Project Title: Drug Combination Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma
BASIS Advisor: Dr. Brown
Internship Location: Stanford University
Onsite Mentor: Dr. Ramasamy Paulmurugan
Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is a type of primary liver cancer that has already metastasized by the time of diagnosis. In advanced cases, most current treatment options are not very effective, because of its high drug and chemo-resistance, difficulty of surgical removal, and proneness to relapse. My project addresses how to treat hepatocellular carcinoma, through research on the effectiveness of a combination of Doxorubicin and Paclitoxin, two drugs, in HepG2 cells (liver cancer cells). Doxorubicin is a drug that is known to induce apoptotic pathways in cells, but it targets all cells. However, when paired with the engineered drug Paclitoxin, it can bind selectively to the cancerous liver cells. From this lab research at Stanford University, I will be checking the effectiveness of combining these two drugs by using two methods: checking cell count via FAX analysis and evaluating protein expression via Western Blot. Expected results will include low HepG2 cell count and low expression of proteins associated with HCC. There are 24 total conditions or combinations, from which I will continue testing the best 10. If this project produces promising results, it can be the precedent for using more specific chemotherapeutic treatment. Furthermore, the chemicals and medications will be more centralized to the area of the disease, rather than spread out, which would adversely affect other parts of the body.
My Posts
Week 10 – We made it!
Apr 22, 2019
10 weeks of pure grinding, unadulterated lab work, and some lunches with Arjun and Shreya here and there. BUT WE FINALLY DID IT! After 10 weeks, I gotta say, I’m gonna miss this. What am I talking about, I’m gonna be here until the summer starts thanks to the amazing science of microRNAs and the […]
Week 9 – ALMOST THERE!!
Apr 14, 2019
9 weeks..over 2 months of research (well for me technically it’s about 6 months of research if I include my other project). Feels good to be almost done, but then again I remember that there’s one post-doc in my lab who’s been working on his project for over two years and he’s about to publish […]
Week 8 – (Insert title here)
Apr 08, 2019
Week 8…the beginning of the end of my project. Throughout this week, I basically started wrapping up my project. To be honest, I had already finished many trials, but one more didn’t hurt. I did spend a couple days out of town, but my professor was able to take care of my cells while I […]
Week 7 – A Minor Setback and Responding to Comments
Mar 30, 2019
So this week I was pretty busy at the lab, a bit more than usual. What happened was that the HepG2 cells in both my 12-well plates (The Stage 1 culture-wares) became over-confluent, which means that the cells have divided too much and are stacking on top of each other. This is NOT helpful when […]
Week 6 – Is it finally time for the results?
Mar 24, 2019
Alright everyone, I’ve been keeping you at the edges of your seats for long enough…maybe? Regardless, now that you more or less understand the theory behind my project, let’s actually get into the details. So I’ve been doing this project for how many weeks now? 6? Yet I haven’t really given you anything about the […]
Week 5 – Just some theory
Mar 17, 2019
So this week, I didn’t spend much time at the lab, mainly so I could compile all my results and begin the analysis part. But what good is analysis without understanding the theory behind this drug combination therapy? Let’s start with p53, the most important tumor suppressor ever. In normal cells, p53 protein expression is […]
Week 4 – Western Blot
Mar 11, 2019
Western Blot — No it’s not a type of Western painting featuring Clint Eastwood. It’s something much more important to my project. In my 2nd post, I explained that the 2nd part of my project features Western Blot. Western Blot is used to monitor protein expression of specific genes. In this case, I monitor the […]
Week 3 – Getting the facts from FACS analysis
Mar 11, 2019
In my previous post, I mentioned that in every trial, there are two stages. In this week’s post, I will primarily be talking about the first stage, which is treatment and FACS analysis. At least 12 hours after treatment, I check the cells under the microscope first to see if the drugs actually had any […]
Week 2 – An Overview of My Experiment
Feb 25, 2019
Last week, I went into the details on why liver cancer is so detrimental, as well as how my project would help find better treatment methods for Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). In this week’s blog, I hope to explain what I’m testing and how I will be doing that. The line of cells I use are […]
Combining Two Specific Drugs to Treat Hepatocellular Carcinoma – Week 1
Feb 17, 2019
Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC), also known as human liver cancer, is known to be one of the highest causes of death due to cancer. This cancer causes extreme liver cirrhosis, or inflammation, and prevents the liver from performing its functions of detoxification, protein and carbohydrate metabolism, and bile production. HCC metastasizes much quicker compared to other […]