CTSA News

After beginning her freshman year at the University of Tampa, Cincinnati native and Winton Woods High School grad Maria Adames transferred home to UC as a biology major “to explore a little bit of everything that science has to offer.”

She knew she had an interest in medicine and was open to a variety of career paths, so she joined the Healthcare Exploration Through Patient Care program, a course that allows students to work as patient care assistants within UC Health to get firsthand experience working in health care. Through the program, Adames worked in the burn unit, emergency department and ear, nose and throat clinic’s intensive care unit.

That’s when she really knew she wanted to be in a health care environment. “Where at? I don’t know exactly,” she said.

When Adames asked her instructor about laboratory research opportunities, she was connected with Megan Johnstone in the LDDL. Adames has now been working in the lab for more than a year.

This past summer, Adames was a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow in the Cancer Research Scholars Program, giving her the opportunity to begin a research project of her own under lab mentors.

Adames is testing two novel drugs from a partner pharmaceutical company designed to inhibit a protein called NLRP3 that is known to be highly expressed in acute myeloid leukemia and drive inflammation, which in turn helps the cancer grow.

“My first year in the lab was mainly learning basic science skills such as genotyping — but once I joined the SURF program and got my own project, it was hard because it’s a lot of trial and error,” Adames said. “It’s seeing what works, what doesn’t work, and a lot doesn’t work. So it was definitely a slap in the face to see what people go through to even develop one drug. I’ve been working on this for six months now and it still has a lot of work to be done.”

As her research continues, Adames said she is encouraged to work in the LDDL, where leaders like Erin Hertlein, PhD, and John Byrd, MD, have a track record of developing drugs that have made an impact in patients’ lives.

“That really drives me, that this could potentially change somebody’s life, that this could potentially be something that even one person benefits from,” she said. “When I actually see the NLRP3 inhibition physically in front of my eyes, it makes you feel not only like you did something, but also a sigh of relief, because you’re putting in all these hours and all this work. Getting an answer, good or bad, is valuable.” 

One of Adames’ favorite memories of her time in the lab so far came on a Friday afternoon after the team came back inside following a fire drill.

“One of my coworkers had gotten some great results on a project she’s working on, and Dr. Byrd walked around and had everyone cheer for her,” Adames recalled. “It’s an uplifting environment.”

Adames will graduate in the spring with her undergraduate degree in biology and a certificate in clinical and translational science. Before applying to medical school, she plans to spend another year in the LDDL and is looking forward to the move to the BCHC.

“We’re so secluded here on the seventh floor of the CARE/Crawley Building,” she said. “Us being over there in the environment that our patients are in, that other researchers are in, I think it’ll make the collaboration side of it and furthering science not only quicker, but on a closer level.”