Wood Hudson’s Undergraduate Research Education Program held “Science Day” this week when the students from Thomas More University (TMU), Mount St. Joseph University (MSJ), Xavier University (XU), Craft Academy at Morehead State University (MSU), Gatton Academy at Western Kentucky University (WKU), and Conner High School gave their final report on projects to design an experiment to understand one of the “Provocative Questions” proposed by the National Institutes of Health.
Two students, Caroline Klug (UC) and Sophie McVay (TMU) designed experiments to answer the question “How does intermittent fasting affect cancer incidence, treatment response, or outcome?”
Three students, Alexis Evangelou (MSJ), Erin Olakanmi (MSJ) and Heng Yang (Conner H.S.) tackled the question “What are the underlying causes of the unexplained rising incidence in certain early-onset cancers?”
The question of “What methods can be developed to effectively study small or rare populations relevant to cancer research?” was addressed by Brody Johnson (Gatton Academy/WKU).
“How can cancer cachexia be reversed?” was a problem that Caden Togrul (XU), Megan Poynter (MSJ) and Hannah Stanley (Craft Academy/MSU) studied.
Jonathan Scherff (MSJ) designed an experiment to elucidate “How do selective pressures affect cell competition and cooperation during cancer initiation or development?”
“What methods can be developed to integrate patient-generated health data into electronic health records?” were discussed by Kaylee Ferguson (MSJ).
Diane Willkening Gilb
These presentations were the third presentation each student prepared this summer.
Each student also reported on a recent peer-reviewed journal article and also gave a lecture on one chapter in “Principles of Cancer Biology.”
Prof. Diane Willkening Gilb organized the Google Classroom and Connect assignments so that students had the opportunity to work with on-line resources, including technical videos, and review chapters in an on-line Anatomy and Physiology textbook that were complementary to the chapters in the textbook “Principles of Cancer Biology” that each student was given at the start of the summer program.
Wood Hudson Cancer Research Laboratory is a professional, independent, non-for-profit, publicly supported, research institute dedicated to the discovery of new knowledge regarding the causes, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer. It was founded by Dr. Julia Carter and is located in Newport.
