Charlotte Brosoff came off a memorable summer with big plans for the year ahead in Huntington High School’s science research program. The teenager participated in a program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan and the experience left her energized.
Ms. Brosoff trekked into New York City each day to work in the lab of Renier J. Brentjens, Sloan Kettering’s director of cellular therapeutics. The Huntington junior worked alongside Dinali Wijewarnasuriya, a member of Dr. Brentjens lab team who is studying for a doctorate in cancer immunology at Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences.
The holder of MD and Ph.D. degrees, Dr. Brentjens is a medical oncologist that specializes in the treatment of acute and chronic leukemias. Ms. Brosoff quickly learned what it’s like to engage in groundbreaking research in one of the world’s cutting edge medical labs.
Huntington's Charlotte Brosoff worked with Dinali Wijewarnasuriya last summer.
“My focus on leukemia is, in part, the result of the laboratory research I conduct at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center,” Dr. Brentjens said in a statement posted to his lab page. “In particular, my laboratory is focused on developing novel treatment approaches for certain leukemias and lymphomas utilizing the patient’s own immune system. Specifically this work involves the genetic manipulation of patients’ immune cells to recognize and kill their own cancer cells. This is a promising form of gene therapy.”
The opportunity to collaborate with leading scientists while still only a high school student is something that Ms. Brosoff will always remember. “I really liked it,” she said. “I was able to work in the up and coming field of amino therapy, which is a type of research not many scientists are working on yet.”
During her research, Ms. Brosoff and other members of the Brentjens lab team worked with car T cells, which are genetically engineered to produce chimeric antigen receptors or CARs for short. These CARs are proteins that allow T cells to recognize a protein on tumor cells and interact with them. The research is all part of Dr. Brentjens’ efforts to develop novel immunotherapies to battle leukemias and lymphomas.
Ms. Brosoff enjoyed an excellent mentor in Ms. Wijewarnasuriya, who earned a bachelor’s degree in molecular cell and developmental biology at the University of California at Los Angeles. The doctoral students’ work is aimed at discovering a specific therapy to destroy tumor cells indefinitely.
“I plan on going back next year to work on more amino therapy projects at the lab and I am eager to do so,” said Ms. Brosoff about her research at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
The junior is already looking ahead to college and beyond. “I hope to pursue a career in medicine,” Ms. Brosoff said. “I’m torn between possibly being a surgeon or working in a lab, because I was so inspired at Sloan.”
The Huntington teenager plans on participating in the 2017 Long Island Science and Engineering Fair and presenting her research project. “I’m extremely proud of Charlotte’s work as are all the members of the science research board at the high school,” said Lori Kenny, a science teacher who heads the research program.
“I love the program,” Ms. Brosoff said. “I’ve been in science research since my freshman year and will continue to do it until I graduate. The class has really helped me come to realize that I love science and I truly understand the importance of research. I also love Mrs. Kenny and appreciate how much she has guided me every year. I had her for biology and it was such a great class. I’m very fortunate to have her as a teacher and mentor.”
(Huntington junior Nolan Piccola, an intern in the high school science research program, contributed to this story.)