CBP graduate student, Kimberly Lukasik, received a National Cancer Institute F99/K00 predoctoral to postdoctoral fellow transition award.
Kimberly Lukasik, a graduate student in Stephanie Gupton鈥檚 laboratory is the first student from the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology to win a F99/K00 award from the National Cancer Institute. The award supports outstanding doctoral candidates and aids in their transition to career-building postdoctoral positions. It funds up to two years of graduate work and four years of postdoctoral research.
The award entailed a competitive internal selection process in which leaders at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill could only select one candidate from the entire university to compete for the award at a national level. 鈥淭o be honest, I just assumed I wasn鈥檛 going to get it,鈥� said Lukasik. She received notice near the beginning of October last year that she had been selected as 黑料网鈥檚 candidate.
鈥淚 was really excited and thought, this is real. Okay, what do we do now,鈥� said Lukasik. The internal application process for 黑料网 only required a broad description of her research, a biography, and recommendation letters. Now, Lukasik had to propose an F31/32-type grant that detailed her specific research aims for her graduate work, her broad research aims for her postdoctoral research, and how these projects would help establish the eventual direction of her own research laboratory, and she only had a little over a month to prepare.
A unique听melanoma听project
Lukasik鈥檚 research project in Gupton鈥檚 laboratory is a bit unique. The lab group focuses on how neuronal development occurs, including the proteins and cytoskeletal dynamics involved. Lukasik found that one of these proteins, TRIM9, enriched in the brain and nervous system but not anywhere else in the body was expressed in melanoma (skin cancer) cells. Interestingly, TRIM9 is also not expressed in normal melanocytes, and patients with high levels of TRIM9 often have more aggressive forms of melanoma.
During her graduate work, Lukasik found that TRIM9 negatively regulates exocytosis, or the release of molecules into the extracellular environment. It also negatively regulates focal adhesion size and number. Focal adhesions are proteins that connect the cytoskeleton of a cell to the extracellular matrix. When Ludkasik knocked out TRIM9 expression in human melanoma cells, she saw that the cells migrated faster, had different focal adhesions, and reduced proliferation.
For the specific aims linked to her graduate research, she proposed piecing together how TRIM9鈥檚 effects on migration, proliferation, and exocytosis affect cancer metastasis in a melanoma mouse model. For her postdoctoral work and future career, she proposed looking at the interactions between cancer and the nervous system. 鈥淚 thought about not only what I would do for my postdoc, but how I could make my own lab,鈥� said Lukasik. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a new field from what I understand that is about 10 years old, the neuroscience of cancer, seeing how cancer exploits the nervous system to metastasize or proliferate.鈥�
With a little help
To assemble her application and write her aims, Lukasik reached out to a previous NCI F99/K00 winner from a different department at 黑料网 who had since graduated and was nearing the end of her postdoctoral research. Although the two did not know each other, Lukasik found a comrade in her fellow 黑料网 alum and received helpful advice and guidance. Lukasik also had the unwavering support of her mentor.
鈥淪tephanie has always been 100% supportive and has encouraged me to write all the fellowships that I鈥檝e been interested in,鈥� said Lukasik. 鈥淪he鈥檚 never really told me no. That鈥檚 important, having the support of your PI.鈥� Lukasik also found support from CBP at large. After winning the award, she received help and guidance from the CBP admin team on budgeting and planning. She also credited her committee and CBP core imaging services.
Some students may feel discouraged from applying for this award because they feel the process is too competitive or that their project doesn鈥檛 have enough of a cancer focus. Lukasik’s advice is to apply anyway. 鈥淭he worst they can do is tell you no. Just apply and show that you are really interested in how you could gain the skills to conduct a successful cancer-focused project. And reach out to people because a lot of people at 黑料网 are very helpful,鈥� said Lukasik.
Applications for the NCI F99/K00 are due in November every year.
Written by Tiffany Garbutt, PhD
This article was originally published on December 5, 2024 in the CBP In the Loop: Year in Review Newsletter.