Name: Brittany Ellis Jewell
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Hobbies: Running, Surfing, Snorkeling, Ballet Folkloríco
Lab: Reuben Shaw
Lab website: shaw.salk.edu
What do you study? My research focuses on the way that colon cancer takes advantage of changes in cellular metabolism to form tumors, especially how this occurs in the intestinal stem cell niche.
Why is it important?
Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide, with increasing numbers of young adults being diagnosed in recent years.
What piqued your interest in science?
When I was 10 years old, a neighbor was diagnosed with cancer. I wanted to help and have been captivated by biomedicine ever since.
What do you like about being a scientist?
I love the ability to ask tough questions and find the answers. Being a scientist allows me to teach, learn, explore, advocate, and administrate and be flexible enough to make a real difference in the lives of patients.
What are 5 general vocabulary terms someone should know going into your field of science?
Proliferation: cells growing and dividing to making new cells
Metabolism: the process of how our cells take up nutrition, convert it to usable energy, and use the energy to live
Stem Cell: specialized cells that can grow, then turn into any other type of cell in the body
Cancer: uncontrolled growth of cells that can cause healthy parts of the body to stop working properly
Protein: the components of the cell that are made from amino acids and promote specific cellular functions
What are 5 specific vocabulary terms someone should know about your research?
Model organism: what we use in the lab to experimentally study scientific questions
Translational research: the objective of certain scientific research programs to explore topics which can lead to benefits for patients in the near term
Organoid: a three dimensional collection of cells that recapitulates organ structure and function
induced Pluripotent Stem Cell: stem cells that have been reprogrammed from a somatic (body) cells
Colorectal Cancer: cancer of the large intestine that is often characterized by a series of four genetic mutations