Five Seton Hill students had the opportunity to present their research at a yearly meeting of cancer researchers - the Translational Research Cancer Centers Consortium or TRCCC - that takes place near Greensburg at Seven Springs Mountain Resort. 

This was the second year for Seton Hill students to participate in the event, which took place February 21 through 23.

The five student participants included Amal Thalody, Nathan Saloom, Matthew Nguyen, Justine Shamber and Daniel Hertzler.

Amal and Nathan, along with their advisor, Amalene Cooper-Morgan, Associate Professor of Chemistry, presented on Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, or CRISPR, which has revolutionized genetic engineering due to its ability to make precise changes to the DNA of plants, animals, and even humans. Their project, titled, “Exploration Of CRISPR Gene Editing,” studied two separate uses of CRISPR-Cas9 editing in E.coli: implementing antibiotic resistance and disruption of the lacZ gene.

Matthew and Justine presented on research they completed off-campus last summer. 

Justine earned a place at the West Virginia University Cancer Institute Summer Undergraduate Research Program in summer 2023, along with two students from WVU and a student from the University of California Berkeley. She was mentored by program coordinator Dr. Alexey Ivanov and worked on determining the molecular function of a gene, ZNF71, that could be helpful with specialized treatments for non-small cell lung cancer. 

Matthew Nguyen, a biochemistry major in the 4+4 Osteopathic Medicine program with Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, worked at the Knight Cancer Institute – part of Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon, where he worked in a lab studying dendritic cells, an immune cell that surveys the environment for pathogens and cancers and initiates immune responses. The project aims to contribute to the potential future use of dendritic vaccines, an anti-tumor immunotherapy.

Daniel, mentored by Dr. Ja’Nean Reay, presented original research titled “An in vitro Study of the Ability of Simvastatin and Atorvastatin Calcium to Inhibit Select BSL-1 Bacteria Associated with Pin-tract Infections.” This work identified synergistically-active statin combinations with the potential to be used as novel pin coatings for the prevention of infections that may occur during the process of external fixation for limb-lengthening and/or complex reconstruction.

All five of the participating students were selected to give oral presentations in addition to their poster presentations at the conference. Matthew received a Student Scientific Presentation Award for his oral presentation. 

Seton Hill was invited to participate in the conference by Dr. Elizabeth Repasky of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, a Seton Hill Distinguished Alumna.

Last year, Seton Hill was the first undergraduate institution invited to send students to present at the conference, with four students participating.