Professionals from all three Tufts campuses came together with community members at the School of Medicine on Friday for a day of presentations on cancer research by Tufts professors.
The Cancer Research Day was the sixth in a series of research days hosted by the Office of the Vice Provost. There is one each semester.
The Office of the Vice Provost designed the program to highlight the research of various Tufts faculty members. The first half of the day included "lightning talks," in which professionals from the medical school, the veterinary school and the School of Arts, Sciences and Engineering gave 10-minute presentations followed by brief question-and-answer sessions.
The lightning talks included discussions of biomarkers, new targets, susceptibility to cancer and emerging technologies for treatment.
The second half of the day included research presentations by three Tufts faculty members. Medical School Professor Richard Van Etten, who works at the Tufts Medical Center, spoke first, giving a presentation titled "Insights into the Pathogenesis and Therapy of Human Leukemia Through Studies in Mice." Charlotte Kuperwasser, an assistant professor at the School Medicine, then spoke about "Elucidating the Origins of Human Breast Cancer Heterogeneity." Finally, Sergio Fantini, the School of Engineering's associate dean for graduate education, offered thoughts on "Optical Mammography: Using Light to Detect Breast Cancer."
At the end of the day, researchers and students alike showcased their lab work through poster presentations, during which viewers heard about the individual efforts in a less formal setting.
The research day program is designed to provide a multidisciplinary discussion of each issue. "The speakers are all faculty members from across the three campuses, as well as clinical affiliates," Assistant Provost Suna Grassi said. "The whole focus of research days is to showcase Tufts' research. [We] want everybody to know what the others are doing so that if you're on the Grafton campus, you could potentially find a collaborator on the Boston campus that you may not have known."
Chemistry Professor Krishna Kumar agreed. "It actually lends itself not only to collaborations within Tufts, but also there is an entrepreneurial aspect," he said.
Van Etten said that the value of the research days is "precisely to bring together these speakers from different areas of the campus."
For him, the days are an opportunity to connect with researchers from the Medford/Somerville campus. "I'd never met these guys before or heard about their research, so for me one of the perks was to hear about the work done on the Medford campus," he said.
Vice Provost Peggy Newell began Friday's programming by noting in her opening remarks that this multidisciplinary approach is something "Tufts University is particularly able to offer up because of its diversity across fields."
Research days specifically focus on Tufts' strongest research areas, in part to attract sponsors. "You find VPs, patent attorneys, people from the outside community," Kumar said. If a project seems appealing, these people can then invest in Tufts' research.
When asked if researchers were able to form lasting professional relationships as a result of these days, Kumar said that they have "led me to knowing people in the medical and veterinary schools that I otherwise would not have met."
"I didn't identify any collaborators, but I'm sure some were made," Van Etten said.
