Amrin

Amrin

Amrin
Cambridge Rindge and Latin School
Cambridge, MA 

Mentor: 
Nashielli Diaz-Gallegos 
PRISM 
 

Amrin was very clear that research was on her mind. She told us, "I'd like to learn more about research and the process because that's what I want to do in the future." Her curious nature informed our choice to place her in the PRISM Lab over the summer. PRISM is capable of small molecule drug screening on up to 900 different cell lines. Because the immune system plays a vital role in cancer, PRISM hopes to develop a macrophage-based co-culture assay that can be added to the existing pipeline. However, due to the cost and time it takes to acquire primary macrophages, PRISM aims to develop a model system to create an assay without using primary macrophages. THP-1s, a monocytic leukemia cell line), can behave similarly to macrophages and become macrophage-like when differentiated under specific culture conditions. Over the summer, Amrin intended to create a THP-1 model system to investigate cancer cell and macrophage interactions more effectively. To understand whether differentiated THP-1s will express similar behavior as primary macrophages, Amrin grew red fluorescently differentiated THP-1s with green fluorescently labeled SUIT-2 (a pancreatic cancer cell line) in 2D and 3D culture settings. She concluded that SUIT-2 cancer cells are sensitive to THP-1's in both a 2D and 3D environment. She also concluded that THP-1's do not support cancer cell growth. By the end of BSSP, Amrin proved to be a force that should not be trifled with. She is a driven individual with a keen understanding of biomedical research and whose future in research is bright with possibility. Upon reflection she says “BSSP taught me science is a community, and when a community comes together, you can discover incredible things.”
 

September 2023