University: Catholic University of America
Hometown: Newark, NJ
NIH Research Project:
Characterization of Human Cancer Stem Cells
Mentor: Curtis C. Harris, M.D.
Center for Cancer Research
National Cancer Institute
|
|
 |
My name is Luciann Cuenca, and I am a biochemistry major at The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. My interest in pursuing a research career began when I took biology and chemistry courses in high school. The biology course made me curious about how organisms function at the cellular and molecular levels. Similarly, the chemistry course caught my interest for understanding the behavior of molecules and how these could be used to design drug therapies.
In the summer of 2004, I joined the Research in Science and Engineering program at Rutgers University. Under the guidance of Dr. Joseph Rice, I worked on the synthesis of a natural product known as telomestatin, a potential anticancer agent. This compound has been shown to be a potent inhibitor of telomerase, an enzyme active in cancer cells that has been found to be responsible for their proliferation. During the academic year, I work in the laboratory of Dr. Greg Brewer where I synthesize inorganic compounds.
Currently, I am training in the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis at the National Cancer Institute under the mentorship of Drs. Curtis Harris and Lyuba Varticovski. Our research is on the identification and characterization of cancer stem cells. These cells are believed to have self-renewal capacity and be responsible for initiation of cancer and relapse after therapies. The identification of cancer stem cells will lead to better understanding of cancer pathology and permit development of novel treatments aimed to eradicate cancer stem cells.
I plan to pursue a Ph.D. to conduct research on drug discovery and design for cancer treatment. After graduate education, I would like continue my scientific training at NIH. Being a UGSP Scholar has been a unique experience that has strengthened my determination and desire to pursue a research career. |
