Sophomore Victoria Seng has proven her passion for research as well as her creative talent as the third place winner of the university’s Vid/Terp 2008 Student Video Competition.  Seng won in the science/engineering/technology category and will receive a $50 prize and have her video featured on www.doflick.com and www.researchusa.org. 

Victoria’s video highlights her research on “boron neutron capture therapy,” a new less invasive cancer treatment. The technique under study involves giving a drug to cancer patients that delivers boron to their cancer cells by targeting cholesterol receptors in cancer cell membranes.  The cancer cells are then irradiated with neutron beams, causing explosion of the cancer cells and ultimately cell death, while keeping healthy cells intact. 

Victoria studies both normal and cancerous cells from the human prostate.  The cells are grown and fed in flasks to determine the normal death rates for both cell lines.  These normal death rates are then compared to the death rates after irradiation to determine whether the rates of either cell type were affected by the treatment. 

Inspired by her Uncle's Battle with Pancreatic Cancer

Victoria is a cell biology and molecular genetics major in the College of Chemical and Life Sciences who was inspired to pursue an education and career in cancer research after her uncle died of pancreatic cancer.  Victoria’s immediate plans include an internship at the National Cancer Institute this summer, where she will continue to culture pancreatic tumor cells for research purposes. 

Vid/Terp is a contest, sponsored by the University of Maryland in conjunction with Apple and doFlick.com, that encourages undergraduate and graduate students to make short videos of their experiences on the UM campus.  The contest is an expansion of 2007’s Sci/Terp competition that has now grown to include categories for the arts and humanities, the UM student experience, as well as the science and technology fields.