Nancy Leon ’19 has joined a continent-spanning investigation at Whittier College into how effectively extracts from Chinese herbs can prevent cancer.
Leon, a biology and chemistry double-major, is proud to have contributed to the ongoing research project.
It began in 2016, when two students traveled to China’s hilly and mountainous Kunming region to gather herbs to bring back to Whittier’s Science & Learning Center laboratories for testing. Such herbs had been used in Eastern medicine to prevent cancer, and chemistry professors Ralph Isovitch and Devin Iimoto have been collaborating with student-researchers like Leon to investigate their effectiveness.
After another student extracted the herbs’ compounds, the baton passed to Leon and her teammates to test how well they inhibit a cancer-creating enzyme, Cytochrome P450 1A1 and 1B1. The enzymes convert chemical compounds commonly found in smoke, exhaust, oil spills, and some kinds of food into carcinogenic compounds.
“We put them (the extracts) together in this solution that is a mixture of all these other chemicals, trying to create an ideal environment for the enzyme,” Leon said. “We’ve run the reaction with the enzyme and the inhibitor after they combine and we want to analyze how much activity is left within the solution.”
Tests are still underway, but thus far, extracts from the bamboo herb are proving notably effective. If the extract can cut down the enzymes’ activity by at least 50 percent, “that means it’s a really good inhibitor,” Leon said.
Leon’s making another discovery, too: her own passion for chemistry. When she stepped into the lab of her general chemistry class and got hands-on with experiments, she felt—quite simply—cool.
“If it wasn’t for my professors, honestly, I probably wouldn’t even be interested in sciences,” Leon said. Professor Christina Bauer, her first instructor, encouraged Leon through her self-doubt and showed her how experiments are enlightening, regardless of they whether they work out the way they were intended. Iimoto worked closely with Leon, as well, guiding her growth as a promising scientist.
“Nancy is a dedicated student who has become independent in her ability to do this research project,” Iimoto said. “She has blossomed from a shy person into someone who has gained confidence in her scientific abilities.”
Now, Leon is passing on the same encouragement and guidance to her student mentees, who will take over the project after she moves on to graduate school.
“Even after I graduate, because I love what I’m doing so much, I’m still going to keep in touch and find out which of the herbs that I predicted were the better inhibitors,” Leon said.
The 2016 trip to China was supported by a grant from the Luce Initiative for Asian Studies and the Environment. Jake Carbine, the C. Milo Connick Chair of Religious Studies, organized the interdisciplinary trip.
