College Students Conduct Research in HCC’s Technical Innovation Center

College students Paul Park and Tae-Ho Rho have spent their summer breaks helping Ji Hoon Lee, Ph.D., conduct experimental research to develop new technology to diagnose and monitor various diseases such as cancer, cardiac aliments, cancer, and infectious diseases. Working with several scientists of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, two faculty members from Clemson University’s Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Science, and John Newby, M.D., of Washington County Health System, Lee expects to involve the students in the project for the next three years during their summer and winter breaks.

“My interns are developing novel analytical methods for simultaneously quantifying various enzymes in human blood,” said Lee, CEO of Luminescent MD, a biotech research firm in the Technical Innovation Center at Hagerstown Community College. “I expect that the innovative technology will be applied to simultaneously sense trace level of multiple tumor markers. The new methods will be applied for a U.S. patent. Based on the research, they will also get opportunities to present their research at conferences such as ACS (American Chemical Society) Meeting and AACC (American Association for Clinical Chemistry) Annual Meeting.”

The project involves the development of microfluidic devices known as Lab-On-A-Chip that will aid in the detection of specific tumor markers present in a person’s blood, helping scientists diagnose certain types of cancer such as prostate, breast, liver, stomach, and thyroid.

“I’m surprised at how the simplest test can provide data that can lead to bigger conclusions than you originally thought possible,” said Park, who will begin his freshman year at Johns Hopkins University this fall. “It’s been really interesting to have the chance to get hands-on experience.”

Park, of Potomac, Md., will study chemical and biomolecular engineering at JHU and ultimately plans to enter medical school.  Rho, of Bethesda, Md., will enter his sophomore year at Brown University, where he is studying biochemistry. He also plans to enter medical school.

“This internship has been very exciting because of the potential it offers,” said Rho. “The theory is complicated, but the research is simple and straight forward. Having done actual research is crucial to getting into medical school.”

Lee is a former faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences at Clemson University. He is currently pursuing grant funding for this project through the U.S. Department of Defense with his collaborators. He started his biotech research firm in Hagerstown two years ago.
 
Pictured, from left are: Tae Rho and Paul Park, college interns, working with Ji Hoon Lee, CEO of Luminescent MD, a biotech research firm in the Technical Innovation Center at Hagerstown Community College