Session 2

Finding a Cure for Cancer

Research and Discovery

The Curing Cancer program is a unique opportunity for curious high school students who love science to work in a research laboratory with professors who are attempting to find a cure for cancer. The program is led by Chemistry Department faculty and staff with years of experience in this field.

At the Curing Cancer Camp, you will work at lab benches alongside college students just a few years older than yourself and see firsthand how scientific discoveries are made. Whether you are interested in medicine or health care in general, you will have a great opportunity to learn some basic science and see some of the modern methods used by scientists attempting to uncover the secrets of basic chemical and biological processes.

Curriculum

Our ambitious curriculum will introduce you to a variety of Pacific’s state-of-the-art equipment that helps us develop drugs to attack cancer. You’ll leave this program being able to talk about protein expression, purification and crystallization, cancer cell culture, drug discovery and computational chemistry.

This summer, we are at a stage where we will be testing small molecules against colon, lung and leukemia cancers to identify new drugs.

students working on chemicals
Planned Topics

In the morning, you will be reading research articles, troubleshooting experiments alongside graduate students, participating in scientific discussions and getting introduced to various machines and experimental procedures.

In the afternoons, you will have the chance to work in the lab, supervised by graduate students and taking part in discovering a cure for cancer.

On completion of the program, each student will advance their understanding of the field of cancer research and develop scientific skills that will equip them for a successful application to colleges and universities.

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Georgios Pantouris
Faculty Lead
Georgios Pantouris

Georgios Pantouris provides an open and friendly environment where students can feel comfortable expressing their questions without feeling that their questions might be simple or off-topic. While each session is composed of students with different personalities, his teaching approach is individualized so that students are motivated to challenge themselves, make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. Through this approach, Pantouris makes sure that the discussed topic is clear to every student and no student is left behind. A key point of his teaching philosophy is the development of critical-thinking skills.

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