Microscope in biology professor Afshan Ismat’s lab. Ismat has been conducting research on fruit flies to study how cancer cells spread. (Annie Terry/TommieMedia)
St. Thomas biology professor and published researcher Afshan Ismat is working on a research project with undergraduate students to discover how cancer cells spread from tumors into other parts of the body.
Ismat, associate chair of the biology department, is researching the process, called metastasization, which leads to more severe stages of cancer. Ismat is using fruit flies to conduct her research on this topic.
“We use fruit flies because fruit flies and humans actually share about 75% of their genome,” Ismat said.
Undergraduate students either participate in research for credit or receive grants to be paid for their work. Ismat said the biggest part of her job involves training undergraduate students on lab protocol. Though this takes time, Ismat feels that it is worthwhile because it builds the confidence of her students in the lab.
St. Thomas alumna Abigail Thuringer worked on a research project with Ismat during her undergraduate studies, and agrees that it took some time to feel confident in the lab.
“It definitely is a huge learning curve,” Thuringer said. “God bless Dr. Ismat for taking the time to work with me very slowly and explain the process.”
Thuringer said this hard work pays off.
Poster on the front of Ismat’s lab where she has been researching the process of metastasization. (Annie Terry/TommieMedia)
“Once you start further understanding what you’re doing and all the protocols that go with it, it becomes a lot more fun,” Thuringer said.
Ismat believes undergraduate students are an underutilized resource when it comes to conducting research.
“I think that there are some people that think that undergraduates can’t do some of the work,” Ismat said. “They’re more than capable of doing anything that I ever did as a graduate student or a postdoc.”
Ismat prefers to work with undergraduates because research is a novel experience to them.
“They get so excited about every piece of data,” Ismat said. “It actually makes you more excited about the project because they’re so excited about everything.”
According to Ismat, undergraduate students bring a special energy to the research process.
“[Undergraduate students] have a sense of wonder and a sense of awe that kind of gets lost in graduate school and postgraduate work,” Ismat said.
Annie Terry can be reached at terr2351@stthomas.edu.