Engineering a Cancer Career

In this episode, we hear from Dr. Jennifer Couch, Chief of the Biophysics, Bioengineering, and Computational Sciences Branch in NCI's Division of Cancer Biology, and Dr. Manu Platt, Director of the Center for Biomedical Engineering Technology Acceleration at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. They discuss the importance of integrating physical sciences, biology, and engineering in research. They highlight the benefits of collaboration and the formation of transdisciplinary teams. Drs. Couch and Platt also offer advice to those interested in pursuing a career in science and those who are early in their research careers. You can expect to learn all this and much more!

Show Notes:

Jennifer Couch, Ph.D. Biophysics, Bioengineering, and Computational Sciences Branch NCI Division of Cancer Biology Manu Platt, Ph.D. Center for Biomedical Engineering Technology Acceleration (BETA Center) National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NBIB) Physical Sciences - Oncology Network (PS-ON) NIH Clinical Center NIH Peer Review NIH Intramural Research Program Forum to Advance Minorities in Engineering, Inc. (FAME Inc.)
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TRANSCRIPT
Oliver Bogler
Hello, and welcome to Inside Cancer Careers, a podcast from the National Cancer Institute, where we explore all the different ways people fight cancer and hear their stories. I'm your host, Oliver Bogler, from NCI's Center for Cancer Training. There's ample evidence in the history of science that connecting across fields can stimulate innovation and produce advances. One fruitful connection has been between biology and the physical sciences and engineering. And today we are talking to two leaders at NIH involved in this work.

Listen through to the end of the show to hear our guests make some interesting recommendations and where we invite you to take your turn.

With us is Dr. Jennifer Couch, Chief of the Biophysics, Bioengineering, and Computational Sciences Branch in the Division of Cancer Biology at NCI. Welcome.

Jennifer Couch
Hi Oliver, thanks for inviting me.

Oliver Bogler
I'd also like to welcome Dr. Manu Platt, Director of the Biomedical Engineering Technology Acceleration or BETA Center at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. Welcome.

Manu Platt
Great to be here with you.

Oliver Bogler
Let me start with the question of why and how different disciplines in STEMM can be brought together to accelerate progress. Jennifer, what are the strategies and goals of your branch and how do you accomplish them?

Jennifer Couch
Well, I think, you know, one of the key things about cancer is that it's complicated, it's multi -scale, it's impacted in many different ways and it has impacts on the body at many different levels. And so for that reason, I think cancer researchers are often adopters of new technologies and collaborate broadly. And we've seen over the past, you know, many decades that bringing physical sciences approaches and tools and thinking into the cancer research space can really enhance the way that we address and develop ways to understand the basic mechanisms that underlie cancer initiation and progression and the way that it responds to therapies.

Oliver Bogler
So one of the programs in your branch is called the Physical Sciences Oncology Network, or PSON, I think people call it. Tell us about that.

Jennifer Couch
Yup.

Oliver Bogler
What does it do?

Jennifer Couch
So the Physical Sciences and Oncology Network has been around for about 15 years now, and it brings together explicitly partnerships between physical scientists, people with physical sciences expertise, and cancer research to address a broad range of cancer research questions, challenging things like spatial temporal dynamics and multi -scale effects of cancer, thinking about it through a physical sciences lens. And so all of the projects are collaborations between cancer researchers and people with these other expertise areas.

Oliver Bogler
Have you got some examples for us of what kind of physical sciences are brought together with what kinds of biology to try and work together on the cancer problem?

Jennifer Couch
Sure. So, we know a lot about the way that cancer develops and, and progresses at the molecular level. But one of the things that's been a real challenge is understanding the kind of mechanical forces involved in the way that cancer both initiates and progresses throughout the body and, um, when it metastasizes and...