Ashlee Matkin

Ashlee Matkin is a medical student in her third year of studies at the University of Alberta.

Her talk is entitled A Novel Method to Detect Gene Expression and Mutations Consistent with Thyroid Carcinoma.

She has been working in Vincent Biron’s lab on developing a method to rapidly detect cancer in thyroid nodules.

Working with newly developed equipment, her project uses very small sample sizes from fine needle aspiration biopsies to quickly find mutations and gene expression patterns that are common in many kinds of thyroid cancer.

Ultimately, this research may lead to earlier diagnosis of thyroid cancer so treatments can be initiated sooner.

With the support of the Edna Wakefield Rowe Memorial Summer Student Research Scholarship, Ashlee was able to start her voyage into cancer research.

She has presented her research at numerous local, national, and international conferences. Ashlee hopes to continue this research throughout her medical training and eventually find a career as an oncogenic surgeon.