At the UCLA Liquid Biopsy Laboratory, it is not uncommon to find researchers discussing their findings among other professors and scientists. So, when 21 high school students showed up with extensive cancer research presentations, the professionals were blown away. Castaic High School students were awarded first place at a cancer research symposium on Aug.
2, sponsored by the UCLA Liquid Biopsy Laboratory, for their six-week research project presentation about the disproportionate number of non-smoking Asian and Asian American women diagnosed with lung cancer. The symposium was organized by Research in Focus, a summer program formed last year for high school students that takes place over the course of six weeks and ends with a trip to the lab in Westwood. Students registered in the program start off by selecting a question of inquiry that can be answered through literature review.
The program then ends at the laboratory, where the students present their findings to UCLA professors and judges. Kate Song, the director of Research in Focus, came up with the idea for the program because she felt like her students needed a different approach to learning. “I’ve been teaching high school science for 23 years now, and students never really got hands-on experience doing research, so I reached out to a professor who was actually the father of a former student of mine,” Song said.
Song said that Hsian-Rong Tseng, a professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and prin.