Touchpoint 1
Student Research Spotlight – Saba Zahiri
What is it?
An undergraduate biology student is seeing if squirrels can adjust to a sustained lack of oxygen. This research may give us a better understanding of humans and animals who live and seem to flourish at very high altitudes. Once she graduates, she hopes to become animal physical therapist.
Potential message to students:
Is it okay to experiment on squirrels if it helps us better understand humans? Do you think Saba sought out this research opportunity or she was in the right place at the right time? Do you feel physical therapy for animals is a good career choice?
Touchpoint 2
Scientists develop a rapid gene-editing screen to find effects of cancer mutations
What is it?
Cancer is hard to treat and even harder to cure. One reason is because tumors can mutate in many different ways and not react to treatments. Scientists think they can use CRISPR to track these mutations, which could lead to better cancer drugs. They already did a test on over 1,000 cancer mutations.
Potential message for students:
Do you think cancer is just too hard for humans to solve or do you think cancer keeps changing and finding ways around our scientists best efforts? Do you think we will see personalized cancer drugs tailored for a single mutation? What if the cancer mutates a second time inside the tumor?