December 19, 2024 • 41 mins
In this episode of Inside Cancer Careers, we hear from the winners of the 2024 NCI Technologies for Cancer Prevention, Diagnosis, or Treatment Prize, which is part of the Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge managed by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering: three biomedical engineering alums from Stanford, Gabriel Seir, Shreya Garg, and Kelly Lopez-Cid, who developed ColoTech, a novel non-invasive screening technology for colorectal cancer. They discuss their project's ideation process, the medical experts' positive feedback, and the importance of accessibility in cancer diagnostics. The conversation also explores their personal journeys into STEM, their future career aspirations, and advice for aspiring professionals in the field.
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SHOW NOTES
Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge
Shreya Garg (See also: Stanford Profiles)
Kelly Lopez-Cid
Gabriel Seir (See also: Stanford Profiles)
ColoTech
Stanford University
Cologuard
AD: 13th Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research
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The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
How Tyrants Fall: And How Nations Survive by Marcel Dirsus
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
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(00:41):
[Music]
episode hello and welcome to inside
cancer careers a podcast from the
National Cancer Institute where we
explore all the different ways people
fight cancer and hear their stories I'm
your host Oliver bogler from nci's
Center for Cancer training today we're
talk talking to three biomedical
engineer alums from Stanford who
(01:04):
recently won the NCI Technologies for
cancer prevention diagnosis or treatment
prize which is part of the design by
biomedical undergraduate teams or debut
challenged here at NIH listen through to
the end of the show to hear our guests
make some interesting recommendations
and where we invite you to take your
turn and of course we're always glad to
(01:25):
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cover
the show's email is
ncic nih.gov hello to our guests today
Gabriel seir Shrea gar and Kelly Lopez
Sid members of Team kotch welcome thank
you thank you yeah thank you so much so
(01:49):
first of all congratulations on winning
the NCI prize in the 2024 debut
challenge we were very excited to see
your project and can you please explain
what cola Tech is to our listeners and
tell us what makes it unique yeah so um
colot is essentially um our idea for a
(02:09):
novel non-invasive more accessible
screening technology for coloral cancer
patients so we were looking at this
market for Diagnostics and we saw that
colonoscopies and blood feal tests were
the current standard of care but there's
a lot of issues with specificity with
accessibility in these current
Technologies
(02:30):
and so we saw that in and then decided
to come up with colotech uh it's a pro
diagnostic you describe it that way for
early detection um what does that term
actually mean Pro diagnostic that's a
great question um we we're kind of
basing the term off the terms for pro
drugs which are drugs that split apart
(02:50):
when terms of their mechanism of action
and so our Pro diagnostic Works in a
similar way where we have an overall
chemical compound and then when it comes
into contact with with a tumor micro
environment it splits apart allowing us
to tell the difference so the test
consists of a pill that you take is that
right which contains this Pro diagnostic
(03:11):
yeah and then please describe what
happens you've kind of mentioned it gab
but just what environment is um needs to
be present in the colon for it to be
converted yeah so um tumor micro
environments are hypoxic or low in
oxygen um because these cells are
rapidly dividing and consuming that
oxygen and so that is a very distinct U
marker of these environments so in our
(03:34):
technology we're essentially um ad doing
these patients with this molecule that
travels through their GI tract and when
it makes it to the coloral tract an anic
coating is able to dissolve and expose
these molecules to um the choral
environment and if it comes across this
um hypoxic environment it undergos a
(03:54):
chemical composition shift that will
then as gab mentioned split this
molecule apart allowing us to detect
that change in that chemical structure
um as patients pass our diagnostic
through their stool so again it's a it's
a stool test a little bit like some of
the ones that are on the market which I
think test for blood right yeah blood um
(04:15):
sometimes DNA markers so uh colotech is
probably both more affordable and is it
more reliable in the sense that blood
could also come from other kinds of um
diseases or or um processes
yeah that's a good question um we
haven't really been able to fully test
like the sensitivity um efficacy of our
(04:37):
Pro diagnostic yet because we were only
working with proof of concept U molecule
um but I think the idea is that right
now with the blood feal tests they're
not accessible for like patients who are
high risk for cancer like those with
inflammatory bowel disease because they
already have an increase in biomarkers
and proteins that these tests test for
(04:59):
so by utilizing like the hypoxic micro
environment of the tumor itself and kind
of in doing endogenous biomarkers like
we're using the way term like exogenous
biomarkers and in that way like we can
like increase the accessibility of
high-risk patients and include them in
these um Diagnostics so in that way we
feel like that's why there's it's also
(05:20):
like better than just using like a blood
feal test clearly from the patient point
of view or the general public point of
view it sounds like a great idea a right
especially because you can avoid
potentially colonoscopies which you know
I'm of the age I've had my first
colonoscopy uh I would love to avoid the
next one um but I wonder uh what's been
(05:43):
the feedback from uh people working in
colon cancer screening you know the
medical experts have they how have they
responded to your idea and your concept
feedback has generally been very
positive um all of the people we've
talked to would love to have this sort
of extra step in the screening process
in place especially because it allows us
to Target both younger patients higher
(06:05):
risk patients patients from marginalized
community that don't have access to
colonoscopies so just being able to fit
so many more patients within the
treatment plan has a lot of people very
excited and being able to have another
option to look at before just taking
random biopsies with the colonoscopy has
been a great option for people to think
(06:26):
about just to add on like we had like a
clinical Mentor throughout the duration
of our project um and he's actually a
gastroenterologist that works on
detecting dysplasia um but for him it's
like through fluorescent endoscopes and
he's saying like even like before
patients can get there like by just
doing like a screening method first and
(06:47):
like being able to avoid that next like
step of an endoscopy or
colonoscopy um it would be very helpful
to the space yeah know that makes a lot
of sense and I I'm part of what I found
exciting about the project was the
potential to increase the reach right um
and Screen more people particularly
because we're seeing this rather still
puzzling uh increase in incidents uh in
(07:09):
colon cancer particularly among younger
people right um who are not eligible or
likely to come in for some of the
existing screening so yeah fantastic so
how did you pick this particular project
as a focus yeah so our project the
origins were actually in our
undergraduate senior Capstone class or
team are essentially randomly assigned
(07:31):
together and given a very general need
space and ours was uler of citis primary
sceris and colangitis and by analyzing
the space a little bit we saw that there
was this Gap and accessible um
affordable diagnostics for chloral
cancer so we kind of did a shift from
our original need space um but this is
the one that we landed on um and the way
(07:52):
the class works is that there is about
10 weeks of ideation before 10 weeks of
prototyping and so we had a lot of time
to really go in depth into this need
space and really ideate the solutions
that we thought would best address um
patient needs here so fascinating tell
me more about that I'd love to learn
more about the ideation phase how do you
(08:13):
ideate when you have it faced with a
question like this yeah it was actually
um I think for us a really fun um
experience we hadn't really um worked at
this scale before of having a general
question and then having to go from you
know not too strong of a background in
the field to like honing in on a single
idea and so the way that the course
(08:35):
encouraged us to ideate is through this
Stanford's biodesign process where we
start with as many ideas as we can
possibly think about um and they
recommend at least 50 and then as the
weeks go by doing further research into
the need space um talking with as many
stakeholders from the field as possible
and narrowing those ideas down until we
(08:56):
see something that is within the scope
of our capability um feasible to achieve
um in terms of cost and resources and
just something that really excites our
team and so ultimately through that
process is how we ended up on this pro-
diagnostic um idea it was really kind of
this blend of all of our experiences in
our individual disciplines put together
(09:18):
um to come up to yeah to come up with
this idea yeah the whole ideation
process was extremely need driven so we
first Dove super in depth into the need
trying to understand what's there
talking to as many people as we can I
think we spent four weeks just thinking
about the need before we even tried to
come up with a
solution and then at that point like
(09:39):
shya mentioned just trying to go into as
much breadth as we can coming up with as
many ideas no matter how Wild they are
before then thinking about okay let's
filter down let's think about
feasibility let's think about all these
other aspects but first really just
trying to like how could we solve this
problem if we could do anything yeah and
then if I remember from your application
(09:59):
you also have to kind of um place this
notion this this idea that you're coming
up with in in its space right both in
terms of sort of the clinical space but
also the market space right well for the
market for chacal cancer at the moment
um well there's definitely this
immediate like notion that right now the
standard of diagnosis is an invasive
(10:21):
surgical procedure so there is an
instant barrier and other non-invasive
Technologies such as those blood feal
tests that we've mentioned um oftentimes
some of them have a high false positive
rate or they simply are just
contraindicated against these high-risk
patients as Kelly mentioned and so the
market seemed in our opinion quite open
and what it needed was sort of this
(10:41):
non-invasive more accessible solution
and so that's why we really wanted to
gear our Innovation towards something
that could be cheaply produced um and
Massy distributed globally I mean it
sounds to me also like your engineering
training was maybe Beyond engineering
right I mean that almost sounds like you
know being you know what something an
(11:03):
economist might do right but it but it's
so it's not enough just to technically
think about the problem you have to
think about the problem very broadly in
in all these different areas yeah and
even when like talking to like our
professors about like working with like
stool samples like the first thing on
everyone's mind was like okay well what
about kard what makes it different from
colard and then like then like Hing in
(11:26):
even more and being like well yeah
colard as well is like an accessible for
highrisk patients and also just taking
that like into um consideration when
thinking about the market space yeah so
tell me a little bit more about that the
colard is is not ideal for high-risk
patients because it gets a lot of false
positives is that right yes um because
in hris patients the colon is turning
(11:48):
over at an even higher rate because of
all the inflammation what they're trying
to detect in the stol samples just isn't
as detectable because there's so much
more of everything so they're unable to
detect these differences that they're
looking for in non-h high-risk patients
yeah so po guard currently cannot be
used for patients with IBD patients who
(12:08):
have had cancers before patients with a
family history of cancers or any genetic
predispositions for cancers which of
course um is a significant um population
if you want better diagnos for the
people who want better Diagnostics yeah
and a a group that you'd want to be
screening more regularly more more
following more aggressively right so
(12:30):
colch you believe will be able to screen
those um patients yes okay fantastic so
what's next for colotech I mean where
where is it going I'm presuming you all
moving on with your careers um you're
not devoting the rest of your life to
bringing this to Market is that correct
or maybe I'm wrong a little bit of both
actually so we're still currently
working on it um we're all still around
(12:51):
Stanford in different degrees um and so
while we're here we're still trying to
pursue this idea and push it as far as
we can because we're all super
interested in it still so what's next
for it if I may ask or is that
proprietary information no definitely
not we're currently in more of a
fundraising stage right now of trying to
acquire funding to do a couple more
(13:12):
robust tests so we were really fortunate
to have gotten a lot of support and
resources while working on this project
in a class setting um but now we really
like to take it several steps further um
get more data for basically create a
library of compounds um to help optim
optimize our structure for that
specificity as we've been mentioning we
(13:33):
really want this to be something
specific um that does not get any
interference from other diseases or any
other conditions from these patients so
working on optimizing our compound and
then testing them through various like
invitro and Vivo testing so that would
really be ideal for our upcoming next
stretch so I assume you've protected
(13:54):
your
IP yes we have a provisional patent
right now well that's exciting I mean uh
it's it's great to do a fantastic
project but it's even more exciting to
bring it uh out into the marketplace or
at least work in that direction that's
fantastic um quick pivot uh what was it
like to uh apply for the debut challenge
(14:14):
yeah actually our professor like
previous um the past few years teams
have applied to the debut Challenge and
so seeing this trend like our professor
decided to kind of revolve the class
structure around like debut so you know
thinking about the Market thinking about
the problem the need space um and in the
end we had to do a final paper that was
(14:34):
very similar to like the debut
submission and like just needed a few
more like weeks of like tweaking um but
yeah so honestly it like felt very
aligned with what we were already
accustomed to because of the class yeah
and the debut U submission also requires
a video right yes so in that similar
note we fashioned that video uh very
(14:56):
similarly to that final presentation
that we gave class um so it really felt
like we had been preparing for this
application for a while which was you
know fantastic to have received so much
support and guidance on that um but yeah
honestly we were our biggest struggle
there was to try to condense as much
information as possible within the video
limit so we were really excited um to
(15:19):
craft that
submission well it's great I mean it's
great to hear that the it wasn't
burdensome to apply right I mean you
already had the material and that's
that's the way it should be
um as as a person who participates in
the review of these uh applications I
have to say they're incredibly
interesting to review um and the videos
(15:39):
are really fun to watch uh reviewers of
science don't often get to see videos
you know I wish maybe we should do r1s
by videos as well that be more fun um
but it really allows us to get a you
know quick quick impression of what what
it's all about so um fantastic um well
I'm I'm really excited to see where the
goes uh and I wish you the best of luck
(16:02):
with the um with the further work on
colotech thank you so thank you so much
we're going to take a quick break and
when we come back we're going to be
talking about paths career paths and
career
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plans calling all Global cancer
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(16:24):
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(16:44):
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virtue and Eminence in cancer research
training or practice nominate them for
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their notable contributions to Global
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proposals for abstracts sessions and
(17:05):
pearling Award nominations is January
17th 2025 visit events. cancer.gov
CGH asgc to learn more keep up with new
and Innovative Research In global
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research and control seminar series
returning in 2025 learn from
(17:26):
investigators and cancer control experts
where work around the world and engaged
in conversations on approaches to
addressing cancer morbidity and
mortality find more information about
the global cancer research and control
seminar series new funding opportunities
cancer control resources and more on the
NCI Center for Global Health Website
(17:47):
cancer.gov Global Health that is
cancer.gov global
Health all right we're back um I'm I'm
always fascinated by how people
discovered that they want to go into
stem I wonder what are your stories when
did you know you wanted to pursue a
(18:07):
career in stem in engineering yeah I can
go first um so even back in middle
school and high school I was always
super interested in science as many
people are that end up in these fields
um all those biology and chemistry
classes were my favorite types of
classes but when asked like oh do you
like math do you want to be an engine ER
(18:29):
my immediate answer was no like I do not
want to be an engineer that's not for me
like I'm going to stick to the more
science side of things but you know as I
got older As I Grew a little bit into
what does it mean to be an engineer it
means to be able to solve problems and
not just like ask questions but then be
capable of answering those questions and
(18:50):
so that really drew me to the
engineering side and I think
bioengineering and biomedical
engineering is that perfect mix of like
okay you're super interested in biology
super interested in medicine in the
human body mayhaps but then you can also
ask questions that you might be capable
of solving or know how to find people
and find questions in order to arrive at
(19:11):
an answer yeah I think my path was very
similar to gabes I grew up actually
wanting to be a surgeon I thought you
know the biomedical field was super cool
I definitely wanted to go into medicine
but growing up taking more of those
classes in chemistry and biology and
math made me really appreciate the value
of as asking important questions and so
from there I started to grow more
(19:32):
interested in just that fundamental
science um but I had never had any
exposure to engineering until I got to
Stanford in college um and so I actually
started taking a bunch of engineering
classes all at once because it was all
of a sudden I was incredibly excited to
have you know experiences this new
discipline and asking questions and then
(19:53):
applying engineering fundamentals to
that question and directly coming up
with an um with a solution that you can
build with your hands and test um that
is where I ultimately found that passion
um and so applying those engineering and
science principles in the biomedical
space still thinking as I wanted to as a
kid about helping people I think is
ultimately where I found that end goal
(20:15):
and passion of mine yeah uh so very
similar to G and sha um but I did grow
up um wanting to be a doctor and just
through my own like Journey with like
illness and just um through a bunch of
shadowing events and just seeing a lot
of inequities within the healthc care
system it like I continued to want to be
(20:36):
a doctor um so it was very similar to
Gabe where I was like I'm not touching
anything engineering and I actually went
to um an engineering high school um that
was so focused on that but then they had
like two Pathways they were like okay
you can do like the engineering side or
you can do like the lab science side and
I was like I'm not taking any of these
engineering courses like totally lab
(20:57):
science just like doing my pipe ping um
um but eventually like I got to Stanford
and similar to G and Tra I was like as I
was thinking about my career in medicine
I was also thinking about how I wanted
to like Advance research advanc science
um but in a way that wasn't only for
understanding mechanisms but in a way
that could be translational and be
(21:18):
brought to the bedside which is also why
colch like has always been so exciting
to me because like I can see that for my
future now especially now that I've I'm
having this experience
that's really uh different way of
looking at the world is is not only
understanding the science but also then
trying to develop um solutions for it
and that's certainly exemplified in your
(21:40):
color Tech project um Gabe your LinkedIn
profile mentions uh your interest in the
application of AI in medicine and
bioengineering and you're now pursuing a
master's in computer science right um
yes that's correct how do you plan to
blend these sort of two areas as you
move forward and is there an AI angle
for
colch it's a great question um I plan to
(22:04):
blend these two areas in the future just
through I think a lot of medicine is
moving towards a place where Ai and
machine learning can fit into the
overall medical process um I think the
space is moving so fast that it has so
many capabilities to fit into the
overall Pipeline and not in a sense of
like replacing anything but just
(22:26):
enhancing and allowing better better
decisions to be made just by being able
to look at data in a new
way um and whether there are AI plans
for colch I would hope so I'm sure there
are many ways that we can fit it in and
it's just going to fit in at some point
in the pipeline certainly an exciting
area to be in and uh your timing I think
(22:47):
is perfect um uh Shrea your LinkedIn
profile highlights your passion for
making bi engineering research ethical
and sustainable and relevant to everyone
it serves and that's certainly also part
of the col Vision right um how will that
inform your career path yeah so um I'm
currently pursuing a PhD in
bioengineering because for me something
(23:07):
that really drives me is not just
conducting research but also teaching
and so I'm really hoping to go to
education and something that really
excites me is also science communication
especially in the bioengineering field
where our science is often very
misconstrued um and ends up you know
going through all these um like channels
and then when it reaches the public can
(23:28):
be um very polarizing and so for me
what's important is making sure that
people can make informed decisions about
how they want to consume science what
science how they want to let science
impact their lives and so not
necessarily as a scientist trying to
convince people about our science but
just having better tactics to inform
people and creating this culture of you
(23:50):
know appreciation for Science and
appreciation for the people that our
science serves and so I think that you
know um going into educ ation and
Science Education is a part of that but
so is creating products that are really
need driven and driven by the people
that we want to serve um and so yeah
sounds like an exciting future Kelly uh
you kch I'm gonna suggest guess was your
(24:13):
first U Venture into cancer um you know
as a research area maybe um have you
caught the cancer bug will you be
devoting your career to working on
cancer uh yeah so I've actually had like
multiple family members like actually
get cancer just because there is like a
high incidence rate within like the
Mexican population um which was very
(24:35):
unfortunate but I was
too I remember thinking like oh I never
wanted to like step into this space um
just because it's a I felt like it was
like over researched and like I feel
like there was probably maybe more
understudied areas um to pursue but yeah
through katech and like just having that
connection to my family um our
backgrounds and also just seeing like
(24:57):
how much they're is unmet needs within
the space um has me very excited and
additionally like the pro- diagnostic
concept of it and how we could be like
right now we're focused on colon cancer
but like how we can be maybe be applied
later for like lung cancer breast cancer
pancreatic cancer um which is very
exciting and like it opens up this whole
new space that like yeah I would love to
(25:19):
continue to pursue to explore so what
are you doing at the moment
Kelly yeah um aside from colot Tech um I
have two jobs I'm working as a clinical
Anatomy scholar at Stanford medicine um
and it's kind of like this role has
really three roles um involved but part
of it is just doing anatomy research um
(25:42):
and right now I'm focused on actually
like the extens of the hand and the
anatomical variations that come along
with them and another big part of it is
um teaching aspect so right now I
actually assist in teaching the under
the medical Anatomy course um for the
medical students which is very
interesting never gone to med school yet
and helping teach this uh but
(26:03):
additionally like later this quarter I'm
going to be um the m one of the main Tas
for the undergraduate Anatomy course
which Gabe is considering taking so that
would be exciting um and another part of
the role is just um the community
engagement working with high school
students like teaching them Anatomy um
talking to the donors helping out with
(26:24):
like the Anatomical Gift program which
has been very rewarding and like has
kept me grounded obviously through like
the interesting work with cadavers um
and then my next job is a research
assistant actually in the mle lab at
Stanford where we just study um human
embryo implantation it was a very hard
(26:46):
difficult space to study beforehand just
because one Mouse models don't really
represent like
the human like pregnancy cycle embryo
Plantation cycle um um so there was
really a high need for like a inv vitro
model to be able to study the human
endometrium and like with my La through
my lab like we were able to like create
(27:08):
a 3D cell engineered like model which
now we can actually study like what the
mechanisms that go into impl
implantation um and obviously this can
have like high impacts for people who
are trying to like get pregnant or going
through IVF Cycles uh but yeah so very
rewarding year um very busy year but
I've been like enjoying all of it so I I
(27:30):
want to ask you all where do you see
yourselves in five or 10 years you've
got many steps ahead of you but you that
the the step you've just accomplished is
a major step uh where do you think
you'll be in in in the future um
probably still in school to be
honest I am currently planning to apply
to mdphd programs um okay it's very
(27:52):
exciting path but hopefully still in
school by then but overall looking to
just continue on this translational
research path um I'd hope that in the
future uh we're still identifying needs
and identifying people that have these
needs and then being able to think about
and create solutions for them um so just
(28:13):
continuing kind of on that engineering
pathway of let's bring actual solutions
from the lab to people have you heard of
the oxcam program at NIH
Gabe I have not so it's an interesting
program it's an mdphd program has a
couple of different Pathways in it but
the core notion is that you um you do
(28:34):
your medical school in the United States
and then you do your PhD in a blended
program between an NIH lab and and a lab
either at Oxford or Cambridge but you
get your PhD from those universities and
one of the advantages I I did my PhD in
England um not at either of those
universities but you you get a a a
quicker uh shorter time in graduate
school um because in England you can do
(28:56):
your PhD in three years right you don't
have any more classes and so it's a it's
a way to accelerate the very long mdphd
pathway and um it's a great program I
think you might want to check it out
absolutely thank you uh Shrea how about
you where do you see yourself in five or
10 years yeah similarly probably um at
least in five years still in school
(29:16):
finishing up my PhD and at this exact
moment I'm not sure what the exact steps
forward are I am currently interested in
going into Academia and going into
research um with some teaching but um
currently very flexible and just looking
for what that ideal blend of research
science communication education looks
(29:37):
like that's I mean that's really
interesting to me because um
communication and teaching are
increasingly important I think you know
we we are in a time when we need to
reestablish trust uh with um the general
public when it comes to science I think
something we've sort of enjoyed but
maybe haven't nurtured as much as it
needs to be so I'm I'm excited for you
(29:57):
that sounds like a really interesting
thing how about you Kelly where will we
see you if we if I was interviewing you
in 10 years where would you be yeah
probably still in residency um okay yeah
but I'm applying to like Med schools
right now so that's kind of like the
timeline that it goes but um at the same
(30:18):
time you know I'm very interested in
like pursuing a career in like oncologic
medicine or pediatric medicine um so I'm
excited to like actually hone down by
that point know exactly what I want to
do and like the the career path that I
want to take within medicine um but
additionally like something very
important to be kind of similar to like
how gab and Sh has been talking about um
(30:40):
finding on that needs for people and
marginalized communities like that holds
like really close to my heart really
dear to my heart and hoping to like as I
continue through this field like
advancing Health Equity making it more
inclusive more accessible for you know
people of color um people with
disabilities people who are typically
excluded or um how it face like
(31:00):
disparities within the medical system um
but yeah that sounds fantastic of course
you can combine Pediatrics and oncology
right I mean there's a yeah real need
there um I interviewed the the group
from our pediatric onology Branch for
this podcast a few months ago very
interesting stuff and big challenges in
trying to um get enough data on these
(31:22):
thankfully rare tumors uh but cracking
some of those um problems is is really
tough but really important all right my
last question what advice do you have
for someone who's uh listening who's um
maybe just finding their own way in in
in stem and thinking about different
careers what advice would you give to
someone maybe finishing high school or
(31:42):
early in their undergraduate career um I
would probably say that there's like
always something new to discover always
something like always a need on that um
that could really help people or like if
like someone was passionate enough to
like pursue that solution like could see
it move forward and just like Advanced
science and so just keep your mind open
(32:03):
and like really focus on like these
needs and on like the need spaces um
because you know Solutions can come out
like any time but how much like how
impactful they can be is dependent on
the amount of people that he can help um
so just like thinking about that at the
Forefront of your of your mind and
thinking about yeah like don't be afraid
(32:24):
to like come up with these crazy ideas
um I think even through this project
when we were first like T when we moved
from like working with just like um IBD
patients and like wanting to move
towards more colal cancer um at the
beginning people were like oh but it's
cancer are you sure you want to like
jump into um that difficult space and
like it would be difficult to come like
(32:45):
to pursue this like Pro diagnostic
solution um but because all three of us
were like so passionate about it and
like want and like now looking back like
we're continuing to pursue this project
uh that's like really how you could make
that impact by pursuing what you're
passionate about because in the end it's
about how long you can um you want to
work on it and continue to push it
(33:07):
forward but yeah Reach for the
Stars I love it yeah I would just really
encourage them to follow their interests
I feel like this can especially be a
very daunting space to move into um
especially now sometimes it can feel
like so many problems have been solved
what else is next but the answer is
(33:27):
there are still so many problems to
solve um and if you follow your
interests and kind of Forge your own
path you can find your Niche and find
the problems that you want to solve and
that'll just make your work so much more
impassioned and so much more feasible to
complete yeah yeah yeah no sometimes it
(33:47):
I mean and we're also seem to be
creating new problems all the time so I
don't think we're going to run out of
problems anytime soon so but it's
sometimes it looks that way for sure and
then sort of tangential to that
um I would definitely say don't be
afraid to take the time you need to
figure out what those interests are
sometimes it can feel like especially in
stem you need to know what you're doing
(34:08):
this moment so that you can make a
fiveyear game plan and so that you're
then ready for the next step that's
ahead of that but in reality several of
our professors have told us you know
they didn't know what they wanted to do
until their postto they didn't know what
they wanted to do until they took a
three-year like Gap and then really took
the time to figure that out so whether
whether you know exactly what you want
to do straight out of high school or
(34:30):
feel like you need to take um you know
really just explore in college or even
in grad school take that time because
it'll be so much more worth it when you
find something that motivates you and
you're not feeling pressured to stay at
this pace that is not sustainable or
will not really make you happy with what
you're doing that's really good advice
taking your time to to work it out is
(34:51):
not always easy right especially when
you are sort of in the day-to-day and
the planning and everything one thing
follows on from another but yeah really
good advice thank you
[Music]
all now it's time for a segment we call
your turn your chance to share a
recommendation with our audience um if
(35:13):
you're listening then you're invited to
take your turn record a tip for a book a
video a podcast or a talk or really
anything that you found inspirational or
amusing or interesting and send it to us
at
ncic nih.gov we'll play it in an
upcoming episode now I'd like to invite
our guests to take their turn let's
start with you
(35:33):
Kelly yeah so I'm going to recommend a
book that I actually read this past
summer and it's called The House of the
spirits um by Isabel aende um and it's
just like a beautiful like um historical
fiction book um following like um these
four generations of women in this like
(35:54):
Latina Latino family um and just like
it's at a time in history where
obviously there's a lot of patriarchy
and um there is just like a bunch a lot
of violence at the time but like
centering these stories on the women and
just like on how impactful they were
even within like their small circle of
(36:15):
community um or even in like the
uprising um which was very interesting
to read about and see that be like the
center and this book was
written decades ago um so it was like
very interesting to like
um read something from so long ago that
like made an impact in like Society at
the time especially in the Latino
Community um and in addition to that
(36:36):
there's like magical realism elements to
it so and which is like a big theme in
like um Latino literature um so it was
like just really nice to like kind of
Escape into the realm of this family and
these Generations that's a great
recommendation I think I might put that
book on my to read list as
well thank you Shrea yeah so um I was in
(36:59):
the UK this past summer and then came
across this book in a bookstore in
London it's called how tyrants Fall by
Marcel durus and I ended up spending my
entire time at that book store just
reading through the first few chapters
of this book because it was amazing it
essentially analyzes how dictators and
totalitarian regimes across the world
fell and how you might be able to
(37:21):
prevent such institutions from coming
into power in the future by essentially
creating this blueprint of solutions um
using all these case studies from the
past so I'm actually not finished with
it yet but so far it's provided a really
good lens on political structure power
and what our roles as Citizens might
look like within this whole
(37:42):
architecture and this might seem removed
from science but I think especially in
today's age science literacy is really a
form of resistance um and science can
seem very closed off so kind of breaking
those bar
um and uniting together via science or
through other means can really be a form
(38:03):
of taking down such institutions and I
think that it was just a really eye
openening book that makes you think
about the ways that you can engage in
such
ways very very interesting I'm gonna
definitely pick that one up thank you I
I love it Gabe how about
you yeah I'm going to recommend a book
that's um right in the field of my
(38:23):
master's degree in kind of this blend of
AI and medicine it's called the AI
revolution in medicine um and it just
thinks about what AI could look like in
medicine in the future and where it's
going from here and I think a really
interesting aspect of it is the book
itself but also it was published last
year you can already tell the difference
a year has made in the field and where
(38:45):
Ai and medicine is going so it just
gives a lot of insight into like this is
a really fast moving field what is
possible that that sounds like a great
read as well yeah and it's I mean they
probably need to publish a new audition
every six months right just just to keep
up fascinating I'm going to make a
recommendation as well um it's also for
a book uh it's a history book uh emperor
(39:07):
of Rome ruling the ancient Roman World
by Mary beard it maybe connects to some
of the things you were reading
sh I've recommended history books before
and and have an abiding interest in
several periods including ancient Rome
in this book Mary beard who's written
many excellent books on the period looks
across the lives and careers of many
emperors and draws out common themes
(39:29):
giving you an idea of what it might have
been like to rural Rome and perhaps more
accessible to most what life was like
back then uh and I always come away from
Reading history refreshed it's like a
holiday for your mind perhaps and also
affirmed in the fact that much is
universal in The Human Experience um
beard writes uh well making her books a
(39:50):
pleasure to read and it's very easy to
read and if you've ever wondered what it
might be like to rule the Roman Empire
fire now is your
chance um well thank you all so much for
uh what you're doing for for sharing it
with us here on the podcast and um I
wish you all nothing but tremendous
success as you progress in your careers
(40:10):
thank you thank you so much thank you so
much for having us thank
you
yes that's all we have time for on
today's episode of inside cancer careers
thank you for joining us and thanks to
our guests we want to hear from you your
stories your IDE ideas and your feedback
are welcome and you're invited to take
your turn and make a recommendation to
(40:32):
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us at NCI ICC nih.gov
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(40:53):
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(41:16):
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[Music]
episode hello and welcome to inside
cancer careers a podcast from the
National Cancer Institute where we
explore all the different ways people
fight cancer and hear their stories I'm
your host Oliver bogler from nci's
Center for Cancer training today we're
talk talking to three biomedical
engineer alums from Stanford who
(01:04):
recently won the NCI Technologies for
cancer prevention diagnosis or treatment
prize which is part of the design by
biomedical undergraduate teams or debut
challenged here at NIH listen through to
the end of the show to hear our guests
make some interesting recommendations
and where we invite you to take your
turn and of course we're always glad to
(01:25):
get your feedback on what you hear and
suggestions on what you might like us to
cover
the show's email is
ncic nih.gov hello to our guests today
Gabriel seir Shrea gar and Kelly Lopez
Sid members of Team kotch welcome thank
you thank you yeah thank you so much so
(01:49):
first of all congratulations on winning
the NCI prize in the 2024 debut
challenge we were very excited to see
your project and can you please explain
what cola Tech is to our listeners and
tell us what makes it unique yeah so um
colot is essentially um our idea for a
(02:09):
novel non-invasive more accessible
screening technology for coloral cancer
patients so we were looking at this
market for Diagnostics and we saw that
colonoscopies and blood feal tests were
the current standard of care but there's
a lot of issues with specificity with
accessibility in these current
Technologies
(02:30):
and so we saw that in and then decided
to come up with colotech uh it's a pro
diagnostic you describe it that way for
early detection um what does that term
actually mean Pro diagnostic that's a
great question um we we're kind of
basing the term off the terms for pro
drugs which are drugs that split apart
(02:50):
when terms of their mechanism of action
and so our Pro diagnostic Works in a
similar way where we have an overall
chemical compound and then when it comes
into contact with with a tumor micro
environment it splits apart allowing us
to tell the difference so the test
consists of a pill that you take is that
right which contains this Pro diagnostic
(03:11):
yeah and then please describe what
happens you've kind of mentioned it gab
but just what environment is um needs to
be present in the colon for it to be
converted yeah so um tumor micro
environments are hypoxic or low in
oxygen um because these cells are
rapidly dividing and consuming that
oxygen and so that is a very distinct U
marker of these environments so in our
(03:34):
technology we're essentially um ad doing
these patients with this molecule that
travels through their GI tract and when
it makes it to the coloral tract an anic
coating is able to dissolve and expose
these molecules to um the choral
environment and if it comes across this
um hypoxic environment it undergos a
(03:54):
chemical composition shift that will
then as gab mentioned split this
molecule apart allowing us to detect
that change in that chemical structure
um as patients pass our diagnostic
through their stool so again it's a it's
a stool test a little bit like some of
the ones that are on the market which I
think test for blood right yeah blood um
(04:15):
sometimes DNA markers so uh colotech is
probably both more affordable and is it
more reliable in the sense that blood
could also come from other kinds of um
diseases or or um processes
yeah that's a good question um we
haven't really been able to fully test
like the sensitivity um efficacy of our
(04:37):
Pro diagnostic yet because we were only
working with proof of concept U molecule
um but I think the idea is that right
now with the blood feal tests they're
not accessible for like patients who are
high risk for cancer like those with
inflammatory bowel disease because they
already have an increase in biomarkers
and proteins that these tests test for
(04:59):
so by utilizing like the hypoxic micro
environment of the tumor itself and kind
of in doing endogenous biomarkers like
we're using the way term like exogenous
biomarkers and in that way like we can
like increase the accessibility of
high-risk patients and include them in
these um Diagnostics so in that way we
feel like that's why there's it's also
(05:20):
like better than just using like a blood
feal test clearly from the patient point
of view or the general public point of
view it sounds like a great idea a right
especially because you can avoid
potentially colonoscopies which you know
I'm of the age I've had my first
colonoscopy uh I would love to avoid the
next one um but I wonder uh what's been
(05:43):
the feedback from uh people working in
colon cancer screening you know the
medical experts have they how have they
responded to your idea and your concept
feedback has generally been very
positive um all of the people we've
talked to would love to have this sort
of extra step in the screening process
in place especially because it allows us
to Target both younger patients higher
(06:05):
risk patients patients from marginalized
community that don't have access to
colonoscopies so just being able to fit
so many more patients within the
treatment plan has a lot of people very
excited and being able to have another
option to look at before just taking
random biopsies with the colonoscopy has
been a great option for people to think
(06:26):
about just to add on like we had like a
clinical Mentor throughout the duration
of our project um and he's actually a
gastroenterologist that works on
detecting dysplasia um but for him it's
like through fluorescent endoscopes and
he's saying like even like before
patients can get there like by just
doing like a screening method first and
(06:47):
like being able to avoid that next like
step of an endoscopy or
colonoscopy um it would be very helpful
to the space yeah know that makes a lot
of sense and I I'm part of what I found
exciting about the project was the
potential to increase the reach right um
and Screen more people particularly
because we're seeing this rather still
puzzling uh increase in incidents uh in
(07:09):
colon cancer particularly among younger
people right um who are not eligible or
likely to come in for some of the
existing screening so yeah fantastic so
how did you pick this particular project
as a focus yeah so our project the
origins were actually in our
undergraduate senior Capstone class or
team are essentially randomly assigned
(07:31):
together and given a very general need
space and ours was uler of citis primary
sceris and colangitis and by analyzing
the space a little bit we saw that there
was this Gap and accessible um
affordable diagnostics for chloral
cancer so we kind of did a shift from
our original need space um but this is
the one that we landed on um and the way
(07:52):
the class works is that there is about
10 weeks of ideation before 10 weeks of
prototyping and so we had a lot of time
to really go in depth into this need
space and really ideate the solutions
that we thought would best address um
patient needs here so fascinating tell
me more about that I'd love to learn
more about the ideation phase how do you
(08:13):
ideate when you have it faced with a
question like this yeah it was actually
um I think for us a really fun um
experience we hadn't really um worked at
this scale before of having a general
question and then having to go from you
know not too strong of a background in
the field to like honing in on a single
idea and so the way that the course
(08:35):
encouraged us to ideate is through this
Stanford's biodesign process where we
start with as many ideas as we can
possibly think about um and they
recommend at least 50 and then as the
weeks go by doing further research into
the need space um talking with as many
stakeholders from the field as possible
and narrowing those ideas down until we
(08:56):
see something that is within the scope
of our capability um feasible to achieve
um in terms of cost and resources and
just something that really excites our
team and so ultimately through that
process is how we ended up on this pro-
diagnostic um idea it was really kind of
this blend of all of our experiences in
our individual disciplines put together
(09:18):
um to come up to yeah to come up with
this idea yeah the whole ideation
process was extremely need driven so we
first Dove super in depth into the need
trying to understand what's there
talking to as many people as we can I
think we spent four weeks just thinking
about the need before we even tried to
come up with a
solution and then at that point like
(09:39):
shya mentioned just trying to go into as
much breadth as we can coming up with as
many ideas no matter how Wild they are
before then thinking about okay let's
filter down let's think about
feasibility let's think about all these
other aspects but first really just
trying to like how could we solve this
problem if we could do anything yeah and
then if I remember from your application
(09:59):
you also have to kind of um place this
notion this this idea that you're coming
up with in in its space right both in
terms of sort of the clinical space but
also the market space right well for the
market for chacal cancer at the moment
um well there's definitely this
immediate like notion that right now the
standard of diagnosis is an invasive
(10:21):
surgical procedure so there is an
instant barrier and other non-invasive
Technologies such as those blood feal
tests that we've mentioned um oftentimes
some of them have a high false positive
rate or they simply are just
contraindicated against these high-risk
patients as Kelly mentioned and so the
market seemed in our opinion quite open
and what it needed was sort of this
(10:41):
non-invasive more accessible solution
and so that's why we really wanted to
gear our Innovation towards something
that could be cheaply produced um and
Massy distributed globally I mean it
sounds to me also like your engineering
training was maybe Beyond engineering
right I mean that almost sounds like you
know being you know what something an
(11:03):
economist might do right but it but it's
so it's not enough just to technically
think about the problem you have to
think about the problem very broadly in
in all these different areas yeah and
even when like talking to like our
professors about like working with like
stool samples like the first thing on
everyone's mind was like okay well what
about kard what makes it different from
colard and then like then like Hing in
(11:26):
even more and being like well yeah
colard as well is like an accessible for
highrisk patients and also just taking
that like into um consideration when
thinking about the market space yeah so
tell me a little bit more about that the
colard is is not ideal for high-risk
patients because it gets a lot of false
positives is that right yes um because
in hris patients the colon is turning
(11:48):
over at an even higher rate because of
all the inflammation what they're trying
to detect in the stol samples just isn't
as detectable because there's so much
more of everything so they're unable to
detect these differences that they're
looking for in non-h high-risk patients
yeah so po guard currently cannot be
used for patients with IBD patients who
(12:08):
have had cancers before patients with a
family history of cancers or any genetic
predispositions for cancers which of
course um is a significant um population
if you want better diagnos for the
people who want better Diagnostics yeah
and a a group that you'd want to be
screening more regularly more more
following more aggressively right so
(12:30):
colch you believe will be able to screen
those um patients yes okay fantastic so
what's next for colotech I mean where
where is it going I'm presuming you all
moving on with your careers um you're
not devoting the rest of your life to
bringing this to Market is that correct
or maybe I'm wrong a little bit of both
actually so we're still currently
working on it um we're all still around
(12:51):
Stanford in different degrees um and so
while we're here we're still trying to
pursue this idea and push it as far as
we can because we're all super
interested in it still so what's next
for it if I may ask or is that
proprietary information no definitely
not we're currently in more of a
fundraising stage right now of trying to
acquire funding to do a couple more
(13:12):
robust tests so we were really fortunate
to have gotten a lot of support and
resources while working on this project
in a class setting um but now we really
like to take it several steps further um
get more data for basically create a
library of compounds um to help optim
optimize our structure for that
specificity as we've been mentioning we
(13:33):
really want this to be something
specific um that does not get any
interference from other diseases or any
other conditions from these patients so
working on optimizing our compound and
then testing them through various like
invitro and Vivo testing so that would
really be ideal for our upcoming next
stretch so I assume you've protected
(13:54):
your
IP yes we have a provisional patent
right now well that's exciting I mean uh
it's it's great to do a fantastic
project but it's even more exciting to
bring it uh out into the marketplace or
at least work in that direction that's
fantastic um quick pivot uh what was it
like to uh apply for the debut challenge
(14:14):
yeah actually our professor like
previous um the past few years teams
have applied to the debut Challenge and
so seeing this trend like our professor
decided to kind of revolve the class
structure around like debut so you know
thinking about the Market thinking about
the problem the need space um and in the
end we had to do a final paper that was
(14:34):
very similar to like the debut
submission and like just needed a few
more like weeks of like tweaking um but
yeah so honestly it like felt very
aligned with what we were already
accustomed to because of the class yeah
and the debut U submission also requires
a video right yes so in that similar
note we fashioned that video uh very
(14:56):
similarly to that final presentation
that we gave class um so it really felt
like we had been preparing for this
application for a while which was you
know fantastic to have received so much
support and guidance on that um but yeah
honestly we were our biggest struggle
there was to try to condense as much
information as possible within the video
limit so we were really excited um to
(15:19):
craft that
submission well it's great I mean it's
great to hear that the it wasn't
burdensome to apply right I mean you
already had the material and that's
that's the way it should be
um as as a person who participates in
the review of these uh applications I
have to say they're incredibly
interesting to review um and the videos
(15:39):
are really fun to watch uh reviewers of
science don't often get to see videos
you know I wish maybe we should do r1s
by videos as well that be more fun um
but it really allows us to get a you
know quick quick impression of what what
it's all about so um fantastic um well
I'm I'm really excited to see where the
goes uh and I wish you the best of luck
(16:02):
with the um with the further work on
colotech thank you so thank you so much
we're going to take a quick break and
when we come back we're going to be
talking about paths career paths and
career
[Music]
plans calling all Global cancer
researchers now is the time to share
your original research designed to
(16:24):
reduce the burden of cancer in low and
middle inome countries submit your s
scientific session and Abstract
proposals for the 13th annual Symposium
on global cancer research today from
exploring cancer Health disparities to
implementing and evaluating
evidence-based cancer control
interventions asgc provides a forum for
(16:44):
investigators to share science-based
initiatives for cancer control know an
outstanding professional who embodies
virtue and Eminence in cancer research
training or practice nominate them for
the Rachel perling award and recognize
their notable contributions to Global
oncology the deadline to submit
proposals for abstracts sessions and
(17:05):
pearling Award nominations is January
17th 2025 visit events. cancer.gov
CGH asgc to learn more keep up with new
and Innovative Research In global
oncology at the bimonthly Global cancer
research and control seminar series
returning in 2025 learn from
(17:26):
investigators and cancer control experts
where work around the world and engaged
in conversations on approaches to
addressing cancer morbidity and
mortality find more information about
the global cancer research and control
seminar series new funding opportunities
cancer control resources and more on the
NCI Center for Global Health Website
(17:47):
cancer.gov Global Health that is
cancer.gov global
Health all right we're back um I'm I'm
always fascinated by how people
discovered that they want to go into
stem I wonder what are your stories when
did you know you wanted to pursue a
(18:07):
career in stem in engineering yeah I can
go first um so even back in middle
school and high school I was always
super interested in science as many
people are that end up in these fields
um all those biology and chemistry
classes were my favorite types of
classes but when asked like oh do you
like math do you want to be an engine ER
(18:29):
my immediate answer was no like I do not
want to be an engineer that's not for me
like I'm going to stick to the more
science side of things but you know as I
got older As I Grew a little bit into
what does it mean to be an engineer it
means to be able to solve problems and
not just like ask questions but then be
capable of answering those questions and
(18:50):
so that really drew me to the
engineering side and I think
bioengineering and biomedical
engineering is that perfect mix of like
okay you're super interested in biology
super interested in medicine in the
human body mayhaps but then you can also
ask questions that you might be capable
of solving or know how to find people
and find questions in order to arrive at
(19:11):
an answer yeah I think my path was very
similar to gabes I grew up actually
wanting to be a surgeon I thought you
know the biomedical field was super cool
I definitely wanted to go into medicine
but growing up taking more of those
classes in chemistry and biology and
math made me really appreciate the value
of as asking important questions and so
from there I started to grow more
(19:32):
interested in just that fundamental
science um but I had never had any
exposure to engineering until I got to
Stanford in college um and so I actually
started taking a bunch of engineering
classes all at once because it was all
of a sudden I was incredibly excited to
have you know experiences this new
discipline and asking questions and then
(19:53):
applying engineering fundamentals to
that question and directly coming up
with an um with a solution that you can
build with your hands and test um that
is where I ultimately found that passion
um and so applying those engineering and
science principles in the biomedical
space still thinking as I wanted to as a
kid about helping people I think is
ultimately where I found that end goal
(20:15):
and passion of mine yeah uh so very
similar to G and sha um but I did grow
up um wanting to be a doctor and just
through my own like Journey with like
illness and just um through a bunch of
shadowing events and just seeing a lot
of inequities within the healthc care
system it like I continued to want to be
(20:36):
a doctor um so it was very similar to
Gabe where I was like I'm not touching
anything engineering and I actually went
to um an engineering high school um that
was so focused on that but then they had
like two Pathways they were like okay
you can do like the engineering side or
you can do like the lab science side and
I was like I'm not taking any of these
engineering courses like totally lab
(20:57):
science just like doing my pipe ping um
um but eventually like I got to Stanford
and similar to G and Tra I was like as I
was thinking about my career in medicine
I was also thinking about how I wanted
to like Advance research advanc science
um but in a way that wasn't only for
understanding mechanisms but in a way
that could be translational and be
(21:18):
brought to the bedside which is also why
colch like has always been so exciting
to me because like I can see that for my
future now especially now that I've I'm
having this experience
that's really uh different way of
looking at the world is is not only
understanding the science but also then
trying to develop um solutions for it
and that's certainly exemplified in your
(21:40):
color Tech project um Gabe your LinkedIn
profile mentions uh your interest in the
application of AI in medicine and
bioengineering and you're now pursuing a
master's in computer science right um
yes that's correct how do you plan to
blend these sort of two areas as you
move forward and is there an AI angle
for
colch it's a great question um I plan to
(22:04):
blend these two areas in the future just
through I think a lot of medicine is
moving towards a place where Ai and
machine learning can fit into the
overall medical process um I think the
space is moving so fast that it has so
many capabilities to fit into the
overall Pipeline and not in a sense of
like replacing anything but just
(22:26):
enhancing and allowing better better
decisions to be made just by being able
to look at data in a new
way um and whether there are AI plans
for colch I would hope so I'm sure there
are many ways that we can fit it in and
it's just going to fit in at some point
in the pipeline certainly an exciting
area to be in and uh your timing I think
(22:47):
is perfect um uh Shrea your LinkedIn
profile highlights your passion for
making bi engineering research ethical
and sustainable and relevant to everyone
it serves and that's certainly also part
of the col Vision right um how will that
inform your career path yeah so um I'm
currently pursuing a PhD in
bioengineering because for me something
(23:07):
that really drives me is not just
conducting research but also teaching
and so I'm really hoping to go to
education and something that really
excites me is also science communication
especially in the bioengineering field
where our science is often very
misconstrued um and ends up you know
going through all these um like channels
and then when it reaches the public can
(23:28):
be um very polarizing and so for me
what's important is making sure that
people can make informed decisions about
how they want to consume science what
science how they want to let science
impact their lives and so not
necessarily as a scientist trying to
convince people about our science but
just having better tactics to inform
people and creating this culture of you
(23:50):
know appreciation for Science and
appreciation for the people that our
science serves and so I think that you
know um going into educ ation and
Science Education is a part of that but
so is creating products that are really
need driven and driven by the people
that we want to serve um and so yeah
sounds like an exciting future Kelly uh
you kch I'm gonna suggest guess was your
(24:13):
first U Venture into cancer um you know
as a research area maybe um have you
caught the cancer bug will you be
devoting your career to working on
cancer uh yeah so I've actually had like
multiple family members like actually
get cancer just because there is like a
high incidence rate within like the
Mexican population um which was very
(24:35):
unfortunate but I was
too I remember thinking like oh I never
wanted to like step into this space um
just because it's a I felt like it was
like over researched and like I feel
like there was probably maybe more
understudied areas um to pursue but yeah
through katech and like just having that
connection to my family um our
backgrounds and also just seeing like
(24:57):
how much they're is unmet needs within
the space um has me very excited and
additionally like the pro- diagnostic
concept of it and how we could be like
right now we're focused on colon cancer
but like how we can be maybe be applied
later for like lung cancer breast cancer
pancreatic cancer um which is very
exciting and like it opens up this whole
new space that like yeah I would love to
(25:19):
continue to pursue to explore so what
are you doing at the moment
Kelly yeah um aside from colot Tech um I
have two jobs I'm working as a clinical
Anatomy scholar at Stanford medicine um
and it's kind of like this role has
really three roles um involved but part
of it is just doing anatomy research um
(25:42):
and right now I'm focused on actually
like the extens of the hand and the
anatomical variations that come along
with them and another big part of it is
um teaching aspect so right now I
actually assist in teaching the under
the medical Anatomy course um for the
medical students which is very
interesting never gone to med school yet
and helping teach this uh but
(26:03):
additionally like later this quarter I'm
going to be um the m one of the main Tas
for the undergraduate Anatomy course
which Gabe is considering taking so that
would be exciting um and another part of
the role is just um the community
engagement working with high school
students like teaching them Anatomy um
talking to the donors helping out with
(26:24):
like the Anatomical Gift program which
has been very rewarding and like has
kept me grounded obviously through like
the interesting work with cadavers um
and then my next job is a research
assistant actually in the mle lab at
Stanford where we just study um human
embryo implantation it was a very hard
(26:46):
difficult space to study beforehand just
because one Mouse models don't really
represent like
the human like pregnancy cycle embryo
Plantation cycle um um so there was
really a high need for like a inv vitro
model to be able to study the human
endometrium and like with my La through
my lab like we were able to like create
(27:08):
a 3D cell engineered like model which
now we can actually study like what the
mechanisms that go into impl
implantation um and obviously this can
have like high impacts for people who
are trying to like get pregnant or going
through IVF Cycles uh but yeah so very
rewarding year um very busy year but
I've been like enjoying all of it so I I
(27:30):
want to ask you all where do you see
yourselves in five or 10 years you've
got many steps ahead of you but you that
the the step you've just accomplished is
a major step uh where do you think
you'll be in in in the future um
probably still in school to be
honest I am currently planning to apply
to mdphd programs um okay it's very
(27:52):
exciting path but hopefully still in
school by then but overall looking to
just continue on this translational
research path um I'd hope that in the
future uh we're still identifying needs
and identifying people that have these
needs and then being able to think about
and create solutions for them um so just
(28:13):
continuing kind of on that engineering
pathway of let's bring actual solutions
from the lab to people have you heard of
the oxcam program at NIH
Gabe I have not so it's an interesting
program it's an mdphd program has a
couple of different Pathways in it but
the core notion is that you um you do
(28:34):
your medical school in the United States
and then you do your PhD in a blended
program between an NIH lab and and a lab
either at Oxford or Cambridge but you
get your PhD from those universities and
one of the advantages I I did my PhD in
England um not at either of those
universities but you you get a a a
quicker uh shorter time in graduate
school um because in England you can do
(28:56):
your PhD in three years right you don't
have any more classes and so it's a it's
a way to accelerate the very long mdphd
pathway and um it's a great program I
think you might want to check it out
absolutely thank you uh Shrea how about
you where do you see yourself in five or
10 years yeah similarly probably um at
least in five years still in school
(29:16):
finishing up my PhD and at this exact
moment I'm not sure what the exact steps
forward are I am currently interested in
going into Academia and going into
research um with some teaching but um
currently very flexible and just looking
for what that ideal blend of research
science communication education looks
(29:37):
like that's I mean that's really
interesting to me because um
communication and teaching are
increasingly important I think you know
we we are in a time when we need to
reestablish trust uh with um the general
public when it comes to science I think
something we've sort of enjoyed but
maybe haven't nurtured as much as it
needs to be so I'm I'm excited for you
(29:57):
that sounds like a really interesting
thing how about you Kelly where will we
see you if we if I was interviewing you
in 10 years where would you be yeah
probably still in residency um okay yeah
but I'm applying to like Med schools
right now so that's kind of like the
timeline that it goes but um at the same
(30:18):
time you know I'm very interested in
like pursuing a career in like oncologic
medicine or pediatric medicine um so I'm
excited to like actually hone down by
that point know exactly what I want to
do and like the the career path that I
want to take within medicine um but
additionally like something very
important to be kind of similar to like
how gab and Sh has been talking about um
(30:40):
finding on that needs for people and
marginalized communities like that holds
like really close to my heart really
dear to my heart and hoping to like as I
continue through this field like
advancing Health Equity making it more
inclusive more accessible for you know
people of color um people with
disabilities people who are typically
excluded or um how it face like
(31:00):
disparities within the medical system um
but yeah that sounds fantastic of course
you can combine Pediatrics and oncology
right I mean there's a yeah real need
there um I interviewed the the group
from our pediatric onology Branch for
this podcast a few months ago very
interesting stuff and big challenges in
trying to um get enough data on these
(31:22):
thankfully rare tumors uh but cracking
some of those um problems is is really
tough but really important all right my
last question what advice do you have
for someone who's uh listening who's um
maybe just finding their own way in in
in stem and thinking about different
careers what advice would you give to
someone maybe finishing high school or
(31:42):
early in their undergraduate career um I
would probably say that there's like
always something new to discover always
something like always a need on that um
that could really help people or like if
like someone was passionate enough to
like pursue that solution like could see
it move forward and just like Advanced
science and so just keep your mind open
(32:03):
and like really focus on like these
needs and on like the need spaces um
because you know Solutions can come out
like any time but how much like how
impactful they can be is dependent on
the amount of people that he can help um
so just like thinking about that at the
Forefront of your of your mind and
thinking about yeah like don't be afraid
(32:24):
to like come up with these crazy ideas
um I think even through this project
when we were first like T when we moved
from like working with just like um IBD
patients and like wanting to move
towards more colal cancer um at the
beginning people were like oh but it's
cancer are you sure you want to like
jump into um that difficult space and
like it would be difficult to come like
(32:45):
to pursue this like Pro diagnostic
solution um but because all three of us
were like so passionate about it and
like want and like now looking back like
we're continuing to pursue this project
uh that's like really how you could make
that impact by pursuing what you're
passionate about because in the end it's
about how long you can um you want to
work on it and continue to push it
(33:07):
forward but yeah Reach for the
Stars I love it yeah I would just really
encourage them to follow their interests
I feel like this can especially be a
very daunting space to move into um
especially now sometimes it can feel
like so many problems have been solved
what else is next but the answer is
(33:27):
there are still so many problems to
solve um and if you follow your
interests and kind of Forge your own
path you can find your Niche and find
the problems that you want to solve and
that'll just make your work so much more
impassioned and so much more feasible to
complete yeah yeah yeah no sometimes it
(33:47):
I mean and we're also seem to be
creating new problems all the time so I
don't think we're going to run out of
problems anytime soon so but it's
sometimes it looks that way for sure and
then sort of tangential to that
um I would definitely say don't be
afraid to take the time you need to
figure out what those interests are
sometimes it can feel like especially in
stem you need to know what you're doing
(34:08):
this moment so that you can make a
fiveyear game plan and so that you're
then ready for the next step that's
ahead of that but in reality several of
our professors have told us you know
they didn't know what they wanted to do
until their postto they didn't know what
they wanted to do until they took a
three-year like Gap and then really took
the time to figure that out so whether
whether you know exactly what you want
to do straight out of high school or
(34:30):
feel like you need to take um you know
really just explore in college or even
in grad school take that time because
it'll be so much more worth it when you
find something that motivates you and
you're not feeling pressured to stay at
this pace that is not sustainable or
will not really make you happy with what
you're doing that's really good advice
taking your time to to work it out is
(34:51):
not always easy right especially when
you are sort of in the day-to-day and
the planning and everything one thing
follows on from another but yeah really
good advice thank you
[Music]
all now it's time for a segment we call
your turn your chance to share a
recommendation with our audience um if
(35:13):
you're listening then you're invited to
take your turn record a tip for a book a
video a podcast or a talk or really
anything that you found inspirational or
amusing or interesting and send it to us
at
ncic nih.gov we'll play it in an
upcoming episode now I'd like to invite
our guests to take their turn let's
start with you
(35:33):
Kelly yeah so I'm going to recommend a
book that I actually read this past
summer and it's called The House of the
spirits um by Isabel aende um and it's
just like a beautiful like um historical
fiction book um following like um these
four generations of women in this like
(35:54):
Latina Latino family um and just like
it's at a time in history where
obviously there's a lot of patriarchy
and um there is just like a bunch a lot
of violence at the time but like
centering these stories on the women and
just like on how impactful they were
even within like their small circle of
(36:15):
community um or even in like the
uprising um which was very interesting
to read about and see that be like the
center and this book was
written decades ago um so it was like
very interesting to like
um read something from so long ago that
like made an impact in like Society at
the time especially in the Latino
Community um and in addition to that
(36:36):
there's like magical realism elements to
it so and which is like a big theme in
like um Latino literature um so it was
like just really nice to like kind of
Escape into the realm of this family and
these Generations that's a great
recommendation I think I might put that
book on my to read list as
well thank you Shrea yeah so um I was in
(36:59):
the UK this past summer and then came
across this book in a bookstore in
London it's called how tyrants Fall by
Marcel durus and I ended up spending my
entire time at that book store just
reading through the first few chapters
of this book because it was amazing it
essentially analyzes how dictators and
totalitarian regimes across the world
fell and how you might be able to
(37:21):
prevent such institutions from coming
into power in the future by essentially
creating this blueprint of solutions um
using all these case studies from the
past so I'm actually not finished with
it yet but so far it's provided a really
good lens on political structure power
and what our roles as Citizens might
look like within this whole
(37:42):
architecture and this might seem removed
from science but I think especially in
today's age science literacy is really a
form of resistance um and science can
seem very closed off so kind of breaking
those bar
um and uniting together via science or
through other means can really be a form
(38:03):
of taking down such institutions and I
think that it was just a really eye
openening book that makes you think
about the ways that you can engage in
such
ways very very interesting I'm gonna
definitely pick that one up thank you I
I love it Gabe how about
you yeah I'm going to recommend a book
that's um right in the field of my
(38:23):
master's degree in kind of this blend of
AI and medicine it's called the AI
revolution in medicine um and it just
thinks about what AI could look like in
medicine in the future and where it's
going from here and I think a really
interesting aspect of it is the book
itself but also it was published last
year you can already tell the difference
a year has made in the field and where
(38:45):
Ai and medicine is going so it just
gives a lot of insight into like this is
a really fast moving field what is
possible that that sounds like a great
read as well yeah and it's I mean they
probably need to publish a new audition
every six months right just just to keep
up fascinating I'm going to make a
recommendation as well um it's also for
a book uh it's a history book uh emperor
(39:07):
of Rome ruling the ancient Roman World
by Mary beard it maybe connects to some
of the things you were reading
sh I've recommended history books before
and and have an abiding interest in
several periods including ancient Rome
in this book Mary beard who's written
many excellent books on the period looks
across the lives and careers of many
emperors and draws out common themes
(39:29):
giving you an idea of what it might have
been like to rural Rome and perhaps more
accessible to most what life was like
back then uh and I always come away from
Reading history refreshed it's like a
holiday for your mind perhaps and also
affirmed in the fact that much is
universal in The Human Experience um
beard writes uh well making her books a
(39:50):
pleasure to read and it's very easy to
read and if you've ever wondered what it
might be like to rule the Roman Empire
fire now is your
chance um well thank you all so much for
uh what you're doing for for sharing it
with us here on the podcast and um I
wish you all nothing but tremendous
success as you progress in your careers
(40:10):
thank you thank you so much thank you so
much for having us thank
you
yes that's all we have time for on
today's episode of inside cancer careers
thank you for joining us and thanks to
our guests we want to hear from you your
stories your IDE ideas and your feedback
are welcome and you're invited to take
your turn and make a recommendation to
(40:32):
share with our listeners you can reach
us at NCI ICC nih.gov
inside cancer careers is a collaboration
between nci's office of Communications
in public liaison and the Center for
Cancer training it is produced by Angela
Jones and astd masar join us every first
and third Thursday of the month wherever
(40:53):
you listen subscribe so you won't miss
an episode
if you have questions about cancer or
comments about this podcast you can
email us at NCI info nih.gov or call us
at 800 422
6237 and please be sure to mention
inside cancer careers in your query we
(41:16):
are a production of the US Department of
Health and Human Services National
Institutes of Health National Cancer
Institute thanks for listening
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