5 minute read
Brooke O’Donnell
What are you currently working on?
“I'm a PhD student in Dr. Silvia Penuela’s lab in the ACB department. Myproject focuses specifically on pannexin3in skinand skin cancer. Pannexin 3 is part of a family of channel-forming proteins that are important for cell-to-cell communication. BeforeI started my project, we knew that this protein was present in the skin and that it's important in cellular differentiation and cutaneous wound healing. Nothing was really known about how it's regulated as the skin ages, its role in the establishment of proper skin structure, or even what it does in tissue homeostasis. I've been characterizing this pannexin in skin using a pannexin 3 knockout mouse model, and investigating what happens to the skin architecture and properties when the protein is absent. The second area of interest of my project is looking at the role of pannexin 3 in skin cancer. Previous findings have shown that pannexin 3 levels are decreased in squamous cell carcinoma, which is a skin cancer that arises from keratinocytes that are in the epidermis — that's the uppermost layer of the skin. They found that there aredecreased levels, but no one has investigated why this is the case. So, I’m using human cell lines, patient-derived tumours, and a mouse cutaneous carcinoma model to try to determine the effect of pannexin3 downregulation on the malignant propertiesof squamous cell carcinoma.”
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What are some of your future goals?
“When you're a student, it’s a given that you want to finish all your experiments, publish your papers, and graduate. Further to that, my goal with my research isto build a strong foundation for thepannexin 3 in squamous cell carcinoma project in the lab. It’s a new area of research for the lab that I was able to start with the guidance of Dr. Penuela and a surgical oncologist named Dr. Kathy Roth, and I take pride in the fact that I created this project and did the preliminary work. I hope that it's one the ways I leave my mark on the Penuelalab after I've graduated. As formycareer, that's a hard question to answer because I'm still in the work phase of my project, and there's been a lot of uncertainty in research (and the world) over the past couple of years. I originally thought I wanted to go into industry and not continue in academia, but I've learned that you have to keep all your doors open and not shut yourself off to any opportunities. Maybe if you asked me this question again in a year, I would give you a different answer, but that's where I'm at right now.”
Graduate Student PhD Candidate
Contact Info bodonne3@uwo.ca
What are some important steps you took to get to where you are?
What drove you toresearch in cell biology?
What is your favourite thing about research?
“In undergrad, I found it was easy to be narrowly focused on your GPA, and all the exams and assignments you have to do. To get to the place where I am today, I found that I had to change my mindset. I keptan open mind to any opportunities that came my wayand I encouragedmyself to step out of my comfort zone. Research as a graduate student is very different than being an undergrad, which was obviously what I was familiar with at the time. Another key step for me was networking and getting myself out there.Honestly, putting myself out there has shaped more than half of my project. The pannexin 3 in squamous cell carcinoma project came from a conversation at London Health Research Day. I was just at my poster and a surgical oncologist that specializes in skin cancer (Dr. Kathy Roth) and I just started chatting about my project. From that one conversation, we were able to create a new area of research in the Penuela lab.”
“When I was an undergrad at Western, I didn't originally intend on pursuing a graduate degree and going into research – I kind of stumbled across it. I was taking a MicroImm course in second year and the professorput upan announcement at the start of class for the SURF program, which is the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. When I looked into it further, I came across another program called DUROP (Dean’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program) and ended up applying for both of them at the same time. I was lucky enough to hear back from my current supervisor, Silvia, and she accepted me into her lab. It originally just started as a summer project, getting some experience in research that was relevant to my degree. But, after spending time in the lab, I found that I enjoyed the work and the people anddecided it was something that I wanted to continue to do. Since then, I’ve had almost every role that you could have in a lab: I volunteered in my third year, received an NSERC-USRA the next summer, did my fourth-year thesis in Silvia’s lab, and now I’m a graduate student. My positive experiences through each stage is really what inspired me to continue on in research. Silvia is a tremendous mentor, and the Penuela lab is a really great team. I didn't know that I was going to like it until I tried it. It was one of those things where you keep an open mind, and you end up finding something that you really enjoy doing.”
“It has to be the discovery. You're on the leading edge of knowledge,finding out new things that no one has ever found before, and becoming an expert in your area of research. It's the satisfaction of asking a question or finding a gap of knowledge in the field, and being the one to discover the answers. It’s also about having the chance to make contributions to the field and to future research, with the hope that it can eventually make a difference in our understanding of basic science, and specific to my research, in the lives of skin cancer patients. That's not to say that research is discovering a new thing every day – there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes, like the optimization and the failed experiments. You have to think of it as part of the process, but it’s the discovery aspect that keeps you going and it makes it all worth it in the end. That's the part at the end of the day that I look forward to, and it makes me enjoy what I do so much.”
