Morghan Relich is an honors college fellow in the College of Engineering studying biomedical engineering.She and her research team have been exploring the efficacy of mitophagy inhibition as a potentiating agent for conventional chemotherapy in vitro.
Author: Morghan Relich | Major: Biomedical Engineering | Semester: Spring 2024
This past semester I have had the opportunity to gain more hands-on experience and learn valuable knowledge and lessons about research. Through my time as an undergraduate, I have had the opportunity to work in Dr. Muldoon’s lab. Coming into college I wanted to get involved in research and get into a lab that would nurture and encourage me to push myself to learn more and do more. Research as a whole has always interested me because of the independence and vast opportunities within it. I love the medical field and the technology that can be used to help solve unanswered questions. I joined Dr. Muldoon’s lab because of his philosophy to allow us, as students, to take charge and fully push ourselves to want to learn more
Dr. Muldoon has allowed me to work on a couple of different projects. I first began working with a couple of PhD students, from the exercise science department, on a project that explores the effects of chemotherapy agents on colon cancer and tumor growth in vivo. Through my time with the PhD students, and after helping on this project for a year, I have been able to see the amount of work that goes into a project of such extent. I have seen the entire process involving the project. Through this experience, it sparked my interest in the mitochondria process, specifically the process of mitophagy. My mentor, Dr. Muldoon allowed me to follow that spark and has supported me in diving deeper into mitophagy. I became interested in how mitophagy can affect the functioning of cancer cells and the correlation within it of chemotherapy. I then questioned how inhibiting mitophagy would affect chemotherapy sensitivity. Chemotherapy increases mitophagy in order to exacerbate cytotoxic effects on cancer cells because excessive mitophagy induction can lead to loss of functional mitochondria and in turn, lead to cell death. Inhibition of mitophagy may help downregulate the resistance of drugs and chemotherapy in cancer cells. This led to me wanting to research the efficacy of mitophagy inhibition as a potentiating agent for conventional chemotherapy in vitro. I seek to explore the differences through different cell lines and different chemotherapy agents.
By receiving this honors college grant I have been able to grow immensely and have been able to gain experience and be a more well-rounded individual, now having a more in-depth understanding of the process and the true personality and characteristics it takes to be successful in research. Writing a grant proposal forced me to shift my mindset and what I was used to. As a student, I have been used to writing lab reports, which are backwards looking, writing about what has already happened. Writing a research proposal forced me to think forward looking. It required much more research and thought to fully write the proposal and to plan the project out in advance. It brought up many questions about the project itself and how I would execute the plan. Involving cell culture, I have learned a great deal, learning the “whys” behind every step, method, and every detail involved. I have learned how unpredictable cells can be and how thorough one must be. I have also learned a lot about myself, learning the true value of patience. Working with cells and being in research requires patience and the ability to be flexible. I have learned to have multiple plans and always be ready to pivot.
My mentor Dr. Muldoon along with Shelby Bess have encouraged and supported this entire process, mentoring me through the process and giving me the tools to grow. My fellow peers Matthew Igoe and Shelby Bess have also helped train me and teach me about cell culture since the beginning of this project.
Throughout the summer and upcoming semester, I will continue to work on my project and grow. In October I plan to go to the BMES conference to present a poster to showcase the work I and my fellow mentors have worked on. Looking farther down the road, I plan on going to medical school. Being involved in research and working on my project will allow me to be a more well-rounded individual and allow me to grow. I am looking forward to continuing this process and further progress in my project. I also look ahead to the upcoming challenges and how I will learn from them and the experience that I will gain. I am very grateful to be in this lab working on this project with the support that I have.