Ariana Arce
Major: Biological Sciences/Anthropology
Research Location: University of Notre Dame
Ariana's thesis-related research took many turns. She started the summer with the objective of exploring, metastasis, cytoskeletal changes, and ferroptosis. After a summer of research, it was determined that there was no significant data associated with
ferroptosis, so her lab moved away from this area of the project. However, they got significant results in the cytoskeletal portion of their research that required them to collaborate with another lab more familiar with cell biology. Ariana's lab is continuing to explore cytoskeletal pathways and how their expression changes between the mutants FOXA1 cells and the original cells.
Ariana says, "This experience pushed me outside of my scientific comfort zone by putting a project in my hands. I am comfortable in the lab doing what I'm told, but this was the first time that I was telling myself what to do and doing a lot of the critical thinking to figure out what direction I wanted the project to go."