DIPG Tumor Cell Hotel summer internship in Neurobiology
Mentor: Dr. Charles Keller
Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a compelling driving clinical problem given its near-100% rate of mortality. We and others have moved a number of agents from concept to clinical trial; nevertheless, no breakthroughs have yet appeared on the horizon. ‘Thinking differently’ is probably now necessary. In that light, we have created a “bait and trap” project that almost audaciously aims to cure DIPG by untangling DIPG tumor cells from the normal nerve tracts in the pons. Cynthia, a 15-year old lab volunteer in Australia created a layman’s summary in the form of an animated video. Cynthia’s role in this project is described in the Role and Training Plan, and includes three steps: (1) Knowledge Aggregation Phase conducting a literature search to determine whether biomaterials (other than the ones we plan to use) should be tested; (2) Testing migration out of the biomaterial (trapping), and (3) Testing migration in to the biomaterial (chemoattraction). Through co-mentoring by postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Anju Karki, and myself, Cynthia should have all the technical and mentoring support to complete her summer project. Overall, we hope that this cross-disciplinary project is a great first training experience for Cynthia, a budding neuroscientist interested in childhood cancer research who we hope to keep in the field.
