My Day at Brown University's National Research Conference
Kylie Ernst presents a poster of her research on how iron affects protein activation patterns in breast cancer cells under oxidative stress.
I recently had the incredible experience of presenting a poster at the National Research Conference at Brown University (NRCB). About 200 undergraduates representing universities from across the country were accepted to the conference from a range of disciplines including cell biology, oncology, neuroscience, public health, and biomedical engineering. The one-day conference included poster sessions, a Nobel Prize-winning keynote speaker, and oral presentations.
During the poster sessions, I presented the research I did through UBRP in Dr. Andrew Paek’s lab. My project investigates how the reaction between hydrogen peroxide and iron (which produces a free radical) affects protein activation patterns in human breast cancer cells. Hydrogen peroxide and the radical both signal through oxidation, but the radical indiscriminately reacts with proteins, lipids, and DNA. We’re finding that hydrogen peroxide and the radical are likely responsible for different oxidation events, meaning iron is required to activate many proteins when a cell is under oxidative stress from hydrogen peroxide. This is really interesting because oxidative stress drives a wide range of diseases, including cancer and neurodegeneration.
Kylie Ernst (left) with Jessica Erickson (right) at the National Research Conference at Brown University.
The NRCB keynote speaker was Dr. Harvey J. Alter, who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work to discover the Hepatitis C virus. He provided an interesting prospective, having conducted research as an MD. He worked with patients who had contracted the virus after receiving a blood transfusion. As Dr. Alter recounted his decades-long journey, I could tell he was both brilliant and funny. Though I am not pursuing a patient-focused career (I much prefer working with cells!), his dedication to his research was truly inspiring.
Some of the students at the conference gave oral presentations, which were divided into groups based on these fields. I attended the session on oncology, where the presenters discussed their work on immunotherapy, CRISPR, and metastasis. Their research was particularly fascinating because they seemed to be several phases in to a larger scale project, including murine or even organoid models to test potential therapies.
I attended NRCB with another undergraduate in my lab, Jessica Erickson, who was also accepted to present a poster. We met other undergraduate women in STEM, all supporting each other’s presentations. I loved learning about the research that other students from across the country were working on, and I hope to have another opportunity to attend a conference sometime soon!