Recent News
Share thisScholarly Work Well Represented
Photo: Student, Sarah Phelan
Rochester, N.Y. - The Faculty Development Committee was pleased to sponsor the First Annual Poster Session to showcase the scholarly work of Roberts Wesleyan College faculty and students. “This event provides an opportunity for faculty and students to network and learn about the wonderful work being done by their colleagues at Roberts", said Cheryl Crotser, Chairperson and Associate Professor, Department of Nursing. The Nursing Department, Department of Adult Professional Studies, Biological and Chemical Sciences, Psychology, and the Library shared their academic work with friends and colleagues.
Project: HIF-1α Inhibition and HaCaT Response to UV Irradiation
Sarah's research project looked at how a cell line of keratinocytes (skin cells) responded to UV irradiation when HIF-1α was inhibited. HIF-1α is found in high concentrations in cancer cells, and so the goal of the project was to ascertain how cells would respond to treatment that prevented HIF-1α from functioning.
HIF-1α is found in high concentrations in tumor cells, and it is therefore a topic of interest in cancer research. By exploring how HIF-1α affects cell survival, researchers can gain information about the role it plays in cancer cells.
While this is preliminary research, the results from research in this area could provide valuable information about mechanisms that are required for cancer cells to survive.
The results showed that the cells that were treated with the HIF-1α inhibitor YC-1 were less able to survive the irradiation treatments than cells that were not treated with YC-1. This contradicts certain studies that found that cells that were treated with YC-1 were more able to survive. While there are more experiments that would need to be done in order to corroborate our findings, our results suggest information about the role of HIF-1α that has not been previously shown.
For more news articles, you can take a look at our archive.