Week 4

This week, I made more headway on my research project in the Marciscano Lab. As mentioned in previous blog posts, the main hypothesis driving my project is that radiation therapy can augment cancer immunotherapies by regulating Fc gamma receptor expression and function in immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. To test this, we aim to deliver different doses of radiation to a preclinical mouse tumor model and assess Fc gamma receptor expression by flow cytometry. Since my remaining time at Weill is so limited, I'm hoping to do a smaller in vitro experiment using mouse bone marrow-derived dendritic cells. This week, I finalized the plans for this experiment, which will involve isolating bone marrow cells from a mouse for ex vivo culture, irradiate the cells in vitro, and assess Fc gamma receptor expression in response to varying doses of radiation. 

In the clinic, I saw a new brachytherapy procedure when I shadowed Dr. Cardenes, who specializes in treating gynecological cancers. In contrast to the usual external beam radiation, brachytherapy is much more invasive in nature and actually takes place in the operating room. In this particular form of brachytherapy that I saw, Dr. Cardenes implanted a device through the patient's vagina to reach the cervix and uterus, where the patient had invasive cancer. After a CT scan to plan the radiation treatment, the implant was then connected to a machine containing radioactive material to deliver precise doses of radiation to the disease site. Brachytherapy allows for the delivery of very high doses of radiation only to the precise location of the cancer cells, without going through skin and other normal tissue. After the radiation is delivered, Dr. Cardenes removed the implant and the patient was able to go home. The procedure was very interesting to observe, but I could only imagine how painful and uncomfortable it must be for the patient to go through. In the context of everything else I've been observing in radiation oncology so far, it strikes me how different the treatment strategies can be depending on the disease site within the body. 

Outside of the lab and clinic, I have been continuing to explore different areas of the city, including getting out of Manhattan some more. Over the weekend, I went to a couple of different breweries in Brooklyn, DUMBO, and Flushing for some great hotpot. 

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