Sushil's Blog: Cancer Research at Rutgers

Hey Guys! My name is Sushil and I am going to discuss my work on Cancer Research during the summer. I am very fortunate to be working in the lab of Dr. Ah-Ng Tony Kong of the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers University. Our lab, consisting of a few post-doctoral researchers, phD candidates, pharmD candidates and myself, the lone high school student, is currently researching a transcription factor called Nrf-2 that codes for anti-oxidative stress genes. This transcription factor is activated by the body in response to oxidative stress, specifically the presence of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). These ROS substances are present in very high concentrations before the body develops cancer, so the goal of our lab is to determine the potential medicinal uses of this transcription factor.

Every day since the end of June, I arrive at the lab around 9 am to begin my work. An interesting thing about working in a lab is that there are no set hours that you must work every day. As long as you have completed your tasks for the day, you are free to go home. As a result, people arrive and leave the lab at all times of the day. My first couple weeks in the lab were spent shadowing a post-doc researcher. During this time, I learned about the specifics of our labs project, observed the researcher perform experiments like Western Blotting, live Polymerase Chain Reactions, RNA and Protein Extractions and BCA/Luciferase Assays. In addition, I took detailed notes on all the procedures and also practiced operating the different types of VERY expensive machinery in the lab and also my sharpened my own lab skills. Since then, I have been free to work on my own experiments based on a specific part of the transcription factor. Because virtually everyone in the lab is an adult, each person works independently on a different part of the project, without any direct supervision. At the end of each month, our professor holds a lab meeting where we discuss our results and also talk about the goals for the next month.

One thing that I have already learned is that failure is super common in a lab. People often times repeat the same experiments 6 or 7 times until they get the results that are expected, so it is important to have a strong mind, be able to put failures behind you and keep moving forward. I am very excited about the work that I am doing and hope that I can make a breakthrough by the end of my time in the lab! {Unfortunately, I probably will not discover a cure for cancer in the next 6 weeks but its good to have a goal :) }. Ill try to keep you updated as I continue my work. Until next time!