ChemSemBlog

The presentation held on Feb 4, 2010 was “Functional Interrogation of Gene Driving Colorectal cancer.” The speaker was Amanda B. Hummon who is currently Assistant Professor at Notre Dame. She received A.B. in chemistry at Cornell University, following she received Ph.D. at University of Illinois. She studied gene regulations in colorectal cancer with RNA interference as her graduate work. Actually, she and her group are working on combining proteomic and functional genomics approaches to develop novel methodologies to explore alterations in signal transduction pathways in cancer at Notre Dame.

Professor Hummon starts the presentation with showing the cancer cell an explaining general information for cancer. It was interesting to know basic understanding of cancer cell such as it has all same gene and genome is like other cells but, the equilibrium is different and chemical differences makes phenotypically behave different.  There are six things that can give better understanding on cancer cell, such as studying DNA , RNA, Protein, Network, Pathway, and function.  Additionally, there are some techniques that can specifically explore DNA, RNA, and function. The spectral karyotyping(SKY) and comparative genomic hybridization were used to explore DNA. The technique, qRT-PCR and microarray were used to study RNA. According to her presentation, microarray is a good technique to see a broad map for gene but not details. After she researched, she found out that the chromosome 13 and 20 were highly affected.

Overall, her presentation was really interesting to see because I was curious about cancer. It was good opportunity to learn about cancer cell as well as gene expression, and benefits of microarrays.

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The speaker at this week’s ChemSem was Amanda Hummon from Notre Dame. In her most recent research, she has been focused upon cancer studies and has made some interesting discoveries about the differences between colon and rectal cancers. To begin with, she talked about the six phenotype characteristics of cancer. Among them was increased cell proliferation, modifications to avoid apoptosis, self-sufficiency of growth signals regardless of organism inhibitions, and the ability to convert blood cells in order for metastasis. Considering these symptoms, she then started to analyze chromosome 13 in order to determine which genes were more expressed in cancer cells.

She did say that she had discovered two specific genes that were more expressed in cancer cells, and furthermore they were different genes in colon cancer vs. rectal cancer. This is an interesting point considering the fact that colon and rectal cancers are commonly grouped into the same disease category.

I did have some questions about her lecture, however. She spoke of using media with only heavy isotopes in order to tag the created proteins by the various cells. In doing so her goal was to be able to track the production of a particular protein. I was wondering what the effect of these heavy isotopes, when they are the only available raw materials, have on the cells ability to synthesize proteins. While the occasional heavy isotope will not affect the proteins overall, it seems as if a protein composed entirely of them would cause issues. Secondly, she spoke of rasterizing a laser across a cancerous mouse colon and seeing the proteins that were most prevalent. I didn’t understand how the second stage isolation of these proteins would occur. And finally, though all cancer research brings us one step closer to curing the disease, I was curious to know what the short term applications of her research would be considering the highly analytical nature of her work.

Overall she did an excellent job of lecturing on her topic. There were several analytical methods that she used which I am unfamiliar with which made the topic fairly engaging.

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Our speaker, Amanda Hummon, came a long way to give her talk about Colorectal Cancer.  Currently Amanda Hummon works in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.  A mere 25 miles away.  She is currently an Assistant Professor at Notre Dame.  She received her A.B. in Chemistry from Cornell University in 1999 and went on to get her Ph.D from the University of Illinois under the watchful care of Jonathan Sweedler.  During her Ph.D studies she utilized mass spectrometry to elucidate neuropeptide gene expressions.

After receiving her graduate degree she explored gene regulation in colorectal cancer with RNA interference as the Sallie Rosen Kaplen Postdoctoral Fellow in Thomas Ried’s lab at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health. In 2009 Professor Hummon joined the forces at the University of Notre Dame as the Walther Cancer Assistant Professor.  Her research group combines proteomic and functional genomic approaches to develop novel methodologies to explore alterations in signal transduction pathways in cancer.

Dr. Hummon is very passionate about her research and she shared the research that she did during her stay at the National Cancer Institute.  She brought some key highlights about cancer.  One highlight is that cancer is angiogenesis, meaning that it recruits blood cells to bring it  the cancer cells nutrients.Also, when a cancer cell begins to metastasis, or multiply it becomes very deadly.  The cancer also affects the DNA.  The affects on the DNA have many other affects, such as hurting the abilities of mRNA and Proteins.

There are two main ways for observing and analyzing the cancer cells.  There is Comparative Genomic Hybridization or CGH and there is Spectral Karyotyping  os SKY.  These are the primary laboratory research methods.  A big indicator that a person could have colorectal cancer is the increased number of chromosomes.  In a normal person there should be forty-six chromosomes.  However, in most colorectal cancer patients they tend to have fifty-eight chromosomes. Some chromosomes are not paired and others are spilt into multiple chromosomes.

Dr. Hummon is a very good speaker.  She spoke loudly and was very easy to understand.  She did a great job fielding questions from the students and faculty and even finished her talk and questions before the end of the seminar period.  I enjoyed her presentation.  She gave a short story as to why she entered this field of study. Cancer has a major affect on a lot of families and Dr. Hummon’s family was no exception.  Great seminar.

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This week, on Feb 4th for our regular Thursday seminar we had Assistant Professor Amanda Hummon from Notre Dame University. Her main topic was on cancer and proteomics, more specifically on colon cancer.   The beginning of Dr. Hummon’s presentation focused solely on cancer as a disease.   Some basic facts are present in all types of cancer, such as increased growth rate, desensitization of cells to outside stimuli, avoidance of apoptosis, high vascularization, etc.  Dr. Hummon enlightened us on chemical and biochemical methods such as Spectral Karyotyping and Comparative Genomic Hybridization for DNA and qRT-PCR, Microarrays and RNAi for RNA.

Hummon continued her presentation as she described procedures and spectroscopic methods.   Dr. Hummon introduced the notion of using Mass Spectrometry to sequence amino acids within proteins.  I learned of the methods scientists use to select only specific genes for study, a glorified process of elimination which includes a lot of deductive reasoning with just a pinch of guesswork. Dr. Hummon then concluded her overview by stating her main goal which was elucidating the deregulated gene products that drive colorectal cancer.

Overall, I have to say that it was interesting to see how her research progressed, and to learn about the new discoveries that she was able to find.  I personally enjoyed this seminar due to my interests in Biochemistry and specifically Oncology. I would say her whole presentation was very informative, despite not having as much chemistry content as we are used to seeing for seminar.  I would definitely recommend for Dr. Hummon to come and present again in future seminars.

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This week in Chemistry Seminar we enjoyed a presentation from a new faculty of the University of Notre Dame, Amanda B. Hummon, Ph.D. It was a very interesting talk on the process of gene selection and experimentation for detecting and describing colorectal cancer, a term we all learned to avoid due to its inaccuracy.

The first part of Dr. Hummon’s presentation focused solely on cancer as a disease in general. Some basic underlying truths are present in all types of cancer, such as increased growth rate, desensitization of cells to outside stimuli, avoidance of apoptosis, high vascularization, etc. Dr. Hummon enlightened us on chemical and biochemical methods I hadn’t heard of before, such as Spectral Karyotyping and Comparative Genomic Hybridization for DNA and qRT-PCR, Microarrays and RNAi for RNA.

In addition, Dr. Hummon introduced the notion of using Mass Spectrometry to sequence amino acids within proteins, a procedure I had never heard of before. We learned of the methods scientists use to select only specific genes for study, a glorified process of elimination which includes a lot of deductive reasoning with just a pinch of guesswork. Dr. Hummon’s study produced a list of almost 50 genes on chromosome 13 that were the most likely candidates for the emergence of colon and rectal cancers. She then proceeded to give the ways in which one could differentiate between cancer cells and normal cells using Microarrays, RNAi and other techniques. We learned that Microarrays will always require confirmation via some other test, and in this case Dr. Hummon prescribed RNAi as the best method.

I greatly enjoyed this seminar because of my interests in biochemistry, human physiology and oncology. I felt Dr. Hummon, however nervous or anxious she was prior to the meat of her lecture, did a splendid job and is sure to have a multitude of pupils helping her complete very important tests in our continued battle against ignorance of cancer. I found she was very helpful during Q & A and she was very knowledgeable yet personal.

To the layperson, this seminar was all about figuring out how genetics plays a role in colon and rectal cancers.

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This week, for our regular Thursday seminar we had Assistant Professor Amanda Hummon from Notre Dame University. Her main topic was on cancer and proteomics, more specifically on colon cancer. Her presentation was interesting and she was able to present well. Her presentation was easy to follow and organized well enough so that the audience could remain attentive.

Hummon started with a brief overview of cancer and how cancer cells differ from normal cells. I learned about the six phenotypic differences between cancer and normal cells. Among these include increased, abhorrent proliferation; modification of equilibrium to prevent apoptosis; angiogenesis; and metastisis. Hummon continued her presentation continued as she described procedures and spectroscopic methods. I was able to learn more about spectral karyotyping and comparitive genomic hybridization. She then concluded her overview by stating her main goal which was elucidating the deregulated gene products that drive colorectal cancer.

It was interesting to see how her research progressed, and to learn about the new discoveries that she was able to find. We were able to see how some of the chromosomes were modified from the typical 46 to up to 58. I would say her whole presentation was very informative, despite not having as much chemistry content as we are used to seeing for seminar. Since she gave an easy to follow presentation, we were able to ask some thoughtful questions.

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On February fourth, there was a presentation about colon and rectal cancer given by Amanda B. Hummon, who is from University of Notre Dame. Her presentation title was “Functional Interrogation of Genes Driving Colorectal Cancer.” I thought that her presentation was very well organized. Also, she explained basic information about cancer cell without difficult words, which made me understand her presentation much easier.

She started the seminar introducing basic properties of cancer cell to us. The cancer cell is caused by disease on genome which is particular number and combination of certain chromosomes. She also explained about the basic structure of chromosome which contains gene in it. I learned that the white region of a chromosome is gene rich zone, while the black region of the chromosome is gene poor zone. There are several factors which contribute to occurring cancer cells, which are DNA, RNA, Function, pathways and etc.  Dr. Hummon especially focused on the relationship between DNA, RNA and cancer cells.

She collected sample of tumor and mucosa cells from patients to compare them. In the future, she said that she would like to have an experiment how the genes are regulated by mRNA and protein. Throughout the presentation, I wondered how she obtained DNA from tumor cells. I also would like to ask her what causes the change of number or shape of gene or chromosome.

I would tell my friends that the presentation is about the factors which cause cancer in colon or rectum in microscopic views such as DNA, RNA, or protein.

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Last Thursday’s seminar was brought to us by Amanda Hummon, currently an assistant professor in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department at the University of Notre Dame. She completed her A.B. in Chemistry at Cornell University and received her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She then conducted her postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute, NIH. Hummon did a great job presenting her research on cancer, she was very personable, and seemed very interested in what she was doing and sharing it.

In a nut shell, Hummon is researching the transcriptome and the proteome in cancer cells to gain a better understanding of which genes, transcripts, and proteins are affected, ultimately hoping to identify an effective therapeutic intervention. Her focus is on colorectal cancer which she later explained should be referred to as two separate cancers since they affect two different organs. Hummon began by identifying the problematic chromosomes that contribute to colorectal cancer. She accomplished this by identifying the deregulated pathways that are contributing to the cancer phenotype, distinguished by aberrantly expressed genes, and analyzed their products, and the effect that they had on downstream targets.

From her very informative talk I learned that although colorectal cancer affects many people there is not a lot of research in this area due to funding and awareness, another thing I learned was that through special sampling mass spectrometry can be applied to cancer cells, and a person affected with colon disease has 58 chromosomes!

The only questions I have are 1. How do you get the cancer samples you use? 2. Of all the cancers, what lead you specifically to colon cancer? 3. What are your ideas of therapeutic intervention? Do they include gene therapy? And is this something that could be passed down to future generations?

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This week’s speaker was Amanda B. Hummon, who is currently teaching special topics in Biochemistry and Notre Dame. Some of her publications have appeared in premier journals, such as Cancer Research and she is currently researching analytical chemistry and cell and molecular biology. Dr. Hummon presented on colon and rectal cancer which we learned was very different and shouldn’t be put together. Her presentation was organized, had good audio with clear voice, went quickly, and was well explained. I found this topic to be very interesting I learned of the process that it takes when determining a tumor in the colon and rectal area.

Some new things that I learned were the characteristics of cancer cells, oncogenesis, and the difference between colon and rectal cancer. Cancer cells have proliferation, insensitivity to growth signals in the body, angiogenesis (formation of new blood vessels that grow into the tumor, giving it nutrients and oxygen to assist its growth), and WNT signaling (describes a network of proteins well known for their roles in embryogenesis and cancer). When looking at cancer cells they focus on the disease of the genome, DNA, RNA, protein, the network, function, and pathway.

Some of the projects that Dr. Hummon performed involved examining transcriptional deregulation in primary colon and rectal adenocarcinomas. They found that in colon aneuploid adenocarcinoma there were 58 chromosomes, while the normal diploid is 48 chromosomes. In the cancer cell some chromosomes had more than two copies and they gathered this information using comparative genomic hybridization process.

Other activities that they performed involved taking colon and rectal samples from patients in whom they compared the tumor versus the mucosa and their gene expressions. They found 17 genes having a fivefold difference between tumors and mucosa. The immune genes were expressed differently and the difference could be clearly seen. They also found the genes that turned on, trying to fight the cancer.

When looking at the difference between colon and rectal cancer, out of 5,000 genes only 400 changed in the same direction. This information showed that medicines treating these cancers should be prescribed separately rather than together, which is currently being done. In oncogenesis, the process of malignant transformation leading to the formation of a tumor, it was found frequently expressed in the cancer system that turn on specific amplifications. They examined 71 samples and able to narrow the amount of genes down using microarray, homology, validating them with RTPCR, and gene splicing with RNA. They found that siRNA successfully reduced expression of assays of mRNA resulting in the loss of function. Dr. Hummon and her research group was then able to identify nine genes that reduced the cell viability greater than twenty percent.

Many students seemed to enjoy this topic as well as the presentation. They listened attentively and asked many questions at the end, which were answered well. The presentation did encourage me to learn more about this topic and it would be appealing to do extra research on this topic, such as doing this same study or process with other tissues and organs. Dr. Himmon didn’t really speak much about her school of graduate studies, but I’m sure she would have been available to answer questions on that topic if asked. This was an interesting topic on the cancer cells and the genes involved dealing with colon and rectal cancer.

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This week’s seminar, “Functional Interrogation fo Genes Driving Colorectal Cancer,” neither impressed me nor interested me in any way. This is due in part to several factors, one of them being my complete disinterest towards anything biologically related. Another thing that made it uninteresting was the significant lack of chemistry in the presentation. Despite these and other factors, one thing I would like to know a little more about would be what causes cancer cells to metastasise, and how they metastasise. Another thing that I would kind of like to know more about is how a polyp turns into an invasive carcinoma.

One thing that was slightly interesting to learn about was that colon cancer is a different cancer than rectal cancer, thereby making colorectal cancer a term that is both false and nonexistent. If the remote chance came up that I was explaining what this seminar was about to someone who was not in the science field, I would explain to them that the lecture was about what scientists were doing to combat and treat colon cancer and rectal cancer.

As for the speaker, Amanda B. Hummon is a Walther Cancer Institute Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame, in Notre Dame, Indiana. She seemed to know a lot about the topic she was speaking on, but her expressions did not give me the impression that she was very interested in her work. Another thing that turned me off to the presentation was that the speaker seemed to keep droning on and on, not away of the time constraints of the seminar. This is not entirely her fault though, because it seems that Dr. Hayes seems to tell the speakers that they have all the time in the world, and seeing as I have a class that I need to be at before 5:30, I do not appreciate this one bit.

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Amanda B. Hummon is a new faculty member at the University of Notre Dame and is in the process of setting up her research there. Before coming to Notre Dame, she was a researcher at the National Cancer Institute in Washington D.C. Her research is trying to understand gene regulation in colorectal cancer.

Unfortunately, I failed to pay attention as well as I should have, but from what I heard, Dr. Hummon’s research focuses on the function of mRNA in the development of colorectal cancer. They believe it is the key to stopping the cancer, especially to avoid the advanced stages of cancer, angiogenesis and metastasis. The techniques used to study DNA were spectokaryotyping (SKY) and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). The techniques used to study mRNA were qRT-PCR and microarrays. Apparently, microarrays are good for painting a broad picture, but not so much for elucidating upon the details. The gene that Hummon’s research is particularly interested in is chromosome 13, one that is prevalent in cancer but not well written about.

Hummon is our first woman speaker this semester. She looks quite young but seems to have a lot of research experience under her belt. By presenting the basics of cancer and building up to her research, she made the material easier to grasp for her audience. Although I knew a little about microarrays, Hummon’s presentation demonstrated its pros and cons, that is, when microarray is useful.

Laymen’s Summary of Chemistry Seminar: Colon and Rectal cancer are different. Hummon’s researching colorectal cancer, trying to better understand its gene regulation. Knowing what goes on at the more fundamental levels of cancer can help develop better ways to stop cancer.

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Walter Cancer Assistant Professor from the University of Notre Dame, Amanda B. Hummon, did a presentation on Functional Interrogation of Genes Driving Colorectal Cancer. Her current position as a cancer professor and her experience of working on gene regulation of colorectal cancer with RNA interference at the National Cancer Institute well substantiated her credibility as a speaker that day.

Some of the characteristics of cancer cell included cell proliferation, cell survival (avoding cell death mechanism by modifying it), invasion and ignoring body signals, and metastasis (malignant cancer spreading to a different organ). In order to observe DNA, special karyotyping and comparative genomic hybridization was used. The goal of her research was to elucidate deregulated gene products that drive colorectal cancer. I also was reminded that there are 22 pairs of autosomes (labeling the largest ones as #1, and the smallest ones, #22). I learned that abnormal cancer cells have more autosomes than the normal cells have, such as having three #6 autosomes instead of just a pair of them. Microarray was used to measure the gene expression, and her research found out that 69 genes are suspected of causing cancer. Then, qRT-PCR was used to lower that number to 44 genes. RNA interference (using synthetic si-RNAs to cleave individual genes one is interested in) was used to finalized the number of genes to 9 genes that are responsible for causing colorectal cancer. Her research showed that silencing 9 best oncogenes reduced the cell viability greater than 20%.

Questions I had during her seminar were 1) About the 9 oncogenes you found, were they well-known ones? Her answer was no 2) What led you to study and do research on colorectal cancer? 3) What is the practicality of the findings of your research?

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The presentation this week (February 5, 2010) was given by Amanda B. Hummon. Amanda Hummon is a new faculty member at the University of Notre dame, and is beginning her research there specifically on colorectal cancer.

She started off her presentation by defining a cancer cell, which is basically cells that are the same as normal cells, except that it is chemically different. Cancerous cells can be defined by certain phenotypic characteristics. Some of the major ones include: Increased proliferation, cells that bypass aptosis, insensitivity to anti growth signaling, and angiogenesis. Amanda Hummon studies the correlation between DNA, RNA and the protein to try to find a solution to cancer. By upregulating genes that are lost, and downregulating amplified genes, she hopes that cancerous cells can be effectively dealt with.

Amanda Hummon seemed to be an effective speaker, and kept the audience attentive by her interesting slides and explanations. A lot of the questions that I developed during her presentation were answered.

Some new material I learned during this presentation was that DNA, RNA, and Proteins are involved in cancer cells. Also, the fact that controlling the level of gene expression to cure cancer was a new Idea. One question that I had was on what causes the loss of, or the amplification of certain genes in cancerous cells. This question that I asked during the Q and A time I thought wasn’t answered adequately. However seeing that there are a lot of areas of cancer that we don’t know about, it was understandable.

In conclusion, cancer research has always been on my top priority lists in interests since I became interested in the medical field. This week’s presentation definitely reinforced by interest, and I would definitely love to get involved in this type of research either before or after med school.

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Colorectal Cancer may be something that society is embarrassed to talk about but the Chemistry Seminar on February 4^th, 2010 described this type of cancer in a very interesting way. Functional Interrogation of Genes Driving Colorectal Cancer was the title of the presentation given by Amanda B. Hummon PhD. Hummon completed postdoctoral work at the National Cancer Institute and shared her research with us from that project.

This seminar provided me with a lot of information I did not know about cancer. The difference between a cancer cell and a normal cell are the concentrations of proteins and other components within the cell. There are six phenotypic characteristics of cancer cells: increased proliferation, modification of equilibria to avoid apoptosis, self-sufficiency to won growth signals and ignoring of body inhibition growth signals, angiogenesis, and metastasis. Angiogenesis is the ability of a cancer cell to recruit bloods cells to itself.

The goal of Hummon’s research is to elucidate deregulated gene products that drive colorectal cancer. To do this, research must be completed to understand the relationship between DNA, RNA, and Proteins. Microarrays and qRT-PCR were used to study RNA. Spectral karyotyping and comparative genomic hybridization were used to measure DNA. An example of spectral karyotyping was shown on a slide. This procedure labels each pair of chromosomes with their own fluorescent color. In the regular cell all chromosomes were paired. In a cancer cell chromosomes were often not in pairs but over abundant sets of three or more or under abundant single chromosomes.

The research was able to determine a difference in the rectal and colon cancers but this research has not yet been implemented into treatment. Researchers are unable to see the difference between non-metastasizing cancer and metastasizing cancer. The goal is to use the information collected to try and reduce the viability of cancer.

This presentation was very well done. The topic was studied in depth but was easy to follow and comprehend the new information presented. In telling a family member or friend about this presentation I would say that we were informed of research trying to discover how cancer spreads on a gene level.

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This week’s speaker was Amanda Hummon from the University of Notre Dame.  Her group studied the genes that drive colon and rectal cancer,  sometimes referred collectively to as colorectal cancer.  It is a well known fact that cancer is one of the most lethal diseases in existence today.  Cancer cells have the same genomes as normal cells but different chemical equilibria.  Cancer cells also grow quite rapidly, and ignore signals from the body to self destruct or stop growing.  Cancer cells can “recruit” blood vessels to flow into them, a process called angiogenesis.  The most dangerous aspect of cancer cells is that they can metastastize, or migrate to other areas of the body.  90% of cancer deaths are because of this.

Investigating the DNA of cancer cells could give a better understanding of how to fight them.  Hummon’s group used spectral karyotyping techniques to measure DNA in cancer cells, and compare to a normal cell.  A normal cell has 46 chromosomes, while cancer cells have 58 chromosomes.  RNA interference techniques are used to discover functions of genes.  There are deregulated gene products that cause colon and rectal cancer, and they need to be found out.  Chromosome 13 tends to carry oncogenes, or cancer causing genes.  Usually, oncogenes are over expressed.  69 out of 101 genes in chromosome 13 are over expressed, and most of them are not characterized.  No cancer is completely predictable, but it has been discovered that cancers tend to proceed in predictable patterns.  When a cell becomes cancerous, it goes from a normal mucosa state (having 46 chromosomes) to adenoma to invasive carcinoma.  These changes occur on the chromosome level.

This presentation was very interesting to me, as it shows that we are getting one step closer to beating cancer.  However, Hummon used a lot of terms that were unfamiliar to me, such as mucosa.  Since I do not have a strong background in cancer chemistry, I didn’t get the full benefit of the presentation.  That being said, I learned quite a lot.  I learned that since cancer cells proceed in a predictable pattern, it might be easier to trace them and stop them.  I also learned that cancerous cells have more chromosomes than regular cells.  I think it would be interesting to look into the functions of those extra chromosomes.  Finally, I wondered that on average, how long does it take for cancer to metastastize?  According to Hummon, it depends on the cancer and the host.

I would recommend this presentation to any layperson, as it was about studying the abnormalities in cancer cells and possibly developing new techniques to fight cancer.

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Dr. Amanda Hummon came from the University of Notre Dame to talk to us about her research. The title of her presentation was “Functional Interrogation of Genes Driving Colorectal Cancer.”

Her talk included a description of the differences between healthy cells and cancerous cells, the techniques used to look at DNA and RNA, and what was found when looking at biopsies to colon and rectal cancers. Different phenotypic mechanisms that are specific to cancer cells are increased proliferation, modified equilibrium, insensitivity to the body’s antigrowth signals, and angiogenesis. Cancer is a disease of the genome, which means that to really understand it, the DNA and RNA of cells is what needs to be looked at.

The techniques Dr. Hummon has used to look at DNA are spectral karyotyping (SKY) and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). The techniques used to look at RNA are qRT-PCR and microarrays. The goal of Dr. Hummon’s research was to elucidate the deregulated gene products that drive colorectal cancer. Some of her results include that looking at the DNA from biopsies and mucosal cells, they can determine which came from which just by the looks. Also, they cannot look at gene expression and tell is metastasis has occurred or not, and there is a difference between colon cancer and rectal cancer.

Dr. Hummon’s talk was very interesting. Her research has obviously been exciting and she enjoys doing what she does. I would describe this talk to a non-scientific friend as research involving the genes that are involved with colorectal cancer.

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