I'm Martin Mutonga and I'm in Professor Nakamura's lab here at the University of Chicago.
Pretty much, Dr. Nakamura's group identified genes that cancer cells depend on that normal
cells don't depend on as much.
So what we do, what I do, here is we try to see when we target these genes in cancer cells
can we kill them.
And so this is what I pretty much do, in the context of leukemia.
I was born and raised in Kenya, a small town known as Meru, so it's like three hours away
from, away from Nairobi.
So yeah, I grew up there going to middle school there, did like half of my own school there.
And then after that I came to finish my high school studies here in America.
You know, of course, in terms of living there, you know, you grow up seeing weakness in some
of the challenges, and some of the challenges that we have in, you know, Kenya's a developing
country is, is healthcare.
In particular cancer, cancer care and this is kind of why I chose to, like, you know,
take this route of medicine 'cause I felt, you know, we need to make some differences.
We need to improve the healthcare system in general.
And for me, I'm more interested in cancer care.
So we work with cells, celamites.
So these are cancer celamites with different kinds of mutations that are present out there.
So we've identified genes.
So we find molecules or inhibitors that attack at these proteins that are coded by these
genes.
And so what I do is, like, we use these inhibitors of these cancer cells and then we try to study
what happens to the cell shape.
What happens to, does the cell die, how long does it take to die, things like this.
And this is just seeing, trying to see if there are any changes that show these cells
are in the process of dying.
And that's what we want to see.
You can think about it as pre-clinical research because before you recommend the targeting
of these cancer genes in the clinic, you need to show that you've done some work on cells
and you can see how promising, you have some promising results.
Of course, like any kind of field, things sometimes can be very challenging but, you
know, at the back of my mind I know people need answers, you know.
Whenever I feel like things are getting out of hand I just think about that.
I think, you know, I stand to benefit someone.
I told myself my role is to benefit someone here in America, it's time to benefit someone.
But this is cancer.
I mean, patients don't have options.
Even here in America where it's very advanced but, even here it's a huge challenge.
Yes, we have drugs that, that actually help patients live longer, but that does not necessarily
mean that their quality of life is good as well.
So, and that's part of the research that we do.
We don't just want drugs that, that act asa base filter.
You know, they kind of help you live longer but they, actually they make your quality
of life poor but we need, like, drugs that can achieve both goals, which is living longer
and living a quality of life.
And this is why we are doing research, you know.
For most cancers, patients don't have options.
The hope is being enrolled in a clinical trial.
Research is being done and being applied as soon as possible.
When it comes to what do you add to the society, what do you add to the community, you are
making a differences between life, I think, differences between the quality of life that
someone needs.
So for me, this is, as a scientist, you are touching someone's heart, you are touching
someone else and you are making a difference, you know.
Whatever they appreciate or whatever they like you, I mean, there is, for me, you know,
it's so much satisfaction from that, you know.
And it cannot be equated to money or anything.
It's just that by itself.