Gustavus undergrads conducting cancer, virus research in new partnership with Hormel

Gustavus Adolphus College undergraduate Brynn Johnson is spending her summer vacation contributing to the fight against cancer thanks to a new partnership between Gustavus and the Hormel Institute.

Since June, Johnson and fellow Gustavus undergraduates Rachel Trebesch and Hannah Brenke, have had the opportunity to perform hands-on, high-level biomedical research as interns at the Hormel Institute’s Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program. The Gustavus students make up three of the 15 accepted undergraduates selected from a pool of 160 applicants, as part of a new strategic partnership between the institutions.

The Austin-based University of Minnesota medical research center provides undergraduates with 10 weeks of paid experience working in a professional research setting, while making scientific advancements through the study of viruses, cancer cell biology, genetics and many more research areas.

For her experiment, Johnson has been investigating the impacts of a gene known as ANKL5 on liver cancer. What makes this gene unique, said Johnson, is its capacity to suppress tumors in some forms of cancer while encouraging cancerous cell growth in other forms of cancer.

In her research, which she will be presenting in an August symposium at the end of her internship, Johnson is finding that livers expressing the ANKL5 gene had much better outcomes, experiencing lower rates of fatty liver disease, liver fibrosis and other abnormalities, than the experimental group which lacked the same gene.

“Seeing the advancements and feeling like you’re doing something, it’s really cool because cancer as a whole hits home for so many people, myself included, and knowing you’re paving the way feels good, but it’s also a fascinating process,” said Johnson. “I’ve always been so interested in cells and molecular biology so I think it’s a great opportunity to apply the things you’ve learned.”

Dr. Jeffrey Dahlseid, Professor of Biochemistry at Gustavus, said the college had been laying the groundwork for a strategic collaboration with Hormel since last year, following the successes past students have found entering the program.

“Hormel has been a great environment for our students in the past with a focus on biomedical research,” said Dahlseid. “So the idea of the partnership was then, can we solidify the number of opportunities for Gustavus students? Then as our students have been well received by Hormel, can we help Hormel out by providing really strong applicants to their program?”

At Hormel, students are offered the opportunity to work with cutting-edge technologies and other resources, like capabilities to test toxic compounds to aid in research on the effects of pesticides. One of the facility’s most unique capabilities is its cryogenic-sample electron microscopy (cryoEM), which can create high-definition, 3D models of cells, viruses and proteins too small to be visible under a standard microscope. Through mapping these submicroscopic biological structures, researchers can gather important data for understanding how they function and developing treatments for diseases.

The internship program also enrolls students in weekly professional development courses.

Dahlseid said professional internship courses like the SURE program have a large impact helping students find their place in the STEM fields at a time when the United States is in need of a highly specialized workforce.

“With the hands-on learning [students] get a chance to master both general and sophisticated and advanced research methods, increase their confidence, improve their professional skills like reading research articles and interpreting data and then significantly we see a big increase in students’ confidence and their identity as scientists and this leads to stronger sense of belonging within the STEM-related fields,” said Dahlseid.

Following a successful first year of the program, Gustavus and the Hormel Institute are now taking steps to continue and expand their strategic partnership. On June 27, Gustavus faculty and students joined Hormel scientists at the Institute’s Austin headquarters for roundtable discussions around their current research. The discussion served to foster mutual connections between Hormel researchers and Gustavus academics on their shared areas of interest, which could serve as the basis for future collaboration.

“Gustavus is a top undergraduate institution that has put a lot of resources into advancing knowledge that has important applications for human health,” said Edward “Ted” Hinchcliffe, PhD, Professor, The Hormel Institute. “Partnering with them really expands our reach at The Hormel Institute, particularly into education, for the benefit of Minnesota and beyond.”