Medical student awarded prestigious clinical research mentorship

Alison Treichel is the first medical student at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to receive an award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) Clinical Research Mentorship program.

The program provides mentored, hands-on research opportunities with the aim of supporting the professional trajectories of medical students pursuing clinical research careers as physician-scientists.

Treichel, a native of Saratoga Springs, will take a year out of medical school to participate in the full-time clinical research experience.

She previously took a year out of medical school to serve as a fellow in the Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP) that places students in National Institutes of Health (NIH) laboratories and patient care areas to conduct basic, translational or clinical research in areas that match their career interests and goals.

“Alison’s selection as one of only seven 2018 Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Clinical Research Mentorship awardees places her in an elite group of medical students who will benefit from a 12-month, mentored, research training program with an accomplished physician-scientist,” says Michael E. Cain, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School.

Timothy F. Murphy, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Medicine and senior associate dean for clinical and translational research, notes that Treichel’s accomplishments put her and the Jacobs School in rare company.

“Alison’s success in winning one of the seven coveted awards in 2018 places the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences among the nation’s top institutions, including Stanford, Duke, Cornell and others,” he says. “The mentorship program is a premier training program for the next generation of physician-scientists.”

Treichel’s mentor in the MRSP is Joel Moss of the Pulmonary Branch of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Throughout this year, she also has been working closely with his collaborator, Thomas Darling, chair of dermatology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS).

Their research focuses on a genetic tumor syndrome called tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) and the associated pulmonary disease lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM).

“What drew me to the labs of both Dr. Moss and Dr. Darling was their immediately evident passion for science and dedication to mentoring the next generation of physician-scientists,” Treichel says. “I found their research area to be fascinating and felt that we shared similar research interests.”

The DDCF awarded Darling and Treichel funding for their research project titled “Genetic and Cutaneous Indicators of Disease Severity in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex.”

TSC affects approximately 1 in 6,000 people, with the majority of women with TSC developing LAM by the age of 40.

“People with TSC develop tumors in multiple organs. The tumors may grow slowly and cause few problems for many years, or they may progress rapidly with very serious implications for health,” Darling says.

“Because of this variability, it can be hard to know whether to watch and wait or to start treatment,” he adds. “We hope that our work will remove some of this uncertainty and provide us with genetic or cutaneous predictors of disease severity.”

Treichel notes the mutation that causes TSC affects the mTOR cell signaling pathway, leading to subsequent tumor growth in many organs of the body. The mTOR pathway is also implicated in many types of cancers, such as breast, ovarian, prostate and melanoma.

“Therefore, our findings will not only expand upon the knowledge of the development of tumors in TSC and LAM, but it could also lead to new therapeutic targets for TSC-associated tumors and potentially other types of cancer,” she says.

LAM, the pulmonary disease associated with TSC, is a progressively destructive disease characterized by infiltrating tumor cells that lead to cyst formation within the lungs. This often leads to complications such as pneumothorax, and may ultimately result in the need for continuous oxygen supplementation or lung transplant.

“Currently, there is no way to predict which patients will go on to develop rapidly progressive LAM,” Treichel says. “Our goal is to identify novel genetic markers associated with rapidly progressive disease. This will help identify patients who need early initiation of treatment.”

Darling says he’s impressed with Treichel’s research skills and her commitment to her training, calling her “a great team player who is exceptional in analyzing large, complex data sets.”

“She has a strong intellect and curiosity, together with the persistence and attention to detail needed to be successful as a clinician-investigator.”

Treichel maintains her long-term goal of becoming a dermatologist with an academic focus, noting that some of the most interesting topics within dermatology are related to both cutaneous oncology and dermatoimmunology.

“I think what makes these fields most interesting is the complexity of diseases that fall into these categories, and the emerging technologies that enable us to understand complex processes in the immune system as well as cancer,” she says.

“The current and future technological advances hold great promise for breakthroughs in these fields, and I hope to be a part of them.”