Guillermina Lozano and the genetics of cancer

The road to a career in research

The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Lozano was born and raised in East Chicago, Indiana, where her love of science was kindled by her teachers at Bishop Noll, a private Catholic high school. In her senior year, however, her family moved to McAllen, Texas, to be closer to their Mexican relatives, and Lozano was forced to adjust to a less challenging public school.

After graduating, she enrolled at nearby Pan American University (now the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley). “I grew up in a Mexican-American culture,” she recalls. “I’m a woman. I was expected to get married and have a family, I wasn’t expected to go to college. My father only let me go to Pan American so that if my future husband ever left me, I would be able to support myself.”

从泛美毕业后，但是，洛萨诺被接受为在健康的马里兰州贝塞斯达市国立研究院暑期计划。她曾打算成为一名科学老师，但她在美国国立卫生研究院的经历，从此踏上一条新的轨迹。

“这是绝对的前沿研究，”她说。188bet体育网址“我爱它。我是学了这么多，我有一个伟大的导师谁我仍然保持联系。这时候，我真的决定研究是我想做的事。”188bet体育网址

洛萨诺’s NIH experience led to a job offer even further afield – Munich, Germany, where she was hired as a laboratory technician at the prestigious Max Planck Institute. Although she loved working as a tech, and enjoyed the opportunity to travel around Europe, Lozano knew she wanted to become a researcher in her own right, so she returned to the U.S. and got her doctorate at Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University under renowned cancer researcher Arnold Levine.

It was at Princeton that Lozano first began cloning and manipulating mouse DNA to study how cancers develop.

不久之后搬到休斯顿加入MD安德斯on, her mentor Levine published a paper announcing the discovery of p53 as a tumor suppressor that regulates cell division to prevent tumors from growing. Because of its cancer-fighting abilities, p53 is sometimes called the “guardian of the genome.”

The power of p53

洛萨诺built on Levine’s breakthrough by establishing that p53 is a transcription factor. Her team then went on to recognize the physiological importance of two proteins, Mdm2 and Mdm4, that play a role in blocking p53 – and thus allowing tumors to grow. By manipulating these proteins, Lozano believes, clinicians may some day be able to stop cancers on the molecular level before they spread. Drug companies have developed experimental treatments based on her research, but so far they’re too toxic for use in humans.

“I think every tumor cell has to somehow dampen p53,” she explains.

“For about 90% of tumor cells, we know what the pathway is – it’s either delete p53, or neutralize it by making lots of the inhibitors Mdm2 or Mdm4. We need to discover how the other 10% undermine the p53 pathway.”

多年来，洛萨诺调遣从竞争对手癌症中心的几个报价。是什么让她在MD安德森，她说，该中心的基本的科学家和临床医生的的协同与合作。这是同样的一种理智的交叉施肥，导致她的洞察P53在1987年转录因子回来。

“我不是医生，但我明白，有些他们遇到的问题是问题，我可以学习作为基本的科学家，”她说。“我们不会是头号肿瘤医院没有基础的研究驱动病人护理。188bet体育网址这种协作是什么让我在这里“。

The keys to her success

科学的好奇心

“我一直想学习新的东西。”

A strong and supportive family: Her husband, Greg, and daughter, Rebecca

“如果不是因为我的家人，我会工作不间断，并很可能已经被烧掉了。”

A competitive nature

“When one of my teachers in high school said that boys were smarter than girls, I set out to prove him wrong, and I did – I had the top grade in that class all year.”

Know yourself

“要想成功的任何努力，这是非常重要的是知道自己的长处和弱点，并发挥你的长处。”

冲帐

“It is vitally important to have interests outside the laboratory.”

洛萨诺的追求超越的研究：188bet体育网址

“I enjoy traveling with my husband. Some recent trips we’ve taken include visits to Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore and Sedona, Arizona. This year we plan to go to Stockholm and Portugal.

I also enjoy growing orchids. I have a greenhouse and more than 50 orchids, with about 20 blooming at any one time. I also love exploring nature through hiking and bird-watching.”