“The questions people are asking in science aren’t easy. If they were easy, they’d be answered,” says Kim Huggler, a graduate student in the Integrated Program in Biochemistry (IPiB). “Hard questions mean that you have to come up with creative solutions.”
Huggler’s research in the Cantor Lab has led her to explore unexpected methods for addressing complicated scientific questions.
Jason Cantor, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and a Morgridge Institute Investigator, designed a cell culture medium that models the metabolite concentrations of average human plasma.
Huggler wondered whether this cell culture medium could reveal new aspects of biology. “It might show how cancer cells can be treated,” sais Huggler. “We want to improve cell culture models so that we give cancer treatments the best chance to succeed at the next phase of development.”