I am an American Cancer Society researcher.
I am a postdoctoral fellow which means I'm still in a training stage right
after I got my PhD but before I am ready to be a
professor and i do research full-time time I'm in a laboratory up to fourteen
hours a day
in a group of about 25 people each of us has our own project
I study lymphoma and a whole bunch of different kinds of lymphoma
that are all caused by a virus.
I work with live human cells that are cultured from tumors that actually grew
years and years ago from patients
and I grow those cells
under very very sterile conditions so I often work in a sterile
hood environment and I use microscopes to look at the cells and then I crack them open
at a bench and I do molecular biology on them which means I
isolate DNA and RNA. They are genetic components of a cell
and on I basically manipulate the cells to express the genes I'm interested in
some are virally infected than some other ones.
I do test on them to
analyze exactly how the virus is causing cancer in the cells.
well so far I have had the privilege of discovering to novel genes
actually totally unexpectedly discovered as a course
my my project and i got to name them which is really exciting and so that
will probably go down as part of my contribution
to the field but in addition to that I'm really trying to lay the groundwork
in a relatively new area of study
The genes that I and studying were only discovered six years ago
so I feel like I'm sort of getting in on the ground floor of the research in my area
First of all, cancer is a very intellectual problem it's very intellectually
appealing and it's a complex situation where you have
normal conditions that go out of whack and it's just plain interesting to study
but well beyond that I have a lot of personal ties of course
that motivate me to study cancer myself.
In particular I have a grandfather who actually survived
3 kinds cancer at age 87 three different kinds
cancer. And then on the other side my family actually I have a grandmother who
died at age 39 so I never got to meet her
and she died of cancer in 1973 that today
has a 92 percent cure rate. It's impressive and it's because early detection and
important research that occurred
actually because research funded by the American Cancer Society
specifically on that that particular type of
cancer has now been reduced so i think I'm just motivated by being touched by it
personally in my family
so when research gets tough and on the harder days
I can always remember that there's a bigger reason why I am doing what I am doing.
The first time that I was able to meet with Relay for Life
volunteers I truly did not know what exactly I was getting in to. what kind of
group of people that this would be. They are the most motivated enthusiastic people I've
worked with
and it was really empowering to me actually
to hear their stories first-hand stories I personally have never had cancer
and nobody in my immediate family has although
my grandparents have all had cancer but
speaking to someone who's going through it right now
is totally different perspective I think
and another Relay for Life event I spoke at
an actual Relay and I was on a stage and I had to speak after a 17-year-old
cancer survivor
and that will stick with me, sorry.
The things she had to say were
just incredible how strong she was, how hopeful she was,
and as researchers hearing that they put their hope in you
i think is really really intense. You can get in a laboratory for hours in the
very involved in your own details until you get out and experience that kind of
thing
you don't really understand that can impact your making