Gemstone Team Research

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/9070

The Gemstone Program at the University of Maryland is a unique multidisciplinary four-year research program for selected undergraduate honors students of all majors. Under guidance of faculty mentors and Gemstone staff, teams of students design, direct and conduct significant research, often but not exclusively exploring the interdependence of science and technology with society. Gemstone students are members of a living-learning community comprised of fellow students, faculty and staff who work together to enrich the undergraduate experience. This community challenges and supports the students in the development of their research, teamwork, communication and leadership skills. In the fourth year, each team of students presents its research in the form of a thesis to experts, and the students complete the program with a citation and a tangible sense of accomplishment.

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Start date: 2020Subject: search.filters.subject.cancer

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    Exploration of a Viral Protein for Cancer Therapy
    (2023) Carter, Victoria; Funk, McKenzie; Johnson, Jordan; Lanasa, Dominic; Loewenstein, Eva; Luo, Katherine; Patel, Grishma; Shih, Eileen; Sofola, Rotimi; Srinavasan, Sruthi; Zhang, Yanjin
    Cancer is a group of malignant diseases and is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Current treatments can be invasive and nonspecific, therefore killing healthy cells along with cancerous cells. In many types of cancers including lymphoma, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is upregulated and regarded as a risk factor for its enhancing tumorigenicity. Thus, STAT3 is a target for cancer therapy. In this project, we explored a viral protein called nsp5 that induces the degradation of STAT3 to develop cancer therapeutics against lymphoma. We cloned the nsp5 gene into a retroviral expression system and determined its expression. Replication-defective retrovirus particles were packaged and used to deliver nsp5 gene into the lymphoma-derived cells. The nsp5 effect on downregulation of STAT3 and tumor cell growth were determined. These results demonstrate that the viral protein can be explored for further preclinical development for potential tumor therapeutics.