Episode 49: Growing “mini organs” to study the immune system and cancer
Episode description
Cancer is an incredibly complex disease. To better understand how it interacts with the human body, researchers in the lab grow organoids, miniature three-dimensional tissue cultures derived from stem cells.
Amy Randall-Barber from the BIO5 Institute was joined on Science Talks by Dr. Martha Dua-Awereh who uses organoids to study colorectal and pancreatic cancer with the Alfred Bothwell lab in the Department of Immunobiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine — Tucson. Dr. Dua-Awereh earned her PhD from the Department of Systems Biology and Physiology at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine and was a 2023 BIO5 Postdoctoral fellow. She is the first in her family to live in Arizona, and additionally has several other firsts that are discussed in the interview.
*As of the publication of this podcast and interview, Dr. Martha Dua-Awereh has taken a position as researcher at Avery Therapeutics, Inc. and Dr. Alfred Bothwell has left the University of Arizona.