Advancing cancer exploration, step by cell
At Oberlin College, the Winter Term offers exciting projects for students every year, and one such project has captured the attention of the scientific community. Sunny Hunt, a double major in biochemistry and sociology, spent the Winter Term and the summer delving into glioblastoma research at Dr. Justin Lathia's translational cancer stem cell research lab at Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Lathia, an associate professor and principal investigator, has been working tirelessly to understand the disparities in glioblastoma outcomes between people assigned male at birth and those assigned female at birth. His lab has been investigating this phenomenon with Sunny Hunt over the summer.
Sunny's research has been intriguing, as she has come up with multiple angles to explore. Her second research project focuses on the interaction between microglia, the brain's immune cells, and glioblastoma in individuals assigned male and female at birth.
Sunny finds this research challenging due to the numerous 'what-ifs' that arise during the research process. However, she has designed a series of experiments to see how key parts of the inflammatory response are altered by estrogen and androgens in glioblastoma.
Sunny's research has already made exciting insights into the differential response to sex hormones in glioblastoma. The lab hopes to expand upon these findings in the future.
In addition to her work in the lab, Sunny has also made strides in addressing bigotry and misinformation. She recently published an article in the 2025 issue of Waves, discussing the connection between anti-intellectualist and anti-science rhetoric and anti-trans rhetoric.
Sunny's family, especially her father, is incredibly proud of her work and success in college. After a cancer battle, her father is now in good health and often shares his health progress with Sunny, such as the number of steps he takes or calories burned on the elliptical.
After graduation, Sunny plans to pursue an MD-PhD, continuing her work in the field of cancer research and making a significant impact on the scientific community.
