Two Washington State University doctoral students here have been granted three years of support from the National Science Foundation to advance their respective research projects involving heart enlargement and cancer-related immune system responses, and, hopefully, to complete their degrees. 

The students, Elizabeth Duenwald and Kari Gaither, are both pursuing doctorate degrees in pharmaceutical sciences at the Riverpoint Campus east of downtown. Through separate fellowships, each will receive a $32,000-a-year stipend and $12,000-a-year of tuition assistance from the NSF grant, a total of $132,000 each. The three-year grant must be used during the next five years, Duenwald says, but the years don’t have to be consecutive. 

Duenwald’s research, she says, looks at both pathological and physiological enlargement of the heart. 

“Physiological is induced by exercise, so it’s a beneficial enlargement, and it’s reversible,” Duenwald says. “Pathological enlargement is caused by disease, such as diabetes, and is detrimental and not reversible.”

Meanwhile, Gaither says hers research is focused on the body’s immune response to chronic diseases. Specifically, her research looks at how cancer impairs the functions of certain immune cells, known as CD8 +T cells. 

Duenwald says her current research project is to look specifically at how altering the gene regulation of proteins in the heart affects endurance and physical activity in mice. 

“We actually exercise our mice and then simulate a disease state through surgery, or genetic modification, or pharmaceuticals,” she says. 

Duenwald applied for the funding so that she also could apply to the Graduate Research Opportunities Worldwide (GROW) and U.S. Agency for International Development programs, which support graduate students who want to do research abroad, she says.  

“I would like to continue (doing research) in a developing country,” she says. “It’s one of the reasons I wanted this fellowship … I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to apply without this fellowship.”

Students in the doctoral program often can cover their tuition with a teaching fellowship, Duenwald says, but that takes up 20 hours a week that, with the NSF grant, otherwise could be used for research. 

Duenwald, who’s originally from Reardan, Wash., is in her first year of the four- to six-year program, so the research support potentially could see her through to the end, she says. 

“I would like to be done in four years,” she says.  

Duenwald completed her undergraduate degree in nutrition and exercise physiology in 2013 at WSU Spokane, she says. 

Gaither, meanwhile, in her research on how cancer weakens certain immune cell functioning, says she and her research colleagues chose to study melanoma, or skin cancer, in particular because it’s one of the fastest-spreading forms of cancer. 

Beyond studying immune cells in general cancer patients, Gaither also is researching how chronic alcoholism can impair the cells’ immune function in cancer patients, she says. 

“Alcoholism suppresses the immune system in a lot of ways,” she says. “If their immune system is suppressed, some drugs may not work on them … tumor immunology itself is a really important area of research, but alcoholism is a niche that is understudied.”

Gaither asserts, though, that the research is relevant outside of just those with alcohol abuse issues. 

“We’re looking at the role alcoholism plays in the progression of melanoma, and in addition to that, whatever we see in the alcohol effect, we’re also looking at the immune system without alcohol,” she says. “It’s also applicable to those without alcohol abuse.”

Immunology, Gaither says, is a rapidly growing area of pharmaceutical research. 

“There are a lot of unknowns about immunology,” she says. “One of the big areas of growth in the treatment of melanoma and other cancers is the immune system.”

Gaither, who hails from Sunnyside, Wash., began her doctoral studies here in 2012, she says, and is hopeful that the research support will see her through to completion. 

“Since I just finished my second year, it should be enough, ideally,” she says. “There’s always a chance something could happen.” 

Gaither received her bachelor’s degree in biology in 2000 from Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Wash., she says.

Both women believe their research could have an impact on how metabolic and chronic diseases are seen and treated. 

“With the rising cost of diseases related to metabolic syndromes, there’s a huge need to try and figure out ways to prevent and treat obesity-related diseases, to cut costs and for people’s health,” Duenwald says. 

Gaither says she hopes with her research to uncover new and more targeted treatments for cancer using the immune system. 

“My project proposes to look at particular T cell dysfunction, which is very important for the immune cells to fight off cancer,” she says. 

She adds, “I want to investigate that certain aspect to see if it would allow for more targeted immune-treatments for cancer. The other part is, theoretically, if you can look at chronic alcoholism in relation to immune-treatments of cancer and see some differences between nonalcoholics and alcoholics, maybe you could treat the alcoholics better.”

The process of applying for and being awarded the NSF research support funding was difficult, both women say. 

“It’s a very competitive fellowship,” Duenwald says. “About 12,000 students apply, and about 2,000 are awarded scholarships.” 

The students each had to write a personal statement, research proposal and plan, and a proposal of future studies to apply for the scholarship, Gaither says. The NSF also takes the student’s extracurricular activities, such as community service, into consideration. 

Both women say that the NSF seeks to award the fellowships to students who are interested in promoting science in their communities and doing outreach. 

“They really want people to engage the public and promote groups who are underrepresented in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields,” Gaither says. “The public needs to be engaged. We need to promote science from the early ages.”

“Specifically in women,” Duenwald adds. 

“That’s how we feel,” Gaither agrees. “Women and minorities are not given the encouragement that science is cool.”