Rebecca, who is in our STEM@theheart program, presented her research on Hürthle Cell Carcinoma (HCC), an aggressive and rare type of thyroid cancer, at the HOPP Summer Program. Throughout the summer, she worked with a team of MSK researchers for 40+ hours a week. Her work suggests that a specific gene fusion may drive HCC and could be a target for treatment in the future.

Rebecca was mentored by Yiyu Dong in the Timothy Chan Lab. “He’s taught me a lot about what its like to take part in the research world,” she said. “It was so incredible to take patient data and transform it into research that could eventually go back to the patients and affect their treatment.”

Rebecca was asked to continue research with the Chan Lab, the team of researchers with whom she worked, during the school year. She was asked to research a different gene linked to thyroid cancer that has never been investigated before.