BJU Cancer Research Lab

07/01/2026

And that's a wrap on the RIU summer research! Thanks to the support from the endowment. Curing cancer is a large undertaking, but our take aways from studying low HER2 is that "we are acknowledging cancer exists and trying to find a way to diagnose it early. Having something to detect it early and treat it early may be better than trying to find a "cure" or at least its just as valuable as eradicating it." No one diagnostic test stands alone.
We designed a test and discovered the design and laboratory work is an unappreciated part of diagnostics- the tedious details go unnoticed by many. The lab is where the diagnosis happens, through hours of team work and people dedicated to continuous improvement in diagnostic testing and analysis.

06/09/2026

Tip of the day: To boost your knowledge in the field and boost your resume, get involved in professional organizations. Most have free student membership. Its a great way to get abstracts in for poster or podium presentations. ASM, SC Bio, CRS, ADLM and many more.

06/08/2026

Biology RIU students got to tour Prisma laboratories today. Thanks to the essential lab workers for sharing today! Lesson learned today: if you are a student, especially premed, do not wait until your gap year to get experience. If you are a student looking for internships, research, or volunteer opportunities visit https://academics.prismahealth.org/academics/student-affairs/internships

Prisma Health offers a range of internship opportunities throughout the year for students enrolled in undergraduate or master’s degree programs.

06/07/2026

Research question of the month: Do mutations in the ERBB2 gene influence the expression of HER2, specifically in low HER2 cases?

05/28/2026

IHC+1 adenocarcinoma. 20 years of the same old technology, can you identify a problem with this? Can you identify what and how much is overexpressed, drug targets and drug metabolism of the patient?

05/28/2026

Ready, set, extract...

05/15/2026

BJU Biology RIU 2026 officially completed its first week: 4 students, a cancer that has one of the highest worldwide burdens, and the ability to design the most effective diagnostic and therapeutic. It's time to change the clinical diagnostic paradiagm and redefine testing. Time to follow us through the design process...

01/05/2026

TRANSITIONS

Well, if you’re still checking out this page, you have probably noticed a remarkable lack of posts for some time now. Let me explain. As the oldest member of our department (Biology) who was of retirement age, with the necessary resources to retire comfortably and no children needing my support, I, as director of the cancer research lab (technically not faculty anyway) was chosen to retire, effective the end of the spring 2025 semester. I am content that this truly was the best option. The biology department is still committed to continuing undergraduate research and the cancer lab will simply be under “new management,” i.e., a very competent Dr. Rebecca Garcia. As soon as I can figure out how to do it, I will turn over the administration of this page to her for future entries.

While I miss my students and colleagues, I have discovered an interesting biblical fact that confirms for me the good providence of this situation. The fact: the number forty appears repeatedly throughout Scripture as a number associated with transitions of various sorts. For example, the flood...forty days and forty nights (Gen 7.12). Moses on Mt. Sinai...forty days and forty nights (Exo 24.18). Of course, there’s Moses with forty years in Egypt, forty years shepherding sheep, and forty years shepherding the children of Israel. King David reigned forty years (2 Sam 5.4), as did King Solomon (1 Kings 11.42). Jesus started His ministry fasting forty days and forty nights (Matt 4.2). Etc., etc.

So I was wondering...let’s see, working backwards chronologically: 12 years ministering at BJU; 26 years working at Abbott Laboratories; 2 years post-doc’ing at Los Alamos National Laboratories. Yep, I’m at forty years since getting my Ph.D., so it is time for God to providentially transition me to something else. I don’t know what exactly yet, but here goes! Truly, “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.” (Prov 16.9) Hallelujah!

Now if I can just figure out how to remember what day of the week it is now that I’m not teaching?!?

12/05/2024

A NOTABLE ACHIEVMENT OF OUR RIU STUDENTS!
This fall two of this summer’s RIU students, Jeremiah and Ivan, submitted a poster based on their summer work to the Labroots Cell Biology Virtual Event Poster Competition entitled “In Vitro Cancer Cell Viability Reduced by Heloderma horridum Venom.” The abstract reads:

Studies on venom peptides suggest that cell proliferation in small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) cells is reduced by exposure to Helodermin, a protein is isolated from the venom of the Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum). While research has been conducted on the venom of this species, little research has been done on venom from Mexican Beaded Lizards (Heloderma horridum). The primary research question was whether Heloderma horridum venom contains Helodermin or a cytotoxic analog. Experiments compared the effects of venom on SCLC using flow cytometry analysis. This study suggests the presence of a cytotoxic protein component in Heloderma horridum venom.

And THEY WON! Congratulations to these two, and thanks to all who have prayed for our students here during the summer program. Please do keep us in your prayers as we are slowly gearing up for the summer of 2025 even now!

08/26/2024

JEREMIAH'S JOURNEY
Working this summer in the Cancer Research Lab enhanced my scientific thinking and my communication skills. For example, Ivan and I worked together to identify appropriate fluorescent assays for our flow cytometer's capabilities. Researching products and protocols developed my ability to evaluate procedures scientifically. On the other hand, I gained insights regarding my communication when Ivan and I were together assessing the merits and limitations of various techniques. In another instance, I again had the opportunity to practice scientific analysis during the process of eliminating unnecessary controls and establishing effective ones for the experiments. Communication and compromise were key in these discussions because of the limited time to complete all the experiments. Finally, data analysis offered me the greatest challenge. Learning to interpret the graphs presented the greatest growing opportunity, but this process taught me how to examine results and then verbalize conclusions. Although finding positive results was certainly fun, this summer's research brought significant personal development. Thank you for praying for us!

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