A West Virginia University graduate student took top honors at the Society of Toxicologys pre-doctoral research contest held recently in Nashville.
Volkan Gurel, who is pursuing a doctorate in WVU s genetics and developmental biology program, earned the accolades for his dissertation work on the abundance of proteins and its meaning for breast cancer treatment.
“Were examining biological markers, in this case a certain protein, to possibly help define the stage of development of breast cancer,”Gurel explained.”Weve found that an over-expression or abundance of this particular protein may indicate certain things about breast cancer cells that can help physicians with diagnosis and indicate possible courses of treatment.”
Gurel said that the over-expression of the protein in question provides physicians with two important facts about the cancer cells in their patientsbodies.
“One is that the cancer cells are growing slowly in response to the over-expression of the protein, which is good news,”he said.”Another is that the cells are more resistant to certain chemotherapies, which is less promising.”
In addition to his breast cancer work, Gurel is participating in studies examining the carcinogenic qualities of heavy metals such as cadmium and arsenic.
Gurel conducts his cancer research with two faculty members from WVU s School of Medicine: Dr. Donald Sens, professor of urology, and Dr. Mary Ann Sens, professor of pathology. His program adviser is Joginder Nath, coordinator of the genetics and developmental biology program and professor in the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences.
“Its always gratifying when our students are recognized for the excellence of their research and scholarship,”said Nath. In recent years, students in the multidisciplinary program have earned honors from the Environmental Mutagen Society and the American Association for Cancer Research.
A number of other WVU graduate students joined Gurel at the SOT meetings. Presenting their work in Nashville were genetics and developmental biology students Seongmi Park, Mohamed Ghanem, Doyeob Kim and Shawna Jackman.