Glioblastoma Research
As a biology major following the pre-medicine track, I knew that I wanted to pursue joining a research team at some point in my undergraduate career. I reached out to Dr. Katner in the spring of 2020 with interest in her cancer research within the Biochemistry department at MNSU, and the next thing I knew, I hit the ground running with her and the rest of her research team in the fall 2020 semester.
Dr. Katner’s research focuses on two forms of cancer: Glioblastoma (brain cancer) and Hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer). She assigned me to the glioblastoma portion of her team. Here, I was tasked with the research goal of “Generating a GPC-1 Knockout Using CRISPR and Clonal Expansion Techniques.” This entailed studying a specific gene called Glypican-1 (GPC-1) that might be involved in glioblastoma tumor progression. So, by “knocking this gene out” (making it non-functional), we could then go on to perform drug studies on the cancer cells to see if there is a relationship between the absence of this gene, and tumor progression. I remember reading my project assignment and thinking, “what have I gotten myself into,” but little did I know, Dr. Katner would be there every step of the way to teach me about this aggressive cancer and exactly what I was going to be doing in the lab.
Performing this original research with Dr. Katner and the rest of our team soon enough allowed me an opportunity to discuss presenting this research. Dr. Katner discussed grant writing with our team, and we worked on our grants for weeks trying to perfect them. I was awarded a “Foundation Grant” through MNSU’s Undergraduate Research Center, which also came with a promise of me presenting this research at the Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS) here on campus in the spring of 2021. Dr. Katner and I also discussed having me submit an abstract to the NCUR – the National Conference of Undergraduate Research. I submitted a proposal for this and was also accepted to present in the spring of 2021.
Here, I believe that I met levels 1 and 2 in 'dissemination of results' because I was able to identify appropriate venues with Dr. Katner for presentation and successfully prepare and submit abstracts/proposals to said places that were accepted. I have linked the abstract that I submitted to the URS as an artifact below.
This experience also helped me to meet Research level 3 of 'dissemination of results' because I presented my glioblastoma research project at both the NCUR and URS here at MNSU, on April 13th and 15th respectively. These two events were very unique and special experiences in that I was able to present what I have been working on all year with Dr. Katner and the rest of our team. Regarding the NCUR, I participated in a "Poster Presentation" where those interested could come view my poster and ask any questions they had regarding my project. For the URS at MNSU, I participated in an "Oral Presentation" where I gave a roughly 10-15 minute speech regarding my research project, and then there was a short allotment of time at the end for viewers to ask me questions. These were two very different experiences, but I'm glad I pursued both of them in order to widen my skills regarding giving effective presentations because I know I will likely give different types of presentations in my professional career someday.
