Senior, biology prof co-author research article in cancer journal

Senior Samantha Reed from Clarence Center, who has majors in Molecular Genetics and Medical Technology, is a co-author, along with Department of Biology Assistant Professor Nicholas Quintyne and three other researchers, of “Keep Calm and Carry on with Extra Centrosomes,” a review article published in the online journal Cancers 2022.

The special journal issue highlights recent advances in the understanding of chromosomal instability, a common feature of cancer, in which chromosome mis-segregation occurs at a high rate that gives rise to aneuploid cells and is related to poor prognosis, drug resistance and metastasis, or the spread of cancer cells to another part of the body.

Dr. Quintyne recruited Ms. Reed to assist with numerous rewrites of the text and to also check for consistency of the researchers’ information throughout the review. Chief tasks of Quintyne were checking the literature, adding relevant references as required and extensively reworking the existing manuscript.

“Samantha assisted significantly in the rewrites and checking that our information was consistent throughout the review. We did a lot of work with shaping and refining the manuscript though the many drafts,” Quintyne said.

“This whole experience was really a dream come true for me and everything I have learned I know I will use in my future. I am truly grateful for this experience and I am incredibly honored that Dr. Quintyne gave me a chance to participate.” -  Senior Samantha Reed

While Reed has studied countless reviews and scientific papers, her engagement in this project provided a deeper understanding of the considerable amount of work that goes into journal articles. “I especially appreciated this experience because it was the blending of ideas and personalities from more than one university and more than one country,” Reed added.

“Another thing I will take from this experience is the way I look at and read scientific papers,” noted Reed, who often found herself overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information in reviews or papers. “This experience allowed me the opportunity to slow down and really digest everything that was being said. I was looking to edit the review and, in the process, I learned very valuable reading skills.”

Reed’s work on the journal article was an extension of her ongoing research work at Fredonia, as the article covers information that was the fundamental basis for her research project, “Knockdown of NuMA in oral cancer cells to induce centrosome coalescence and prevent multipolar spindle formation.” She began that research with Quintyne last summer.

“Samantha's project (in the journal review) is looking at one aspect of centrosome mis-duplication errors and cancer, so this was very much a deep dive for her into the biology and current research behind what she has been doing in the past year in my lab,” Quintyne said.

Reed, who wants to pursue a career in cancer research, perhaps through a Ph.D. program in cancer biology, would like to expand her knowledge in the field through Research Experience for Undergraduates, a program funded by the National Science Foundation, this summer. 

“This whole experience was really a dream come true for me and everything I have learned I know I will use in my future. I am truly grateful for this experience and I am incredibly honored that Dr. Quintyne gave me a chance to participate,” Reed said.

The journal article was initiated by Dr. Ceyda Açılan Ayhan, of the Koç University School of Medicine in Turkey, who sought out Quintyne as a collaborator. Quintyne and Dr. Açılan had worked together in a lab at the University of Pittsburgh when he was a postdoc and she was a graduate student.

Cancers is a peer-reviewed, open access journal of oncology published online by MDPI.