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“Research internship to study how radiation interact with the immune system to combat cancer”
Professors
Gabriel O. Sawakuchi, PhD and Simona F. Shaitelman, MD
Departments
Radiation Physics (Sawakuchi) and Radiation Oncology (Shaitelman)
Institution
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Openings
Several in-person research internship positions are available to start in January 2022. Positions are without compensation during the school year with the possibility of stipend through competitive research programs for summers. The duration of the internship is unlimited. Students are expected to spend at least 9 hours per week during the school year and at least part time during the summer. If student participates in paid research program during the summer, the student is expected to follow the rules of the program. During the internship students will become familiar with translational cancer research, molecular biology assays and radiation oncology. Students will perform focused tasks within larger projects including assessing: 1) DNA damage induced by different types of radiation: 2) the effect of different DNA repair inhibitors to sensitize cancer cells to radiation; and 3) molecular factors triggered by radiation that induce immune response.
Lab focus
Our research aims to use radiation in combination with DNA repair inhibitors to amplify the effect of immune checkpoint blockade to combat cancer. The findings from our lab are translated to clinical trials in cancer radiotherapy.
Techniques
Students will learn techniques in molecular biology including clonogenic assay, flow cytometry, western blotting, immunohistochemistry, etc to investigate how radiation and DNA repair inhibitors modulate cell survival, cell cycle, DNA damage, DNA repair, and protein expression. We use cancer cell lines and tumor models in small animals in our projects.
Location
Our lab is located at the Zayed Building (6565 MD Anderson Blvd) which is within 20 min walking distance from the Weiss School of Natural Sciences.
Environment/ Personnel
We are a multicultural and multidisciplinary lab with researchers with expertise in biology, radiobiology, physics, medical physics and radiation oncology. The lab is composed of one instructor, one research scientist, four postdoctoral fellows, two graduate students, two undergraduate students from Rice and two high-school students. Undergraduate students will work directly with a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow and also have the opportunity to mentor high-school students.
Student research philosophy
Our philosophy is teamwork. Our projects are all interconnected and require synchrony among all team members. Students joining our lab are expected to work as part of a team. New students will be trained to independently perform their assigned research tasks. Our lab personnel will also guide the students in the submission of abstracts to relevant scientific conferences and in the application to graduate and medical schools. We emphasize that classwork is the focus for our undergraduate students and therefore are flexible with time commitment, especially during midterms and finals. Undergraduate students are expected to perform well in their classwork.
To apply/Contact information
To apply please send an email to Gabriel O. Sawakuchi at gsawakuchi@mdanderson.org and Simona F. Shaitelman at sfshaitelman@manderson.org with a brief resume highlighting any relevant college or high school coursework and any previous experience in lab courses or research. No previous experience is required to apply. Please, visit our website to know more about our research:
www.mdanderson.org/sawakuchiLab
