed him to gain a wide range of experience, make an impact, and get his research published—in the October 2024 edition of The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, with a second paper now available as a preprint. He even received an award from the International Society of Bone Morphometry at a conference that also took place in October.  

Meslier’s work involved adapting LifeCanvas’ existing novel 3D neuroscience technology (rather than sectioning the tissue for 2D images) into a new potential application for the bone. That meant examining bone cells—the molecular expression of intact 3D mouse bone (cells, protein, and RNA)—and having a very steady hand to apply fluorescence to make the samples transparent for imaging.  

“Very few companies in the world do this type of work,” says Meslier. “The idea was to say, if you can do this in a mouse, maybe we can do it in our own bones.”  

Finally, as he neared graduation, it was time to make a choice about his future: academia or industry?  

He’ll take his shot in academia: “For my postdoc at Washington University in St. Louis I’ll be working with Associate Professor Erica Scheller in the Center of Regenerative Medicine.” For now, what he’s certain about is that he’ll utilize the people skills he gained in LEADERs.  

“I’m going to try academia, where the LEADERs skills apply too. You have to be the leader of your group in terms of science, but also the students in your lab,” he says. “The thought of being a leader can be really intimidating—to ask myself, ‘can I be as good as my mentors?’ But every time the answer comes down to progress and experience—and to values.”  

Upon completion of the “Leading Self and Others” course, LEADERs program staff and partner companies select fellows who align with specific industry needs. These PhD students are supported through the fellowship application process and placed in a specialized role to solve a problem in industry. They go on to earn a LEADERs’ Experiential PhD leadership certificate, with guidance from an industry mentor and faculty advisor. The program is run by the PhD Network, which helps prepare students to enter the workforce as impactful researchers. 

If you are a PhD student interested in the LEADERs program, sign up or contact Wendy Eaton, director of LEADERs partnership relations. Follow us on LinkedIn.