College of Public Health

Three researchers in Weghorst's lab recognized for food-based cancer research

Three researchers who work in the lab of Christopher Weghorst, associate professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, were recognized for their studies on food-based chemopreventive agents. Weghorst is known for his research indicating that berries may prevent certain cancers.

Blake Warner, PhD student in EHS and graduate fellow in the College of Dentistry, and Zhaoxia Zhang, post-doctoral fellow in the College of Public Health, received Scholar-in-Training Awards from Susan G. Komen for the Cure to support their attendance at the AARC Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference in Washington, D.C., in November 2008.

Jeanette Ferguson, a post-doctoral fellow in the College of Dentistry and an oral cancer survivor, was selected to the AARC Scientist-Survivor Program, which is designed to broaden communication between doctors and researchers and cancer survivors and patients.

"As a six-and-a-half-year survivor of oral cancer, I was naturally drawn to the work done by Dr. Weghorst's lab," Ferguson said. "I was a young patient lacking all risk factors for the disease, so I focus my research to investigating possible genetic factors that could influence oral cancer development, especially in populations less than 45 years old."

All three researchers presented posters at the conference. Zhang demonstrated how black raspberries can inhibit the proliferation of cervical cancer cells. Warner showed evidence that strawberries, like black raspberries, can potentially prevent or delay the development of oral cancer. And Ferguson demonstrated how a patient’s age plays an important role when using black raspberries to reduce inflammation in oral cancer patients.