When Fran Perroud, a Saint Mary’s University senior biology major, told one of his professors that he would be spending the summer working on liver cancer research, the professor couldn’t help but get a little emotional.
“Her father and also her uncle died because of liver cancer,” Perroud explains.
Additionally, both of Perroud’s grandfathers died of cancer, one specifically from liver cancer, one of the fastest growing cancers in the U.S.
So when Perroud was accepted into the SURE (Summer Undergraduate Research Experience) internship program at The Hormel Institute in Austin, Minn., it held a particular meaning.
“When you realize what an impact you can have on other people’s lives, it’s exciting. It makes me feel happy that I can be contributing to help someone else that is having cancer issues, not just liver but cancer in general,” he said.
And Perroud may be able to continue with cancer research as he is being recruited to work full time in the lab after he graduates in December. It’s an offer he’s not taking lightly.
Perroud came to the United States from Argentina as an exchange student in 2021. He said he felt welcomed right away at Saint Mary’s, particularly after joining the Cardinal basketball team, which gave him a ready-made group of friends the minute he stepped onto campus.
“Since the first day here, I have felt welcomed by everyone,” he said. “They have helped me with everything from housing to class registration — to being able to find this internship.”
And though Perroud misses his home country and particularly his mother’s cooking, he hopes to continue his graduate studies in the U.S. and pursue a career in cancer research for either industry or academia. This summer’s intern experience with SURE helped to solidify his career path.
Perroud and 16 other college students worked on a variety of biomedical research projects for 10 weeks. At the end of the summer, he presented on the topic of “Genetics and Metabolism Control — the role of DHCR24 in cholesterol synthesis regulation in hepatocellular carcinoma.”
Assistant professor Ewa Bielczyk-Maczynska, Ph.D., oversaw Perroud. She explains that his project focused on a specific type of liver cancer, called hepatocellular carcinoma, which is particularly hard to treat, despite years of research. “In his project he tried to understand if a particular protein, which is frequently upregulated in this type of cancer, regulates detrimental properties of liver cancer cells, such as their growth or migration,” she said.
Perroud said the experience taught him a lot about special gene regulation techniques used in cell and molecular biology like siRNA reverse transfection, imaging techniques such as immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy and cell culture.
“Fran did exceedingly well, and he was able to complete large portions of his projects despite some setbacks,” Dr. Bielczyk-Maczynska said. “He took an active part in shaping his research by asking good questions, proactively seeking answers, and explaining his findings well to a broad audience.”
She added that while students certainly benefit from the real-world experience, the lab benefits from SURE interns in many ways. “They bring enthusiasm, energy, inquisitiveness, and make us stop and think about the fundamental reasons why we do research,” she said.
Perroud is excited to talk about his internship. “It opened a lot of doors for my future, and it reinforced my thoughts about going to graduate school,” he said. “I am very fortunate to have had this experience.”
