Metabolic Signatures |
In recent years, metabolic signatures of cancer has garnered greater attention due to the possibility of finding a cure or a prevention method by understanding it better. That cancer cells have a different metabolic signature is not a new idea: Otto Warburg suggested this back in the 1950's and won a Nobel Prize for his theory, known now as the Warburg theory. While we now know that this change is not a side effect but rather a driver of cancer, there is still much research to be done.
|
Non-cancerous cells use catabolic metabolism to create energy, mostly in the form of ATP. Proliferating cells need to induce biosynthesis to increase their biomass and get ready to undergo mitosis. These cells use anabolic metabolism to meet the biosysnthesis needs. Cancer cells use anabolic metabolism to proliferate, but do not switch back to catabolic metabolism. This causes the cancer cell to produce biomass and have the cell undergo mitosis before it is ready, helping the spread of cancer. What if we can find a way to stop the production of biomass through the use of stopping the change in metabolism? Theoretically, this can stop the metastasis of cancer cells and make cancer easier to treat.
|
About Me
My name is Shubhangy Raghavan. I am currently a senior in high school. The past two years, I have done science fair projects on endometrial cancer and lung cancer, respectively. My relative is a cancer researcher and I was always fascinated with his work. Doing those science fair projects only heightened my interest, so I decided to research cancer for my capstone project. I chose to do breast cancer because I just had that feeling and was drawn to the subject. I aim to be a biomedical engineer when I grow up.
My Mentors
For this capstone project, I have chosen three mentors who work in cancer research
Dr. Balaji KrishnamacharyDr. Balaji Krishnamachary is a cancer researcher in the radiology department of Johns Hopkins. He has been in the lab since 2000.
|
Dr. Kanchan SonkarDr. Kanchan Sonkar works as a cancer research in the breast cancer imaging lab at Johns Hopkins University.
|
Dr. Kristine GlundeDr. Kristine Glunde is the head of the breast cancer imaging lab at Johns Hopkins. Her lab focuses on the metabolic properties of breast cancer cells.
|