Improving medical treatments through physics

Improving medical treatments through physics

East Carolina University graduate student Holly Maschenik's research may provide treatments for patients with health concerns ranging from bacterial infections to cancer. With the mentorship of physics professor Dr. Yong-Qing Li, she is pursuing research that tricks harmful cells into dropping their defenses, making them easier to kill.

"I hope that the work we are doing will help in developing more effective antibiotic treatments, and that our research on the inner mechanisms of bacterial germination helps to combat bacterial resistance to those treatments," she said.

Maschenik highlighted one of the selling points of attending graduate school at ECU is the medical physics concentration in the Master of Science in Physics degree program. During her first semester, Maschenik learned about Li's microscopy lab and his observation of single-cell organisms.

"This was especially fascinating to me, because I saw potential to apply the concepts to medical physics research," she said.

Under Li's mentorship, Maschenik researches the germination of single-cell bacteria spores known as Bacillus subtilis. She said that when a group of spores is exposed to a germinant and then exposed a second time, more cells will germinate as the time interval between rounds decreases. She said this indicates that the spores retain some memory of the first exposure, even if they did not germinate the first round and that memory fades with time. Why is this important?

"When spores germinate, their resistance to treatments lowers significantly, which makes them easier to kill. By examining the factors that go into how effectively the spores germinate, we can investigate methods that utilize these characteristics for the purpose of lowering their resistance," she said.

Maschenik and Li focus their research on how well the cells retain memory of germination pulses and how the type of germinant (which activate different cell receptors) and the way in which they are grown impact that memory.

"Dr. Li has been incredibly helpful in teaching me the fundamentals of the experiments we are running, and by providing clear explanations and answers to my questions," Maschenik said. "Thanks to his teaching, I can perform independent experiments to acquire the data we need."

Li said, "I enjoy seeing students perform experiments independently and apply critical thinking in their research. Holly's research shows strong potential for success in medical physics. She is well-positioned to contribute to innovations in imaging, data analysis and treatment planning."

Additionally, Maschenik is learning techniques to help optimize radiation treatments by better predicting biological effects such as cell death and DNA damage. Isolating treatments at the cancer site can help prevent damage to healthy cells and reduce patient side effects.

"This area of research is a fascinating next step in the underlying physics of radiation therapy treatment," she said.

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