I’ve been interested in genetics for a long time, but it wasn’t simply the huge ideas that got me interested. I have always been quite interested in p53, which is sometimes termed “the guardian of the genome.” The more I studied about it, the more I was intrigued by how it stops damaged cells from dividing, which helps protect the body from cancer. This one molecule seemed to have a lot of crucial decisions to make in the cell.
What really got my attention, though, was how fragile this system is. p53 is part of a much bigger system and doesn’t work by itself. MDM2, a protein that controls p53, was one aspect of that network that caught my eye. I used to think of MDM2 as a supporting character who helped p53 stay in balance. But as I looked into it more, I realized it could be just as significant.
MDM2’s function is to keep p53 levels in check, which doesn’t seem too bad. But in some circumstances, like cancer, MDM2 is overly active. It hinders p53 from doing its job, which lets cells with damaged DNA grow and divide. That little change could lead to something big.
During a week-long internship at BioScience Lab in Dubai with Dr. Giuseppe Mucci, I became more interested in MDM2. I was previously interested in p53, but working in the lab let me focus more on the practical side of things. We talked about molecular pathways, tests, and real-life instances of how researchers or testers employ certain proteins. I wanted to know more about MDM2 every time it came up.
After that, I read a lot of scientific publications for a long time. I began gathering research papers to see what scientists had to say about MDM2 in various forms of cancer. I learned about biomarkers, which are chemicals that may be analyzed to give information about a person’s risk of getting a disease or how that condition can proceed.
That’s when it made sense. What if MDM2 could be used as a biomarker to find out if someone is at risk for cancer?
It seemed like a question that needed to be answered. There has previously been a lot of studies on how MDM2 works in diseases such sarcoma, breast cancer, and leukemia. There is proof that having too much or too little of it can lead to the growth of tumors. We might be able to notice those warning signs early if we could measure MDM2 accurately.
That question led me to do my own investigation. I want to learn how MDM2 could be utilized to tell if someone is at risk for cancer, not only in principle but maybe even as a future diagnostic test.
For now, I’m still reading as much as I can to get a better idea of how MDM2 works in different situations. I also aim to get in touch with researchers and professionals that have worked with biomarkers or looked into this pathway in depth. I hope that by putting together what I learn from science and these talks, I might someday help develop or make a test that leverages MDM2 to find problems early on.
I’ll write about my progress on this blog. I’ll write about the papers I’m reading, the thoughts I’m working through, and the people that teach me things along the way. I don’t have all the answers yet, but I’m looking forward to asking the proper questions and maybe even finding something beneficial.
YP53 
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