Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Where did you get the idea for this project?

A: Both of us were sitting in science class one day when our teacher told us about the Aventis Biotech Challenge, where we can send in a proposal, get a mentor, and compete using projects in the field of biotechnology. We both thought this would be an excellent opportunity to learn about biotechnology and professional level lab work, so decided to try for it. Dr. Saxena, our lead mentor, was a family friend of Dave's family, and so we went to talk to him about ideas, and we came up with this project by bouncing ideas off of Dr. Saxena. He told us some things, and we decided that we liked the idea, so we decided that we would do non-small cell lung cancer, and the promoter of the BAX gene.0

Q: Why lung cancer?

A: We chose lung cancer because a study like this had never been done on it before, so we would be discovering something new. Additionally, lung cancer is the most fatal cancer in Canada - the cancer responsible for the most deaths. This meant that if we found something that would help treat cancer, it would help the most number of people. There are two types of lung cancer - small cell, and non-small cell. The latter is more common, so again we decided to try and help more people.

Q: Has this project ever been done before?

A: No. This is a one of a kind project, as there has never before been a study done on BAX in Non-small cell Lung Cancer. Our mentor Dr. Saxena had done a project dealing with BAX in leukemia, so we knew a change was present there, and we modeled this project after that one, to see if the change was present in lung cancer and what effects it had. It is still completely new.

Q: How much did your mentors contribute?

A: A lot! Without them, we could never have done this project. They showed us the machines, how to use them, how to do the calculations necessary - everything we need to know. They also guided us through the processes and supervised us as we worked. Again, we couldn't have done this without them, so a special thankyou to them!