Freehold HS Medical Sciences Magnet Program Senior Participated in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center HOPP Program
Crystal Chiu, a senior in the Medical Sciences Magnet Program at Freehold High School, participated in an eight-week HOPP (Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program) Summer 2017 Student Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She was one of 26 interns selected from a pool of over 500 applications.
Crystal worked in the Charles Sawyers Lab, which studies molecular targeted therapies in prostate cancer. As a part of the program, she completed an individual research project under the tutelage of a mentor, and presented her research in a poster session at the end of the program. Her project was Investigating the Role of HER3 in Modulating Prostate Cancer Drug Resistance using CRISPR-Cas9 Technology. The research aimed to qualify signals in prostate cancer pathways and utilize newly developed genomic editing technology in an attempt to combat these pathways.
Crystal said that being a part of the HOPP SSP further confirmed her aspirations to pursue a career in STEM/medicine, as the immersive nature of the program opened her eyes to the possibilities of combining both medical practice and research.