A vaccine for cancer?! In 180 seconds, Kawther Ahmed, a fifth-year graduate student in the UI College of Pharmacy, explains her cancer-vaccine research in easy-to-understand terms. Like Carl Sagan did with the stars.
“The problem with cancer is the immune system does not see tumor cells as anything dangerous, and it does not respond to them. But cancer vaccines change the status quo. Cancer vaccines tag the cancer cells, put red flags on them, telling the immune system, ‘Hey, this is dangerous. You need to do something about it!’”
Three-Minute Thesis Competition is part of the UI Graduate College’s career and professional-development effort. Ahmed won this year’s competition.
Ahmed came to the UI in 2011 from her native Iraq on a scholarship sponsored by the country’s Higher Committee for Education Development. She received a master’s in pharmacy from the UI and expects to graduate this summer from the College of Pharmacy’s Ph.D. program.
Because of security concerns in Iraq, Ahmed has only visited once in five years. Since then, two members of her family have died, and her children have assimilated to American culture, speaking English better than Arabic. “I now appreciate small things in my country that I was not much appreciating before. . . living in a very diverse community here in Iowa, I have learned that I am more open-minded and accepting than I thought I could be.”
The link below will take you to Ahmed’s presentation.
Info courtesy of Sara Diedrich at The University of Iowa
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