The UCSB Affiliates' Science Lite series continues in May with two lectures on cancer treatment.
On Wednesday, May 11, Mary Ann Jordan, and adjunct professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, will present "The Dance of Life and Death:
How Do the Anticancer Drugs Taxol and Vincristine Work to Kill Cancer Cells?"
Two weeks later, on Wednesday May 25, Kathy Kamath, a post-doctoral researcher who works in Jordan's laboratory, will discuss "Viruses, Antibodies and Other Novel approaches to Cancer Chemotherapy."
Both lectures will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, 21 East Constance Avenue (at State Street).
Admission is $8 for UCSB Affiliates and Chancellor's Council members and $10 for non-members.
Advance registration, which is recommended, can be made by calling the UCSB Office of Community Relations at 893-4388.
Jordan will describe how she and her team learned about how popular cancer drugs work by targeting the dynamics of microtubules in the mitotic spindle of the dividing cancer cell.
They are also working to develop novel anticancer drugs to overcome the side effects of these traditional chemotherapeutic drugs.
Kamath will discuss novel efforts to selectively kill cancer cells while sparing normal cells based on their molecular differences, thus reducing collateral damage to normal tissues and serious side effects of current treatments.
Jordan's work is funded by the National Institutes of Health and she collaborates and consults with a number of pharmaceutical companies.
Jordan earned her Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in New York.
She has taught and conducted research at UCSB for more than 25 years.
In addition to working with Jordan, Kamath is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research.
She has worked as a histologist in the anatomic pathology laboratory at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and is a graduate teaching assistant for the upper division biology of cancer course at UCSB.
Science Lite is a UCSB Affiliates program for non-scientists interested in gaining a fundamental understanding of science and technology, as well as those interested in keeping up on the myriad advances in science.
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