Holy Cross Student Awarded 2007 ACS Summer Fellowship to Conduct Research with Nobel Prize Winner

WORCESTER, Mass. – Kathryn O’Brien, a member of the Holy Cross Class of 2008, was selected earlier this summer as the 2007 American Cancer Society Alvan T. and Viola Fuller Fellow.  The fellowship offers grants to gifted young undergraduates, introducing them to basic cancer research.

O’Brien, a chemistry major with a biochemistry concentration from Manchester, N.H., began her 10-week fellowship in June under the direction of 2006 Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology, Craig C. Mello, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.  As a 2007 Fuller Fellow, O’Brien received a $4,000 grant from the American Cancer Society New England Division to work with Dr. Mello on researching RNA interference, a method of gene silencing using double-stranded RNA.  The RNA mechanism, a natural response of an organism to double-stranded RNA, of which many viruses are comprised, destroys the gene products that a virus needs to replicate itself, ultimately halting the progression of the invading infection.  The discovery may lead to methods to stop gene expression in diseases such as cancer, slowing tumor growth.

O’Brien was prompted to apply for the internship program because cancer research had always interested her. “It’s a huge area; there are so many different areas you can go into and so many ways to attack the problem of cancer,” she told the American Cancer Society.  “It is very helpful to have all this experience, I will be able to take the techniques I have learned and apply them to any future research projects.”

O’Brien, a member of the Holy Cross rugby team, plans to continue her research back on campus. She hopes to attend graduate school for biochemistry, and plans to pursue a career in cancer-related research.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Fuller-American Cancer Society Fellowship. The Fellowship began in 1967, when the family of Alvan and Viola Fuller made a major gift to the American Cancer Society.