Upon writing this, I am presently in my second week of work. Where's that? It's in the Lombardi Cancer Research centre, located beside Georgetown University Hospital. The work so far has been an absolute eye-opener to the world of oncology. It's amazing to think that textbooks on the subject are trying to keep up to date with research that is streaming directly out of places like Lombardi.
So far I've been working with Dr. Rebecca Riggins who is amazing at her job. The research lab I'm involved with has been looking at a particular drug for breast cancer patients called Tamoxifen. However some patients are resistant to the drug ie. they experience little or no effect from it and require larger doses, which inevitably leads to more adverse reactions. Rebecca along with others has been looking into why that is exactly.
Together we have taken protein samples from two cell lines, one resistant to the drug and the other sensitive. In short we quantified the proteins and separated one in particular, ERR gamma. Studies so far indicate that this protein is actually present in higher concentration in those cells that are resistant versus those that are sensitive.
more to come soon...........
