Ouachita students publish cancer research in national journal

“When a person has cancer, the cancer cells often sluff off DNA and debris into the bloodstream,” said Reyna. “If we could detect this debris early, then we could detect cancer earlier.”
Students in Ouachita’s Patterson School of Natural Sciences whose cancer cell research was published in the scientific journal, “microPublication Biology” include, from left, Tuesday Melton, a senior biomedical sciences major from Benton, Arkansas; Jackson Lipscomb, a senior biomedical sciences major from Sherman, Texas; Parker Nelson, a senior biology major from Alexander, Arkansas; and Alyssa Rye, a senior biology and Christian foundations double major from Conway, Arkansas. Not pictured is Kassidy Gray, a senior biomedical sciences major from Malvern, Arkansas.
(Photo courtesy of Arkansas Baptist News)

Ouachita students publish cancer research in national journal

Five students from Ouachita Baptist University’s Patterson School of Natural Sciences have published research in the nationally-recognized scientific journal, “microPublication Biology.” The students studied the MicroRNA involved in lung cancer metastasis and submitted their research to the peer-reviewed journal, which published it in October 2024.

Students on the team included Jackson Lipscomb, a senior biomedical sciences major from Sherman, Texas; Kassidy Gray, a senior biomedical sciences major from Malvern, Arkansas; Parker Nelson, a senior biology major from Alexander, Arkansas; Alyssa Rye, a senior biology and Christian foundations double major from Conway, Arkansas; and Tuesday Melton, a senior biomedical sciences major from Benton, Arkansas. The group worked under the supervision of Dr. Christin Pruett, associate professor of biology, and Dr. Nathan Reyna, professor of biology.

Early detection

This team initially conducted their research for a cell biology class taught by Reyna in Fall 2023 and decided to continue research on miR-127, a molecule found by a previous Ouachita research team to be linked to breast cancer.

“When a person has cancer, the cancer cells often sluff off DNA and debris into the bloodstream,” said Reyna. “If we could detect this debris early, then we could detect cancer earlier.”

Full story.

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Ashleigh Estes and originally published by Ouachita Baptist University.

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