Research on neuroblastomas
Our laboratory work with neuroblastoma cells began as an offshoot of student interest in in vitro models of tumor cell function. Much of the pioneering work was done by Bradley Wierbowski (a BCMB/Honors/SJLA student who was awarded the Goldwater Scholarship in 2012), who studied the effects of oxidative stress on the different cell adhesion proteins neuroblastoma cells for his honors thesis work. Students have been using neuroblastoma cells for a variety of studies.
From "lab class" to "lab bench"
The Cell Biology laboratory course (Biol 350L) incorporates a student-designed and -executed independent research experiment for the final project. A growing number of students who have taken the Cell Biology laboratory course have been able to extend this course experience and continue doing their research in the laboratory. Emily Harasym, a BCMB major who is also a member of the Honors Program and SJLA, took the course in 2012. She started a research project on retinoic acid-mediated differentiation of SK-N-SH (HTB-11) neuroblastoma cells. She was awarded the Presidential University Summer Fellowship in 2013 to study the effect of retinoic acid on neuroblastoma growth and differentiation.
She studied how retinoic acid at very low (nanomolar) concentrations triggers neuroblastomas to develop structural and functional characteristics similar to adult neurons. She assessed this using immunocytochemistry (to stain for neuronal proteins) and calcium imaging (to measure cell responses to canonical neurotransmitters and neurostimulatory compounds). She presented her research work in the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in New Orleans, LA (Dec. 2013); she was awarded a travel fellowship by ASCB for this conference.
Nicole McAndrews was a biology major with a minor in spanish. She was awarded the Presidential University Summer Fellowship in 2014. Her research focuses on the role of retinoic acid in cancer cell growth and survival. Her involvement with research began in the fall of 2013, when she took the Cell Biology laboratory course. In the course, Nicole designed a research project involving retinoic acid and fibroblast growth. This experience sparked her interest in laboratory investigation, so she promptly joined the lab, redefined her interests, and designed a project involving retinoic acid and neuroblastoma cells.
Retinoic acid, a vitamin A derivative, regulates multiple biological processes and plays key roles in cancer cell growth and is a known chemotherapeutic agent. It is known to affect the growth characteristics of neuroblastomas, a type of aggressive cancer that is derived from the nervous system. However, the effects of retinoic acid on neuroblastomas appears to be multifaceted. Her research attempts to uncover the cellular mechanisms that mediate these varied effects of retinoic acid, and will specifically focus on two known proteins associated with retinoic acid receptors (CRABP2 and FABP5). This research has important implications for the use of retinoic acid for chemotherapy involving neuroblastomas.
Using the skills that she learned in class, she started pilot studies for her project, and developed her work into a research proposal for the summer fellowship. She presented the results of her study at the annual meetings of the American Society for Cell Biology in 2014 and 2015.
They co-authored a paper on this work (click here to access).
Emily's and Nicole’s stories of their introduction into the research laboratory represents one type of success story that makes Scranton special. Our small laboratory class sizes allow faculty to work one-on-one with students and mentor them in experiment design and execution. Students are given freedom to explore their interests and develop an intense curiosity that is the hallmark of science. They can smoothly transition from the teaching labs into the research labs. They are encouraged to collaborate and learn from each other as members of the research lab. Thus, they are transformed from “students” to “scholars”.
Coming full circle
Interestingly, the neuroblastoma work comes "full circle" - one of my first publications as a post-doctoral researcher was on the use of olfactory neuroblastoma cells as an in vitro model for human olfaction. It's what got me started with cell culture work.