Adriana Carter

Mentored by: Melanie Hayden-Gephart (Neurosurgery)
22-23 Major Grant recipient 

Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive primary brain tumor with a patient survival rate of less than 15 months. The current standard care of treatment for GBM involves a combination of surgical resection, chemotherapy, and radiation. Despite optimal surgical resection, GBM cells infiltrate the brain and inadvertently grow back which leads to tumor recurrence. More effective treatment strategies are needed. GBM migration is a deadly hallmark of this disease and leads to poor patient prognosis. As a result, targeting GBM migration and preventing tumor recurrence presents a critical treatment strategy to help improve patient prognosis. Adriana’s project, under the guidance of Dr. Melanie Hayden-Gephart, aims to better understand the way that chloride channel upregulation in brain tumors contributes to GBM invasion in the brain. Her research achieves this by testing the effects of a novel small-molecule inhibitor that is known to selectively inhibit certain chloride channel mediated currents on GBM.