1. Workshop UNC - From DNA to Protein
During the three-day workshop from UNC we were taught several terms related to
cancer and some techniques used in cancer research. We learned that cancer is caused by
mutated genes and proteins. Oncogenic proteins cause abnormal cell behavior and erratic cell
function. The first experiment we did consisted of isolating our DNA using Gatorade and alcohol.
The second experiment was a bit more complicated. We were given a “patient’s” genes and we
had to determine if those genes were oncogenic. To do this we used electrophoresis. By
comparing the patient’s genes with our positive and negative controls we were able to
determine that our patient was positive for the oncogene. In the last experiment we studied
proteins. We had to conduct protein electrophoresis, unfortunately ours didn’t work and we
weren’t able to come to any conclusions about whether or not our patient had an oncogenic
protein. Additional to all these workshops we were also given a short presentation on the
different programs offered at UNC. They told us a bit about ‘Translational Medicine’, which is a
program that takes research that is being done and sees how it can be directly applied to
treatments in the clinic.