1. Kristen Maslar –Research Statement
This past summer, I attend the CPRIT Undergraduate Summer Research Program at MD
Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Brown’s Lab focuses on breast cancer research,
specifically triple negative breast cancer research. During my time at MD Anderson, I was
assigned an independent research project, which was presented on my final day of the internship.
Being assigned an independent project helped me to formulate my own hypothesis and ask
relevant questions related to my hypothesis. Also, it provided me with a foundation of new
techniques and skills that would correlate with my research at my undergraduate university.
For this project, I specifically researched ASPM and its effects on triple negative breast
cancer. ASPM, abnormal spindle-like microcephaly-associated protein, is a mitotic spindle
regulatory protein assisting in microtubule polymerization and centriole stabilization. It is
expressed at low levels in normal tissues; however, previous studies in Dr. Brown’s lab
identified ASPM as being both mutated and amplified in early lesions and invasive breast cancer.
Based on this information, I ran several pertinent experiments to test the effects on
ASPM. For these tests, I learned which cell lines were appropriate to use based on their
distinguishing characteristics, ranging from premalignant cells (MCF10A/DCIS.com) to various
types of triple negative breast cancer cell lines (MDA231, MDA468). Overall, the main
approach for each experiment was knocking down ASPM using siASPM for each cell type. I
learned how to set up and run a qPCR and immunofluorescence, which were used to validate the
results in cell lines. Later, using the same knockdown technique, I analyzed the effect of ASPM
inhibition on growth of normal, premalignant and invasive breast cancer cells using growth
assays and cell cycle analysis, which were also new techniques acquired during my time at MD
Anderson.
From the multiple experiments performed, the data indicated that knockdown of ASPM
halted the cell cycle, leading the apoptosis. Therefore, the results suggested that ASPM may be a
biomarker for breast cancer forming potential, as well as a putative prophylactic target.