Undergraduate Student Research
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June 2009 - August 2010
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Working in Dr. Lisa Peterson’s lab at the University of Minnesota, I studied differences between gene variants of a DNA repair enzyme, called AGT, in its ability to repair DNA damaged by a tobacco specific carcinogen metabolite. When left unrepaired, DNA damage can lead to mutations in critical tumor suppressor or pre-oncogenes and is part of the dangers of cigarette smoking. I tested whether different repair abilities in AGT variants might account for dissimilarities in susceptibility to lung cancer seen among various ethnicities. After two summers of research, my data revealed that there was no difference between the different repair enzymes and their ability in repairing modified DNA. These data suggest that there are other factors (genetic, socio-economic, etc.) underlying the various susceptibilities to lung cancer seen amid different ethnicities. |