Name: Carlos Medina
Hometown: Pleasanton, CA
Hobbies: Reading, Piano, Running, Hiking, Soccer
Lab: I’m in Dr. Steven Dowdy’s lab at UC San Diego.
Lab website: http://dowdylab.ucsd.edu
What do you study?
In my lab, I am studying cancer biology and ways to treat cancer. Ultimately, we are trying to develop a therapeutic that can target specific pieces of mRNA, which is a segment of many nucleotides that is transcribed from DNA. I work with cancer cell lines, antibodies, and other smaller molecules, which in combination, can work together as a potential therapy.
Why is it important?
DNA is made up of many nucleotides which collectively form the genes. Genes are transcribed by cells into messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and then translated into the proteins that perform many essential functions within the cell. This is important because in cancer, certain genes may become overactivated, turning into oncogenes and leading to the overexpression of certain proteins or cellular activities. If we are able to selectively target only these bad pieces of genes within cancer cells while sparing the surrounding healthy cells with normal genes, then we can more effectively and efficiently eliminate cancer in patients.
What piqued your interest in science?
When I was in high school, I found my biology classes to be very interesting – the complexity of life was simply incredible to learn about. As time went on, I realized that the part of biology I was most interested in was research that can be applied to curing human diseases, namely cancer. Cancer is a prevalent disease that affects people of all ages in many different ways. My main motivation for being a scientist is the prospect that maybe one day my work can help cancer patients get better.
What do you like about being a scientist?
One of the coolest things about being a scientist is that I can work with so many different things at any given time. At the scientific level, I work with cells, antibodies and other proteins, DNA, RNA, and other very unique molecules all in an effort to better understand cancer and further develop the therapeutic we are working on. At the technical level, I get to use many cool instruments: microscope, flow cytometer, HPLC, FPLC, mass spectrometer, oligonucleotide synthesizer, and more.
What are 5 general vocabulary terms someone should know going into your field of science?
DNA, RNA, protein, gene, cancer
What are 5 specific vocabulary terms someone should know about your research?
Oncogene, mutation, antibody, endosome, antisense oligonucleotide (ASO)