Aoife Nolan, University College Dublin PhD candidate answered some questions posed by Danielle Nicholson, Pintail Limited.
What is the title of your thesis? Profiling Mutant KRAS Protein Expression in Colorectal Cancer
Who was your supervisor? Dr David Gomez Matallanas
Please describe your research project.
My project is part of COLOSSUS and involves the investigation of different KRAS mutant proteins in a colorectal cancer context. Particularly, to establish if there are any differences that are specific to each KRAS mutation.
Describe the main equipment, processes and techniques you used:
My project falls within the protein biology field. So, the main methods involved in my project were: western blotting, cell culture methods, drug treatments, protein co-immunoprecipitation, and whole tissue lysis techniques. Mass spectrometry was important for more sensitive protein analysis.
Please summarise your key findings.
The significant findings from my project were that: 1) Different KRAS mutant proteins cause different effects within cells and tumour tissues, that potentially lead to different outcomes among CRC patients. 2) Different KRAS mutants have different interactions with other proteins in the cell. 3) Importantly, we also observed certain KRAS mutants were associated with different outcomes in CRC patients.
What was original about your work?
Until very recently KRAS mutations were all thought to be equal. However, based on previous findings in our group and the work carried out during my PhD, we believe KRAS mutants are not equal and should not be treated as such.
Was your choice for this PhD inspired by some incident in your life?
Like many other families out there, cancer has been a part of mine. Both sides of my family have been affected by cancer, be it grandparents, aunties, and uncles. Therefore, I’ve always had an interest in trying to understand cancer and how it works. So, when I was presented with the opportunity to do a PhD in colorectal cancer, I grabbed it with both hands.
What was the biggest challenge that came your way?
The biggest challenge for me was the transition from a student mentality to a scientific researcher mentality. When you’re a student you are led through your work and most of the answers to your questions are known. But when you become a researcher most of your time is spent trying to figure out the answers, and sometimes not everything goes to plan and not everything you do works. Cells might not grow, equipment might not work, or you yourself made a mistake somewhere during the experiment. This can cause an experiment that took weeks to set up, to be useless in the end which can be very frustrating. Occasionally, it’s not clear what went wrong, so you have to resolve that problem before you can find the answer to your original question.
What did you enjoy most about the PhD process?
The people! I’ve made great friends and met so many wonderful people during my PhD, be it academics, PhD students, patients, and industry members. But I have to say, there is a special comradery among PhD students because we’re all in the “trenches” together, in a way. My supervisor Dr David Gomez and many other people in Systems Biology Ireland (SBI) who have been through the PhD process were very supportive and were always there to lend an ear when I encountered obstacles.
Do you envisage yourself in academia, industry or another field in the near future?
To be honest I’m keeping myself open to both paths. I think in the future the relationship between academia and industry will be more symbiotic. I believe there won’t be a “pick one or the other”. We are already seeing increased collaborations between industry and academia because both have strengths and advantages that are invaluable to the other.