Najwa Labban – Danaher Foundation Scholar
1st Year Scholar, PhD candidate, Biomedical Engineering
University of Virginia

Research: 
Most breast cancers are treated with surgery, radiation, and hormone therapy, but not all women respond equally to these therapies. This research uses breast cancer cells from patients to engineer tumor “organoids” that more accurately mimic the disease process within the body for testing new and approved therapies and for understanding the origins of therapeutic resistance.

How Will Your Research Benefit Society?
Using engineering design principles, I have developed an experimental platform to study breast cancer responsiveness from a virtually unlimited number of patients. The platform enables multiple therapeutic options to be tested in parallel, leading to a more personalized and effective approach to the future treatment of this disease.

How will an ARCS Award Benefit Your Research?
My work is currently supported by a small pilot grant from the Kincaid Foundation because it is considered early-stage research. The limited funding constrains the number of women with breast cancer that I can study. It also compels me to spend time continually applying for sponsorships outside of my training. An ARCS award would greatly relieve this burden for one year and enable me to focus on finalizing the data acquisition and analysis for my thesis.

Career objectives:
I plan to leverage my Biomedical Engineering degree as a physician-scientist in pediatric oncology. My clinically immersive graduate training in cancer biology will prepare me well for this future career. My current work, using patient-derived material to study individualized treatment responses, will translate to future clinical research focused on improving therapies for early-onset cancers in children.

Community Service, Contribution to DEI, Volunteer Work:
My service aligns with a commitment to personal well-being and my Muslim faith: Volunteer mental health screenings at the Charlottesville Free Clinic, tutoring middle and high school Arab refugees at the local mosque, and free fitness coaching and personal training to medical school students and others at UVA.