Inhibition of the repair of radiation-induced DNA damage to enhance cell killing of pancreatic cancer cells and the role of MDMX in radiation induced cell killing in ovarian cancer

The lab focuses on radiation oncology and understanding and improving the radiation response of ovarian and pancreatic cancer. Over the course of the internship, we have been working with SKOV and SKOV-AX (genetically altered by MDMX knockout) ovarian cancer cells and irradiating them. The objective is to test whether MDMX knock out in ovarian cancer alters radiation-induced cell killing. The primary methods to achieve this are to plate, irradiate, stain, and count the cancer cell colonies formed after various treatments. These experiments were performed with single 1 to 7 Gy doses and split doses of 3.5 Gy twice with a 4-hour repair interval. The growth curves of both the cell lines were also plotted to understand the plating efficiency and cell doubling times for both the cell lines. In the pancreatic cell project, we are investigating how simultaneous inhibition of Warburg metabolism and NF Kappa B pathways increases radiation-induced cell killing after single and split doses of irradiation.