Posted: January 25, 2022
Cheng is a vibrant individual with an excellent sense of humor. He is a current pathobiology graduate student here at Penn State and is inching closer the conclusion of his program. His research centers around leukemia and discovering novel treatment for the disease.
FROM MEDICINE TO PATHOBIOLOGY: ONE GRAD STUDENT’S JOURNEY
By: Hailey Reiss | January 12th, 2021
Cheng is a vibrant individual with an excellent sense of humor. He is a current pathobiology graduate student here at Penn State and is inching closer the conclusion of his program. His research centers around leukemia and discovering novel treatment for the disease.
Cheng had obtained his medical degree in China and subsequently trained in hematology. He then noted that he was not as experienced in the laboratory setting and believed that this could help further him in his career. Through pursuing a PhD program, he hoped to become somewhat of an expert since the hospital work focused largely on clinical trials, patients, and dealing with the drugs, yet often neglected the very mechanisms involved in those areas.
His interest in pursuing a PhD program led him here, to Penn State. He knew he wanted to focus on leukemia as he found it more challenging, and thus more interesting in his eyes, than lymphoma, and set out to join Dr. Sandeep Prabhu’s lab. Initially, he encountered great challenges since he needed to take basic biology courses, including undergraduate-level courses, due to his background in medicine that had not prepared him as well for a PhD program as he may have hoped. Even yet, he pushed through it and believes that other medical professionals can do the same if they have the desire to do so.
Today, much of his research evaluates the role of dietary selenium on leukemia progression. His research compares mice fed on a diet with selenium supplements to mice fed on a diet that does not have this focus on selenium. Ideally, this will then be translated into a clinical application that will indicate an observed effect of the drug of interest.
“We have observed very apparent effect of our drugs. If clinicians can have some trials for our drugs, that would be promising. That’s how I want this project to turn out,” Cheng explains.
Cheng finds enjoyment in conquering challenges that he faces in his research. He has noted how limitations on experiments due to lack of instruments, finances, and more has contributed to him needing to come up with creative solutions to answer the existing questions he has.
In the near future, Cheng is looking forward to hopefully attending some conferences and even giving some oral presentations at those conferences. In particular, the Selenium Conference in 2022 is one event that Cheng hopes to attend and potentially speak at, given he has adequate research to present.
He encourages prospective pathobiology PhD students to really consider their interest in the field. It takes a strong faith to complete a PhD program, as he says, and true passion is necessary to continue through and ultimately complete the program.
Beyond the lab and PhD program, Cheng has quite a few interests. He is a fan of both cooking and painting, and is also a bit of a visual media connoisseur! Typically, he enjoys watching both TV shows and movies—he frequently checks reviews before watching such films to ensure he will enjoy them. Through this, he hopes to watch only the highest quality films.
Cheng is readily accessible to those who may be interested in learning more about the research he conducts. He can be contacted through email at fzq3@psu.edu.
