Rachel

Drug therapies for cancer

Cancer has a major impact on society affecting millions of people each year. Researchers are working hard to understand, at a molecular level, the causes of cancer and using this knowledge to develop drug therapies. For this project, you will pick one or a few related cancer drugs on the market to research and understand biological how they work at a molecular level.

The power of structural biology

Structural biology is a field of biology that focuses on understanding the structure and dynamics of biological macromolecules (proteins, DNA, RNA). Using different techniques, you can get a 3D picture of these very small molecules that you wouldn't be able to see by eye. Once you can see an image of something, you're better able to know how it works. One current technique to do so is Cryo-EM. This project would focus on understanding what is Cryo-EM and how do scientists processing data to get to a 3D picture. You will have the potential to process a small open source dataset on your own to see what it's like to perform this technique in a real lab.