Excerpted from a piece on Undergraduate Research Week published in UCLA Newsroom
By Kayla McCormack
For Wilson Zheng, research means digging deep into the cellular mechanisms that fuel cancer. A fourth-year student studying molecular, cell and developmental biology, with a minor in biomedical research, Zheng works in the Lowry Lab, under William Lowry, associate director of education and technology transfer at the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center and a professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology.
Zheng’s project focuses on targeting metabolic pathways with pharmacological inhibitors to try and prevent the development and progression of squamous cell carcinomas. These increasingly common skin cancers, often linked to UV exposure and aging, carry the risk of metastasis and serious health consequences.
Spend a day in the lab with Zheng: