Marialuisa Berghela’s decision to research breast cancer in graduate school was grounded in her love of science. It was also deeply personal.
As she completed her bachelor’s degree in biology at The College of St. Rose in Albany, Berghela (pictured above, left) became laser focused on finding a graduate program that would move her toward the goal of finding new treatments for the more than 300,000 Americans diagnosed with the illness each year.
Berghela wants to help save the lives of people like her mother, who died of breast cancer when she was 7 years old.
The 23-year-old Albany native found what she was looking for in the laboratory of Dr. Kideok Jin, associate professor at ACPHS (pictured above, right). Dr. Jin has been engaged in breast cancer research for 20 years. In the spring, as Berghela was combing through graduate programs, he was awarded $480,000 from the National Cancer Institute to investigate a theory that could lead to the prevention of breast cancer recurrence in patients whose tumors are resistant to typical therapies.
“Dr. Jin’s research seemed the most innovative to me and aligned to what I wanted in my career,” said Berghela, a master’s student in the ACPHS pharmaceutical sciences program.
Indeed, Dr. Jin’s research is innovative at its foundation. Most drug treatments for breast cancer target the tumor itself. But Dr. Jin is looking at the interaction between the tumor and surrounding stromal cells, specifically at the way they communicate, or “cross talk,” through secretion of proteins.
His work focuses on endocrine-resistant breast cancers. These are tumors that develop resistance to the endocrine therapy used to treat some 70% of breast cancers. Dr. Jin’s lab has already shown that the cross talk between the tumor and stroma contribute to the rise of endocrine resistance and the return of the cancer.
Now he is working on proving his theory about how that happens, which could lead to treatments with drugs that already exist to combat cancer and HIV. (Watch a short video about Dr. Jin's research.)
“Right now, we just know part of it, we don’t know 100%,” said Dr. Jin, who is deeply committed to learning more. “I feel like cancer cells are evil. They’re hiding, escaping, avoiding the immune system.”
His work has implications especially for patients who experience the return, or recurrence, of their breast cancers.
With the current NCI funding, a total of nine students and one lab research assistant are working with Dr. Jin. Earlier this month, they were busy creating endocrine resistant breast cancer cell lines that could be used in testing his hypothesis. The students said the work in the lab is specialized, unlike what they learn in their classroom labs.
Ahone Gina Akume ‘23 worked in Dr. Jin’s lab for four years as a student before taking the lab research assistant job after graduation last May.
“Every new procedure I learned helped build a better understanding of breast cancer, and from there I was sure I wanted to pursue research,” she said.
Like Berghela, Dominick Lomonaco, now a senior pursuing a bachelor’s in pharmaceutical sciences, was also motivated by a family history of breast cancer to join Dr. Jin’s lab as a first-year student. He plans to go to medical school after graduation.
“Dr. Jin has encouraged me to keep working hard so that one day, we can see our results translated into clinical practice,” he said.
Dr. Jin’s current NCI award is for three years.
