Students Win Cancer Research Awards

 

 

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Georgetown University senior Zachary Dobbin, a biology major, spent the past year working in the laboratory of Lombardi's Robert Clarke, PhD, DSc. Collaborating with post-doctoral fellow Ayesha Shajahan, PhD, he has been studying the effects of chemotherapy agents on one protein found in breast cancer cells.

The protein, called caveolin-1 (CAV1), may play an important role in processes that halt the growth of a cancer. Working with Shajahan, Zach studied the relationship between CAV1 and BCL-2, another protein that can inhibit the formation of cancer.

“There are so many opportunities to get involved in really meaningful research here,” says Zach. "Ayesha explained her work to me, and I just found it very interesting – looking at one protein and what its role is in breast cancer.”

At the same time, PhD candidate Anatasha Crawford, BS, was working in Clarke’s lab on restoring treatment sensitivity to cancers that have become resistant to anti-estrogen therapies like tamoxifen (marketed as Nolvadex, Apo-Tamox, Tamofen, and Tamone). Her work examines the role of a single family of proteins in tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer cells. This protein family is one of the same proteins that Zach is studying: Bcl-2. In this case, Tasha is interested in its key role in the process of programmed cell death, or apoptosis.

Both Tasha and Zach won research awards from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), one of the premiere professional societies in the cancer field. In November 2006, both students submitted abstracts to the AACR for consideration for these awards. Zach’s went to the Thomas J. Bardos Science Education Award committee, which promotes cancer research by undergraduate students. He was one out of only 10 students nationwide to receive the honor. Similarly, Tasha’s abstract received a Minority Scholar in Cancer Research Award, which is given annually to junior scientists who are members of under-represented minority groups in the field of cancer and biomedical research. As part of her award, Tasha was invited to attend networking programs at the conference to meet minorities who are leaders in the field.

Both students traveled to the annual AACR meeting in 2007 to present their research. Awardees are provided with a travel stipend for transport to and from the conference, the registration fee is waived, and special events are planned that give them the opportunity to meet with other researchers who can provide advice and guidance. The award also allows the students to attend a second annual conference, in 2008.

“I remember when I attended my first AACR meeting,” recalls Tasha’s mentor, Rebecca Riggins, PhD, who is a research assistant professor at Lombardi. “I was so overwhelmed by the 15,000 people who attend each year. I think it was great for Tasha to have a core group of people that she could meet and make connections with.”

Both students are now well on their way to their dreams: Zach plans to enroll in an MD/PhD program after he graduates, while Tasha is hard at work on her doctoral thesis research. Ultimately, both want to make a profound impact through their research.

Like many students who conduct research at Lombardi, Tasha’s passion comes from a personal experience with cancer: “I became very interested in breast cancer research when my grandmother had breast cancer,” she explains. “That was the main reason why I came to Lombardi; I wanted to learn in a place that has a focus on cancer research.”

Tasha and Riggins are laying the groundwork for a new and more effective generation of drugs that can restore sensitivity to tamoxifen in breast cancer patients. Drugs, which one day Zach may be prescribing to his patients.

By Allison Whitney, excerpted from 2007 Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Annual Report.