SEATTLE, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Anyone touched by the ravages of cancer knows the rapidly growing, opportunistic cells don't play fair. But in order to expose exactly how cancer cells cheat their host, scientists must first study the rules governing the orderly cooperation of normal cells.
Shou, an assistant member of the Center's Basic Sciences Division, studies social interactions between cells. Her lab set up an artificial system in which two sets of yeast cells are forced to cooperate when each lacks the ability to make an essential nutrient required for life. Each strain's essential nutrient is available in the other, so the two organisms can live together but not on their own. The system accommodates ongoing, quantitative measurements of population size and interaction and is compatible with mathematical modeling.
Shou completed her postdoctoral work in quantitative biology at the Rockefeller University and in computational biology at Memorial Sloan-Ketting Cancer Center. She earned her doctorate from the California Institute of Technology.
The W.M. Keck Foundation is a leading supporter of high-impact medical research, science and engineering. Established in 1998, the Keck Distinguished Young Scholars in Medical Research program was designed to support groundbreaking research addressing the fundamental mechanisms of human disease. 54 young investigators have received funding. More information about the Keck Foundation and its Young Scholars program is available at www.wmkeck.org/programs/scholars.html.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
