ARCS Forward: Breast Cancer: Late Stage Disease and a Look at Postpartum Breast Cancer 

Wednesday, November 8, at 12:00 PM EST/11:00 AM CST/10:00 AM MST/9:00 AM PST/7:00 AM HST

ARCS Forward events are personal and intimate conversations between members, current scholars, and other outstanding scientists in all STEM fields. These events are held virtually over Zoom. Breast Cancer is a complex disease with many potential avenues for research. These two young scientists are studying the microenvironment of breast cancer to try and understand disease progression. Lizzy Crist (ARCS Minnesota) is using new devices to look at the disease in its more advanced states to help evaluate the effectiveness of treatments.Michelle Ozaki (ARCS Oregon) is looking into why breast cancer is sometimes so aggressive within 10 years of childbirth and how the liver and its function might be tied to that. This event will be moderated by Phoenix Chapter Member Kathey Plenge.

Lizzy Crist is a Biomedical Engineering PhD Candidate at the University of Minnesota (UMN) in Dr. David Wood's lab. For her thesis, she developed new microfluidic devices to study breast cancer metastasis, which is the process of cancer spreading throughout a patient's body and is responsible for over 90% of cancer-related patient deaths. Her technology aims to help cancer drug developers evaluate efficacy of novel therapies. She filed a patent on her technology and leveraged her entrepreneurial spirit by competing in the UMN Minimal Viable Product Challenge, where she won 1st place. Lizzy plans to continue pursuing her entrepreneurial passions in the cancer biotech industry in Boston, MA after graduation. She will also pursue an adjunct professor position to continue cultivating her love for teaching, supporting women in STEM, and promoting a positive mental health climate in higher education. 

Michelle Ozaki  is beginning her 5th year in Oregon Health & Science University's Biomedical Sciences PhD program under the mentorship of Dr. Pepper Schedin. She is currently investigation how the liver goes through tissue remodeling following pregnancy, and how those changes are associated with liver metastasis in postpartum breast cancer. Prior to her time in Portland she spent several years at the NIH in Washington D.C. studying new therapeutic targets for ovarian cancer with Dr. Christina Annunziata. Michelle hopes to one day start her own lab studying how cancers metastasize and ways to improve treatments for metastatic cancers.