Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello,

And I'm sorry in beforehand, if this first post is too long.

I've just started working on what I want to focus on this year in science fair.
I had the general idea for what I wanted to work on for a while, but because of some restrictions, I had to modify my original idea.

First, I was absolutely sure I wanted to concentrate in the area of breast cancer research.
It's significant to me for many reasons, and I hope to make some contributions to the field.
I'm planning to pursue this field for the rest of my science fair days, so I wanted to choose something challenging.

Proteomics, particularly, caught my attention, because it seems like an interesting and promising field for breast cancer.
Instead of most of the projects in science fair that focus on methods to eliminate breast cancer when it is finally detected,
I wanted to focus on detection and prevention early on.

As promising as proteomics detection seemed, because of its possibly being more accurate than genomics and all the other
types of detection, I couldn't seem to further it anymore than it already had been because of my obvious lack of knowledge compared to
the scientists already working on proteomics detection.

I was so stuck on proteomics detection that I decided if I couldn't directly improve it, which would involve
working to engineer new technology and methods (not my focus), than I should introduce another variable into the proteomics deal.

While researching, I stumbled upon a really great article titled "Diet and Cancer: Facts and Contoversies" by John A. Milner.
It described what needed to be done to work on prevention/understanding of cancer by using observations of diet.
So, I was satisfied at the moment because I found something possibly more do-able than my previous idea.

The article included a section on proteomics and how it could be combined with nutritional observation to prevent cancer and understand
what sets it off, depending on how certain foods could alter phenotypes and molecular processes.
I particularly liked the article because it addressed the point that learning about one food being beneficial/harmful in terms of cancer
does not mean that one discovery will accommodate all people with even that particular type of cancer.
This assured me that I wouldn't do a typical diet and cancer project by saying, "Nutrient X has this effect on cell Y" for the general population or whatever.

If I can quote a part that will introduce my goal in the project. "Functional proteomics studies that capture all of the proteins
produced by a species and link them to physiological significance within in the cell will be fundamental to understanding the relationship
between dietary interventions, proteome changes, and cancer...Fundamental to assessing and evaluating the significance of the
interrelationships among bioactive food components with nutrigenetics...is knowledge about the appropriate tissue/cell or surrogate to
evaluate and validated biomarkers that reflect changes in each."

Since I'm focusing on breast cancer, one part is taken care of; I only have to focus on those types of cells.
However, I was wondering what types of nutrients/foods/components should eventually be tested in my project on the tissue
to determine if they are beneficial or not, and to find biomarkers using proteomics as well.
When I find biomarkers that show up because of a particular nutrient, I can work towards making a "personalized
nutritional prevention" if we can match up biomarkers with patients.

I know I probably sounded pretty vague and all over the place because my understanding in this area is limited, as I am just beginning my idea.
But of course, I am willing to learn anything for this project.
I really would like honest input about my project idea because I need to start
working on it soon and most likely try to find mentors.

So, I'm looking to know if you think the project could be better if I did something differently,
changed it somehow, or even if it's too hard for me (since I'm beginning, this is the time to hear all of that).
I'm aware that not many universities have proteomics labs/equipment, so I need to be flexible, but I just want to hear input from experts first.

And i apologize if I sound repetitive, but I want to stress that fact that I want to and will do almost anything possible to pursue this line and
fairly difficult degree of study.

Thank you,
mogmelon

Hi mimeo,

You seem to have settled on a great topic for you science fair investigations. There seems to br lots of interest in the professional cience community in this area, and no lack of interesting relevant information available..I feel your bext objective should be to narrow down your interest into a question that you can investigate well with the resources you have available tp you.

Much of the interesting literature in this field costs a lot of money to access. Do you have access to a library where you can read this literature for free?

Many of the interesting experiments in this field require accesss to expensive equipment and advanced expertise. Do you have access to a university research group interested in this area?

If you are clever enough you can do a great project without either of these advantages, but it will be harder.

I wish you every success on this great endeavor!

Best regards,

Barrett Tomlinson

Hi,

I was just thinking about what I want to accomplish and weighing it out practically with resources, time I have, etc.
I know I will have to simplify what I want to do by a ton, now that I think about it.
So I'll look into ways to attain about the same end, except in a do-able way.
(Yes, I said that earlier, but I mean it this time.)

I was already aware that the closest university nearby has a professor with proteomics equipment ,
but I found the professor isn't studying cancer. He's researching a 5-year project on sickle cell anemia instead and seems pretty busy.
I know I need to be flexible, but I want to at least maintain the study inside the lines of breast cancer.
Even if I were interested in studying sickle cell anemia, I most likely wouldn't be able to work in that laboratory.
It doesn't seem open to high school students, and if I wanted to convince him, I'd have to demonstrate a lot of knowledge beforehand.

I also looked into another facility, which is fairly close by, and also has proteomics equipment, but it seems
that they as well would not be open to high schoolers. They are a medical school, so I wasn't so sure how
seriously they would take a high schooler, when they have many students interested in research to attend to.

I figured that if I could get a mentor, I could be able to get into the advanced literature that's hard to access alone.
However, it seems more challenging to get a mentor than I thought.

Should I just try to contact them now and let them know what I'm interested in? (It couldn't hurt to try.)
And how should I format an e-mail to contact them by? I've heard that many science fair students that were
able to get mentors read a lot of that person's literature and mentioned it to them.

I thought I should wait until I've decided completely on a topic, but maybe they could give me insight on what I could do
that would work best in their labs' interest?

If the contacting is unsuccessful, then I guess I'll have to be very, rather, extremely creative and do an experiment without these.

Thank you,
mogmelon