B
ethel Park High School senior
Angela Burns had the unique
experience of working alongside
University of Pittsburgh Cancer
Institute researchers for seven weeks
this summer at the Hillman Cancer
Center as a Summer Intern in the
University of Pittsburgh Cancer
Institute’s Summer Academy.
This is the second consecutive summer
Angela participated in this program. In
2016, she worked in the Drug Discovery
and Computational Biology Lab in Pitt’s
Biomedical Science Tower, studying
apoptosis and why tumors grow. She was
one of two high school students who
studied tumors, using fruit flies.
This summer she was the only high
school intern selected for this project,
which studied chondrosarcoma cells and
how they would respond to treatment
with retinoic acid, commonly known as
Vitamin A. But instead of studying Vitamin
A’s effect on flies, she actually studied how
human cells would perform.
And while she won’t say that she
discovered a cure for cancer, Angela
admits that what she researched this
summer had positive results and could
be soon considered as a new therapeutic
option.
“Working with human cells was a whole
different experience,” explained Angela. “I
must admit I was a bit nervous when we
first started, but I was fortunate to work
with amazing people in the lab who really
believed in me and encouraged me to do
so much.”
Angela was encouraged to apply for
this internship through her participation
during the 2015-2016 school year in a
multi-day Biology Lab exercise at Bethel
Park High School, where Bethel Park
High School Biology students worked
Angela Burns (second from left) with three other UPMC Cancer Institute Summer Interns after observing open heart
surgery.
alongside Pitt Cancer Researchers to
extract DNA from their favorite snack
foods to determine if Genetically Modified
Organisms (GMOs) were present.
Angela enjoys participating in lab
work so applying for the internship was a
natural next step for her as she explores
her career options in the field of science.
“I learned so much through my
internship in 2016,” said Angela. “It was
exciting to work alongside the Pitt cancer
researchers and I am glad I was chosen to
do that again this past summer.”
Going into this year’s internship,
Angela was convinced that she wanted
to make cancer research her career, but
an experience at this year’s internship has
her thinking about something completely
different.
“I was fully convinced that research
was going to be my career, but I had
the opportunity to observe an aorta
replacement surgery and now I think
I want to be a surgical technician,” she
explained.
Angela had the opportunity to “scrub
up” and stand next to the anesthesiologist
at UPMC to observe open heart surgery,
and the experience has “forever changed”
her. “I thought I knew what to expect
when I started my second internship, but
I didn’t know I was going to observe the
heart surgery and I didn’t expect that I
would love the experience.”
Angela hopes to pursue a career as a
Surgical Technician and she is looking to
attend either the University of Pittsburgh,
John Carroll University or St. Vincent
College to study biology before heading
off to medical school.
She is eligible to participate in the
UPMC Summer Internship Program again
in 2018 and she said she will definitely
apply. “I can’t describe how it feels to be
working with people who have the same
passion for science as I do,” she said. “I’ve
met so many people and I still keep in
touch with them. The connections I’ve
made in the science community are so
valuable.”
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