Charbonneau launches its first public lecture, Cancer 101: Causes to Cures

In an effort to educate the public about some of the cancer research being done in our city, and to enhance the visibility of our scientists, the Institute launched a new public lecture series, “Late Night Lab at Studio Bell”. The first lecture of the series was titled, Cancer 101: Causes to Cures, and was held on May 31, 2019.

The event was hosted by the Charbonneau Trainee Association and featured talks by Drs. Jennifer Chan, Darren Brenner, Paola Neri, and Douglas Mahoney, as well as live science demonstrations by our trainees to showcase a few of the techniques we use to study cancer in the lab.

Dr. Chan chaired the session and gave the audience a brief introduction to cancer and its origins. Dr. Darren Brenner then spoke about trends in cancer diagnosis and prevention, highlighting findings from his work on the recently published ComPARe Study. Dr. Paola Neri then reviewed the history of cancer treatment leading up to the emergence of precision medicine and highlighted the case of one of her patients who had benefitted from precision oncology. Finally, Dr. Douglas Mahoney gave an overview of cancer immunotherapy and how his lab is working to engineer T-cells to recognize and attack cancer cells.  

Live science demonstrations by the trainees covered the topic of bioluminescence, protection from UV radiation, DNA extraction, and DNA purification. Over 225 people attended the event, which has so far received very positive reviews. A video of the lecture will be available soon.

We plan to offer the next public lecture in Fall 2019. Watch for details!