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| Alexander Coley explains the role of genes in cancer research. He won first place at the symposium. |
Such is the concept behind the 2022 Elevator Pitch Symposium, held Thursday, April 14, at the Medical Sciences Building at the USA College of Medicine. Ten students in the Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program gave short presentations and competed for first, second and third place as chosen by five judges.
Graduate student Griffin Wright suggested the idea for the Elevator Pitch Symposium after having struggled to communicate his research and its importance to family members back home in Trussville, Alabama. “This made me realize that this is a critical skill for a scientist to have both in a professional and non-professional setting,” Wright said. “I thought this symposium would be a great opportunity for BMS graduate students to improve and refine this critical skill.”
In the competition, Alexander Coley, a graduate student in molecular and cell biology, won first place for his explanation of genes in cancer research that conjured images of mice, music and mechanics.
Saying that humans share most of their protein coding genes with mice, Coley said scientists are beginning to learn the true complexity of DNA lies in turning on and off large combinations of genes. “Just like the keys on a piano, different notes played at different times can produce wildly different compositions,” he said. “’Moonlight Sonata’ and ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ come from the same piano. The difference is which keys you push and when you push them.”
Similarly, human genes can tell the body to stop dividing and stop growing, he said. “When we have cancer, those ‘grow’ genes get turned on, and they stay on, much like a car whose gas pedal is stuck to the floor. Those ‘stop dividing and stop growing’ genes turn off like a car’s brakes being cut.”
Coley’s research looks at a new regulator of human genes known as long G4 regions. “Our data shows that these long G4 regions reach out and grab nearby genes telling them when to turn on and when to turn off,” he said. “What we’ve also found is that in cancer, these long G4 interactions are usually broken down. The result of this is we get deregulation of these long G4 associated genes.”
Coley’s work in the lab of Glen Borchert, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology, aims to search for and characterize the long G4 interactions to understand how the genome is regulated and how cancer works. Ultimately, the goal is to provide “a new targetable pathway to improve the lives of cancer patients,” he said.
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| Santina Johnson won second place for her explanation of how smooth muscle cells in the lung regulate how humans breathe. |
“Smooth muscle cells surround your airway and actually control the diameter, the actual size, of the airway,” said Johnson, who works in the lab of Thomas Rich, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology. “How air goes in and out is controlled by how these cells either contract or relax (in response to certain triggers).”
Johnson said she seeks to understand how the cells react when they are exposed to continuous chemical and mechanical stresses and how they convert such signals into cellular responses.
“We’re studying the chemical calcium as well as the mechanical natural movements – contracting or relaxing – how those things are affected by different treatments,” she said. “We use fancy microscopes and different approaches to investigate how cells talk to each other.”
Smooth muscle tone largely is determined by the amount of calcium within the cell and is associated with changes in lung architecture and function in lung diseases, such as asthma.
Johnson said scientists in the lab ask questions such as: “What happens when we treat them with this drug?” and “How do they react with another? What about different combinations?” Ultimately, understanding how chemical and mechanical signals are regulated in the cells – and how cells communicate with each other – may aid in the development of therapies for pulmonary diseases, she said.
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Sirin Saranyutanon won third place for her talk about smoking and prostate cancer. |
“I know you know that smoking is bad for your health. It can cause lung cancer. We all know that, right?” she said. “But how much do we know about smoking and prostate cancer?”
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of death among men in the U.S.
Saranyutanon said that her project, in the lab of Ajay Singh, Ph.D., professor of pathology, aims to investigate the effects of nicotine in prostate cancer pathogenesis by assessing whether nicotine worsens prostate cancer, plays a role in metastasis, aids in drug resistance or suppresses the immune system.
“We will dig into the molecular level to find out what pathways, signaling mechanisms, proteins and mediators have been involved in these alterations,” she said. “We hope that our work can be useful for further clinical management and to caution the public more effectively about this risk lifestyle and stress-coping behavior, and raise more concerns about smoking policy issues.”
