Author: Isabel Powers | Major: Biomedical Engineering

I am researching the role of pancreatic cancer in Schwann cell activation. Schwann cells are a type of supporting cells for the nervous system that can help repair damaged nerves among other functions. It is believed that pancreatic cancer cells can hijack these repair mechanisms using chemical messengers called cytokines carried in extracellular vesicles. Like a phishing scam, the pancreatic cancer cells send extracellular vesicles (emails) that contain cytokines (links) to help recruit the Schwann cells and cause them to de-differentiate into a more useful form. This is an important project because pancreatic cancer has less than a 10% five-year survival rate and the malignant forms do not respond well to traditional cancer treatments so figuring out the role of these messengers is important for future therapies.

I joined this project because by the end of my sophomore year as a Biomedical Engineering student I was ready to join a research lab. I have always been interested in research, but I was really lacking in the lab techniques and skills required for the type of research typically involved in Biomedical Engineering. In fall of sophomore year, I took the Introduction to Biomedical Engineering class. Dr. Song was the professor, and I really liked her teaching style. She also seemed like the kind of mentor that I was looking for. I wanted a mentor that was interested in the projects but would still challenge me to learn and problem solve the information for myself. I did not want a mentor that didn’t care what I was researching, or a mentor that never let me think for myself. Finding the right mentor was extremely important to me and Dr. Song matched well. I did a short interview with her and was able to meet a graduate student, Emory Gregory, who I would be training and researching with. During this interview, I was introduced to a couple of research projects that I could join if interested. I was especially interested in this project because it involved a bunch of interesting technical skills, such as cell culture, and I would be able to learn about a topic like cancer. When I learned how deadly this type of cancer was, it surprised me. I felt like research into this topic was important because there are so few options for treatment now.

Emory did a great job of helping me learn the lab techniques needed for this research. I struggled with my lack of technical lab skills when I was first starting out (the pandemic meant all my chemistry and biology labs were online), so I was scared that I would mess up with some clumsy error and kill my cells. I was hesitant with even simple techniques like pipetting or unit conversions. Despite this, Emory was patient with me and made sure I was comfortable with each technique before moving on to the next skill. Under her guidance, I am now capable of many skills including growing a 3D cell culture! I am happy with this progress because at the beginning of the project I had never handled cells before. We did have some other challenges with this project. Two of the machines that I was using for my research unexpectedly broke, causing some delays. We are looking into alternative machines and the broken ones should be repaired soon. I feel confident in my abilities to complete the project next semester.

Next semester is going to be a real test of the skills I learned this semester. I will be balancing multiple 3D cell cultures plus all the specific timings and control groups of the experiment. Additionally, I will be learning even more techniques such as microscopy and protein quantification. I am excited to develop my skills in this project and hopefully I can produce results that can help future patients of this deadly disease.