A Perennial Approach to Cancer

Video by Joe O'Neill

Student-faculty research explores the therapeutic properties of daisies

While utilizing and exploring various compounds is what cancer research often comes down to, parthenolide comes with a twist.

“The compound we work with comes from daisies,” explains Assistant Professor of Chemistry Rebecca Connor, who has been researching the cancer-killing applications of parthenolide for a few years now. Aspects of the research focus on gene expression and mutation, and the in-depth nature of the experiments bring something unexpected to the table for students.

“I just graduated from high school a year ago,” says Grace Crossland ’18, a biochemistry & molecular biology major working on the project, “and now I’m here doing research on leukemia cells as a rising sophomore, which isn’t something I think a lot of people can say.”

Learn more

• Research at Dickinson
• Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
• Department of Chemistry
• "Daisies and Cancer Research"
• Latest News

Published July 5, 2015