It's a popular question: What did you do over the summer? For Lubaba (Aurna) Khan, the summer of 2018 will be one she will never forget.
It's a popular question: What did you do over the summer? For Lubaba (Aurna) Khan, the summer of 2018 will be one she will never forget.
It started on a high note and ended on an even higher one. In June, Khan walked across the stage to accept her degree as a University of Calgary Bachelor of Health Sciences graduate. She received an O’Brien Centre Summer Studentships award, landing a research job with Dr. Pinaki Bose, PhD. Then, unexpectedly, she made a discovery that could help cancer patients throughout the world.
Khan spent the summer hunched over a computer interpreting free, publicly accessible health and genomics data. “Bioinformatics is the new frontier of medical science,” says Khan. “I started my medical education as a biomedical student, looking at cells through a microscope, but looking at cancer biology with the assistance of a computer opens up a new way of thinking about research.”
Khan was comparing the differences between genes found in cancer cells and those found in normal cells. Working under the guidance of Bose, Khan learned how to construct questions and hypotheses. It was a bumpy start.
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Image via University of Calgary.
