My name is Arba Cecia and I am a rising
senior, double majoring in neuroscience and biology. I am volunteering as a
researcher at the Laboratory of Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins School of
Medicine. My long-term goal is to pursue an MD-PhD. I
am investigating the role of the methanolic extract of asparagus, emodin, and
rhein as potential enhancer of the extrinsic pathway of apoptosis, along with
allicin, an organosulfur compound of garlic as a potential enhancer of both the
intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways. I am examining these effects both
independently and simultaneously against different glioblastoma cell lines
(GL261, U87, and 9L), and studying the mechanism of cell death. Since about
one-third of the overall risk of cancer may be related to diet, a large
number of dietary compounds have been tested to determine their potential
chemo-preventive properties. White asparagus, emodin, rhein and allicin have
been reported to possess anti-inflammatory, antitumor activities in many cancers.
However, there is a lack of information regarding the antitumor effects of these
compounds in glioblastoma.
I spend most of my time in
the laboratory plating, treating, and performing different cell assays
including cell proliferation, cell counting kit 8, clonogenic assays etc. The
next step of the experiment consists of investigating the mechanism of cell
death in each treatment which will be accomplished by performing cytochrome C releasing
apoptosis assay, and pan caspase inhibition assay.
