A is for... April. Our lovely Intern, April Giron, graduated this May with a degree in Public Health. April has spent two years with us, and we are proud of her and all of her hard work! April has followed up her graduation with a quiet courthouse wedding to her longtime boyfriend/fiancé, Ivan! The KTB sends warm wishes to April and her new husband at this special time of new beginnings.

B is for… Bloomington. Oh, how very sad we are to have been forced to cancel our planned April event in Bloomington. We have received notice at IU that all those who do not need to go back to campus should continue working from home for the foreseeable future, but as soon as the country is back on track and we can move forward safely, we’ll be seeing you, Bloomington!

C is for... COVID-19. As the global pandemic has been affecting living daily life as we know it, the KTB Team like so many other workgroups has settled into home workspaces. We have had to indefinitely postpone plans for any tissue collections, but in the meantime we are completing so many projects that have now been moved to the front burner.

ONE: The Komen Tissue Bank was honored to donate our protective equipment supplies from our canceled Bloomington event to be distributed to our local hospital healthcare professionals and first responders. It made us feel so good to be able to do something to help!

TWO: The Komen Tissue Bank's very own Kathi Ridley-Merriweather has been selected to receive an IUPUI Elite 50 award on behalf of the Division of Student Affairs, the IUPUI Graduate Office, and the Graduate & Professional Student Government. This is an award that identifies 50 graduate and professional students who demonstrate excellence beyond the classroom-in areas such as campus leadership, scholarly work, and community engagement. So well-deserved, Kathi!

THREE: Two of the KTB interns, Kamryn Benscoter and Courtney Eytchison, presented posters demonstrating their hard work. Kamryn’s poster described her work requesting and de-identifying mammograms and uploading them to the KTB Virtual Tissue Bank. It also highlighted her preparations to draft a manuscript addressing the research question: How has the Komen Tissue Bank affected breast cancer research? Courtney, who worked in our lab, created a poster describing a project trying to determine the effect of Metformin, the anti-diabetic drug that has been widely investigated for its therapeutic value on cancer, on normal and cancer breast cells. The effect of administering a combination of two drugs to the cells, Alpelisib (an antitumor medication) and Metformin, was also evaluated. In addition, both ladies were nominated for intern of the year as part of their involvement in the Office of Student Employment Intern program. Congratulations, Kamryn and Courtney!