By Monica Castro Kansas State Collegian

Two K-State students are taking part in ground-breaking cancer research. Working alongside a mentor, Jackie Johnson, sophomore in chemistry, and Kristina Bigelow, freshman in chemistry, biology and pre-medicine, work and research long hours to try and make important health discoveries.

Johnson, along with her mentor Christer Aakeroy, professor of chemistry, is paving the way to improve anticancer drugs' efficiencies by looking at their compounds. These efficiencies include shelf life, solubility and stability. By altering the physical properties of active pharmaceuticals ingredients, Johnson and Aakeroy hope to make the drugs more effective.

Aakeroy said he and Johnson are interested in understanding how molecules recognize each other and why molecules are attracted to some but not others. He said they look into the communication of the molecules.

Johnson said she examines certain molecules to see if they will attach and affect the cancer drug. She said with her research, she and Aakeroy hope to predict certain reactions with drugs and molecules that could increase shelf life.

She and Aakeroy are also working with co-crystals, which are two different molecules attached to each other in the form of a crystalline solid.

"The unique thing about co-crystals is that the molecules are only attached through a very weak bond that is easily broken," Johnson said.

Because the bond is weak, it can be reversible, which means the bond can be broken to give the original two starting molecules.

"This idea of a co-crystal is why we are examining these molecules," Johnson said. "The bond is weak enough that it doesn't change the active properties like how a molecule smells or fights cancer, but it does have the ability to change physical properties like the shelf life and solubility."

Johnson said she became interested in working on this project her freshman year when she took Honors Chemistry I with Aakeroy as her teacher.

She said Aakeroy had mentioned his previous cancer research in class and she asked him more about it. After reading several articles he had given her, she said his work captured her interest.

"What we are doing does not just apply to cancer," Johnson said. "The applications are endless. I love working for him, and the cause is great."

Johnson said her goal for the future is to continue to do as many research projects as possible.

"I am not sure what type of research I will continue doing, but I know I will continue to research," Johnson said. "I am trying to learn and do as many things as possible to see where my interests are."

Bigelow first started researching cancer because she said she knew many people in her community afflicted by the disease. She also said she really enjoyed her biology courses in high school.

"I thought it would be neat to study this and someday something would happen," she said.

Bigelow is researching cell-to-cell communication with her mentor Thu Annelise Nguyen, assistant professor of toxicology.

Nguyen, the main investigator of the project, said she started the cell-to-cell research five years ago. She said there is strong evidence the environment, hormones and genetics are important risk factors for the development of cancer.

The two are testing anti-cancer drugs which regulate cell-to-cell communication. Their goal, Bigelow said, is to test the anti-cancer drugs in various types of cancer.

"The loss of cell-to-cell communication has been described in cancer cells and led to a hypothesis that defects in cell-to-cell communication is involved in cancer formation," Nguyen said. "Our goal is to understand how we can regulate this cell-to-cell communication in cancer cells and design new drugs to target the defect."

Nguyen said Bigelow has mastered many technical skills in a short period of time, especially since she had no prior training in biology and chemistry.

Bigelow said at times she did not know what she was doing but said Nguyen was a good mentor who helped her understand all aspects of the research.

Studying cell-to-cell communication, Bigelow said her goal is to understand how gap and tight junctions work in colon cancer cells.

Tight junctions are like strings that hold cells firmly together. Gap junctions are like doors between two cells, she said.

Cells are constantly sending out and receiving signals from other cells, but cells with cancer do not communicate as much. This lack of communication contributes to uncontrollable growth in cells and can eventually lead to the formation of a tumor.

"My research is to try and see if a drug could be made that would reestablish these junctions, hopefully design more effective drugs," Bigelow said.

She got involved with the work through the Developing Scholars Program, which she said was complicated because of all the new information she had to learn.

"My role in this project is to examine the effects of substituted

quinolines on cell-to-cell communication in colon cancer cells," Bigelow said. "Since colon cancer cells have a loss of gap-junction activity, I will test whether these compounds can increase gap-junction activity and decrease cell viability of colon cancer cells."

Bigelow said her research with tight-junction communication will measure the electrical resistance of colon cancer cells to see if the cells move apart or closer together while in the presence of drugs because cells cannot communicate if they are not close together.

"I would be working on this research and hope this will lead to some kind of medicine," Bigelow said. "I also want to see more into what the cells are doing because if you can figure out what the cells are doing, you can manipulate them. I want to be one of the people to help find that."