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Bioinformatics Summer Internship 2024 With Hands-On-Training + Project / Dissertation - 30 Days, 3 Months & 6 Months Duration

Cancer Cells seem to be much more intelligent than half the people I know or maybe they are just probably getting some inspiration from the super bugs.

Lipogenesis is the metabolic formation of fat. It is a process of fatty acid and triglyceride synthesis from glucose or other substrates. This biosynthesis predominantly takes place in the liver. According to a report published in july last year, the metabolic pathway of de novo lipogenesis apparently upregulated in human liver tumours, and this upregulation was found to be associated with poor prognosis. And therefore the study concluded that blocking such a pathway in cultured liver cancer cells could be sufficient to decrease cancer cell viability. This study was hailed as the best solution for treating liver cancer as they had undoubtedly discovered the disease’s Achilles’ heel.

However, what researchers thought could be the next important discovery to treat liver cancer- the third leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide- could now perform the exact opposite of its intended function.

A team of researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in hopes of putting a full stop to the proliferation of cancer cells in the liver of mice, used this technique and blocked

the pathway in liver cells, they were in for a horrifying result. They discovered that upon the blockage of this mechanism, the cancer cells seemed to double.

When they delved deeper, they found that these shoddy cancer cells somehow sniffed out this misleading plot to finish them off and were quick to find a way around this situation by stealing fat from the bloodstream to replace the missing fat that would be available through lipogenesis. The scientists in a way had improved the cells’ antioxidant defense system which led to the enabling of damaged, precancerous cells survival, by blocking the mechanism.

However, sunny side up, the researchers can now look at other options or rack their brains to devise a new solution to fight liver cancer and no longer have to waste their resources on this approach which is a sure dead end.

In search of the perfect burger. Serial eater. In her spare time, practises her "Vader Voice". Passionate about dance. Real Weird.