Read Time: 5 minutes
Takeaways:
- Both Mumtaz and Lisa are deeply motivated by personal experiences that shaped their passion for cancer research.
- The AACR Annual Meeting emphasized the importance of global collaboration in cancer research and the value of multidisciplinary teams.
Impact: At the conference, Mumtaz and Lisa were inspired by the rapid progress against cancer—including new technologies and emerging treatments.
Lisa Shakachite and Mumtaz Shirin are both fourth-year doctoral students in the lab of Natasha Pavlova, PhD, Huntsman Cancer Institute investigator and assistant professor in the department of oncological sciences at the University of Utah (the U).
They recently presented their work at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). Each year, the conference brings together over 20,000 researchers to discuss the latest advancements in cancer biology, treatment, and prevention.
Lisa and Mumtaz were first-time attendees, and we wanted to hear more about their work and their experiences at AACR.
What inspired you to go into cancer research?
Mumtaz: What inspired me to pursue biology and pharmaceutical research was my mom’s ovarian cancer diagnosis. She had to go through the whole process of having a hysterectomy and surgery. This happened when I was a child, and that really affected me. When I was thinking about what I wanted to do in my career, and how I wanted to make an impact, I decided to study how drugs are made. I really wanted to understand how cancer biology develops and how it progresses. My mother is a really strong woman, and she really advocated for me to pursue science. I’m here because of her.
Lisa: I was initially interested in medicine. I started working as a research assistant to gain more experience, but I found that I liked the research side of science more. I really enjoyed seeing how different people with different skills come together and work together as a team in order to solve and find diagnoses for patients with undiagnosed diseases. That drew me towards research as a whole.
What does it mean for you to go to AACR and present your research?
Mumtaz: I work at the laboratory bench and do these microscopic experiments. It’s very focused research. But talking about what I’ve done on such a large, international stage like the AACR annual meeting adds a stamp of approval that maybe the research that we do could potentially have an impact on patients.
Lisa: I'm an international student originally from Zambia. I grew up in a country that does not necessarily prioritize cancer, even though the incidence of cancer is very high. I like getting exposure to all the different research that’s being done in cancer so that I can learn more and potentially even provide that information to researchers back home. So going to AACR means a lot to me, and I’m so happy that Huntsman Cancer Institute has been able to give me this opportunity.
Can you tell us about your research?
Mumtaz: When cancer spreads to the bones, like in breast cancer, or starts there, like in multiple myeloma, it can weaken the bones and cause them to break more easily. This process is called osteolysis. We’re trying to understand what exactly happens in the bone when cancer is present. In particular, how does cancer stop the cells that normally build and repair bone from doing their job? Our research looks at this from a nutrition angle. We’ve found that bone-building cells rely on a very important “food” to function properly. When these cells get enough of this food, they can become active again and help keep bones strong. The idea is that if we can make sure bone cells get the food they need and possibly limit how much cancer cells can use, we might be able to reduce bone damage and improve quality of life for patients dealing with this condition.
Lisa: Women with denser breasts have a higher risk of developing breast cancer, but scientists don't yet know why. One clue is that denser breast tissue is more crowded. The cells are packed together more tightly than in less dense tissue. My research investigates what that crowding actually does to cells. When cells are squeezed together, we think it may change how they behave, specifically how well they grow and how much "food" they produce. The question I'm asking is whether crowded cells become better at feeding neighboring breast cancer cells, and whether that extra food source is what helps cancers grow and thrive.
One day at the AACR Annual Meeting, Mumtaz took over the Huntsman Cancer Institute Instagram account. Here are just a few highlights. To see more, visit @huntsmancancerinstitute
What was it like discussing your research at AACR?
Mumtaz: Having an audience that included oncologists and industrial scientists who work closely with patients was very intimidating for a basic cancer biology researcher like me. However, getting their insights was very encouraging, and their words and suggestions were very helpful in helping me think about the bigger picture.
Lisa: It was invigorating. I got to talk about my research with people who were just as obsessed as I am with figuring out how cancer cells get their “food.” The conversations felt easy and natural because everyone was genuinely curious and asking thoughtful questions. It made me feel like my work is part of something much bigger.
What was your favorite thing you were able to experience at the conference?
Mumtaz: Talking to patient advocates about their experiences and how they have used their voices and advocacy to support cancer research to be more patient-centered.
Lisa: Seeing how global science really is. There were researchers from all over, including the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom—all working on different pieces of the same puzzle. It was amazing to see multidisciplinary teams tackling cancer from completely different angles. It really put into perspective how big science is and how much collaboration is needed to move it forward.
What's one thing you learned?
Mumtaz: That cancer research is moving toward predicting how cancer will change and finding ways to stay one step ahead of it.
Lisa: I learned that cancer treatments are moving fast. There are therapies related to my area of breast cancer research already in clinical trials, and in some cases, we do not even fully understand how they work yet. That was both surprising and motivating. It shows how urgent my research area is and, also, how much more we still need to figure out.
What’s something you heard that excites you about the future of cancer research?
Mumtaz: I’m excited by new tools that let scientists see how individual cancer cells behave and interact through single-cell and spatial technologies, helping create more targeted treatments.
Lisa: I am really excited about the idea that if we better understand how cancer cells “feed” themselves, we can design smarter treatments to stop them. Hearing about therapies targeting these processes made everything feel very real. It is not just theory—it is actually being translated into treatments. That makes me excited to keep digging deeper into my own work and hopefully contribute to making those therapies even better.