| Biographie |
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| Peering down curiously through the smooth eyepiece of my microscope six years ago in science class, I eagerly magnified the objective lens ever so slightly for a clear viewpoint, and in that moment, I experienced my first of many biological thrills. Before me was an amorphous jelly-like figure known to man as the amoeba. Since that pivotal moment, I became fascinated with biology and medicine. Post grade eleven biology and chemistry, I wanted to engage in the scientific field beyond the classroom. I emailed more than fifty scientists for a laboratory position and am now working at Dr. Mahadevan’s Laboratory at the UofT. I learn complex topics and laboratory technique such as how to edit the nucleotides in a repressor protein and fuse it to a light-sensitive domain as I am building an optogenetic or light-sensitive genetic toggle switch. I’ve always been drawn to novel ways we can combat cancer, which inspired me to develop a unique cancer drug delivery application to my project. In the future, I plan to take my project to further heights by co-culturing the bacteria containing my switch with mammalian cancer cells to clinically observe the effect of my drug delivery system. |
| Vikita Mehta
A Novel Optogenetic Toggle Switch for Targeted Anticancer Drug Delivery
| Défi: | Innovation | | Catégorie: | Sénior | | Région: | York | | Ville: | King City, ON | | École: | University of Toronto Schools | | Sommaire: | Can we use light to edit genes? The goal of my project is to build and optimize a light-sensitive genetic sequence and test its performance, as well as explore the applications of this genetic tool: targeted cancer drug delivery to solid tumours, preventing the escape of dangerous bacteria from bioreactors, and noninvasive gene editing turning body cells into stem cells. |
| Prix | Valeur | Prix d'excellence - Senior
Médaille de bronze
Sponsor: Sciences jeunesse Canada | | Bourses de l’Université Carleton
Médaillé de bronze, sénior - Bourse d'admission de 1 000 $
Sponsor: Université Carleton | 1 000,00 $ | Bourse d'admission de l'Université d'Ottawa
Médaillé de bronze, sénior – Bourse d’admission de 1 000 $
Sponsor: Université d'Ottawa | 1 000,00 $ | Bourse d’études de Western University
Médaillé de bronze - Bourse d'admission de 1 000 $
Sponsor: Université Western | 1 000,00 $ | | Total | 3 000,00 $ | |
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