ICRU student Eric Mou conducting research in Dr. Mary Horne’s laboratory
Finding the Cure: an Undergraduate’s Journey into Cancer Research
What do you do when the question you are looking to answer isn’t ‘What is the cure?’, but rather ‘What exactly are we trying to cure in the first place?’
Eric Mou’s foray into research began after the conclusion of his freshman year. Seeking to get closer to the University of Iowa’s medical community, he began his work in the Carver College of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology. Under the supervision of Dr. Mary Horne, Mou learned about the lab’s focus on cancer research. More specifically, the lab investigated the effects of breast cancer drug treatments on breast cancer cells. Barely through a single year of college study, Mou had the opportunity to work closely with graduate students on real cancer research projects.
“I was surprised at how quickly I became involved with the lab’s projects. Being able to take part in breast cancer research as a sophomore was very exciting,” said Mou.
Though the prospect of performing cancer research was intriguing, Mou found himself quickly overwhelmed with the sheer enormity of the task at hand. What had initially seemed relatively uncomplicated became a significantly complex problem.
“Before I had begun research, I thought that cancer research involved scientists from around the world working in concert to find a single cure. I quickly discovered that this was definitely not the case,” Mou noted.
In fact, the cure for cancer may lie in one of millions of places. The cell performs countless processes to ensure its livelihood, and defects in almost any of these areas can eventually lead to cancer. Pinpointing exactly which process goes awry at exactly which time in exactly which cell, and then finding a way to stop it represents a massive undertaking. This reality is what makes cancer research so frustrating, yet so appealing at the same time.
Throughout the academic year, Mou investigated the effects of certain cancer drugs’ effect on a specific cell protein, Cyclin G2. Using biochemistry techniques, Mou worked with a graduate student to visualize the rise and fall of Cyclin G2 levels in response to different drug treatments. Performing extensive year-long work on a single cell protein demonstrated the potential manpower necessary to find an ultimate cure.
His experience culminated with a poster presentation at the Spring Undergraduate Research Festival (SURF) in 2009, where he shared his research with hundreds of other students and faculty from around the University of Iowa. At the conference, Mou received an Outstanding Poster Award in the Natural Sciences division for his efforts.
“The process of efficiently compiling my results into a neat and presentable format, and then finding a way to effectively communicate these results to a general audience was a significant task. It most definitely improved my organizational and presentation skills, and in the end, I found the entire process very rewarding.”
After completing his work in the Horne Lab, Mou came away with a greater understanding of, and appreciation for those involved in all types of research. He believes it conveyed to him the importance of research, and at the same time clarified his future career goals.
“Research has been helpful to me in several ways, and not only because I got to do real work with the College of Medicine. My work in research has allowed me to view some of the non-clinical aspects of medicine, and it has helped me greatly in figuring out whether or not I would like to pursue research as part of my future. As a pre-medical student, my experiences in the lab have really helped me get closer to the field that I plan on pursuing in the future.”