BUFFALO - Charles Reardon-Wilcox, a student at SUNY Fredonia, is attending the 57th summer research participation program in science at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. The highly competitive, highly selective program is the nation's oldest, continuous summer research program in science for gifted and talented high school and college students.
The program exposes students to an atmosphere of intensive research by combining actual "hands-on" laboratory experience working alongside RPCI scientists with lectures and seminars. Students spend 90 percent of their time working on an independent research project and 10 percent of their time attending classes on the biology of cancer.
The major objectives of the program are to: develop in each student the skills, habits and attitudes required by scientific investigators; to allow students to witness scientific creativity in a laboratory setting; to make students aware of academic requirements for a career in science; and to increase students' self-confidence by allowing them to conduct their own research projects. At the conclusion of the program, students participate in a scientific conference, which includes both poster and oral presentations to peers and Roswell Park faculty.
Charles, the son of, Mark and Peggy Wilcox of Falconer, was one of 32 college students selected from more than 300 applicants.
"Most of the participants rank among the top 10 students in their class," said Craig R. Johnson, Coordinator of the program at RPCI. "Students are primarily recruited from across the nation, but each year, students from foreign countries participate."
Charles is studying mechanism of MAGEA11 gene regulation in prostate cancer in the laboratory of Dr. Adam Karpf. He plans to pursue a career in medicine.
The summer participation program, launched in 1953 by Dr. Edwin A. Mirand, former dean of the Roswell Park Graduate Division, University at Buffalo, and retired Director of Educational Affairs at RPCI, is supported by funding from the National Cancer Institute, First Niagara Bank, The Roswell Park Alliance, the Stomper Family Fellowship, and the Bethesda Foundation of Hornell.