In February, senior Hannah Wheaton was excited to find herself at Seven Springs – but not for the mountains and the snow. Hannah was the only undergraduate student selected to present her research at a yearly meeting of cancer researchers.

The Translational Research Cancer Centers Consortium (TRCCC) hosts an annual conference at the resort, and 2025 was the third year that students from Seton Hill participated in the event.

“Interacting with the doctors at the conference while presenting my poster was a very educational experience,” Hannah said. “Not only was I able to share my research with them, but many of them were able to share with me how the work that they have done related to mine.”

Hannah, a forensic science and biology double major, completed an internship in the summer of 2024 at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, N.Y., in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Lab under the guidance of Dr. Erik Knudsen and Dr. Agnieszka Witkiewicz. The work she completed in that lab is what Hannah presented at the TRCCC.

“It was very exciting to be selected for the Translational Research Cancer Centers Consortium,” she said. “It was a privilege to be able to represent Seton Hill at such an important event and learn more about the exciting upcoming ideas in the field of cancer research.”

Seton Hill was first connected to the organization through Seton Hill Distinguished Alumna Dr. Elizabeth Repasky of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the university was the first undergraduate institution invited to send students to present at the conference in 2023. The TRCCC’s mission is to gain a greater understanding of the interactions between the immune system and cancer in the setting of biologic therapy of cancer.

“We started TRCCC more than 27 years ago as a way to enhance interest and training in cancer research in a regional way, involving cancer centers in the mid-Atlantic region and Ontario, Canada,” Dr. Repasky said. “While most of the young attendees who present their research are graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, Seton Hill undergraduates have proven that their research and mentorship from Associate Professor of Chemistry Dr. Amalene Cooper-Morgan and other professors is on par with those with more years of experience. As a Seton Hill Alumna, I was amazed and proud of the exceptional and interesting presentation given by Hannah.”

During her internship, Hannah helped on a study being conducted on bladder cancer and investigating the different molecules in the body responsible for driving the process that allows our cells to divide and replicate. The study looked at which molecules were present in patients with bladder cancer and if their presence had any correlation with the patient's survival. Through the research, they found that different patients had differing levels of molecules in their tumors and that the presence of some molecules had a correlation with a better prognosis and increased chance of survival for some patients.

“Bladder cancer can be very aggressive, as many with it fail to respond to therapies and experience disease progression and recurrence. There is a need for better predictors of chemotherapeutic response and understanding of the clinical relevance of alterations in cell cycle regulating molecules,” Hannah said. “Advancing our understanding of the molecular landscape of tumors can help to pave the way for more personalized treatments in bladder cancer, better informing and advising diagnosis and treatment plans.”

She was the only undergraduate student working on the project, and appreciated the connections she made in addition to the welcome and support she received from the other researchers in the lab.

“Hannah has shown a great deal of dedication to research. Her ability to engage with experts in the field, characterizes her willingness to participate in discussions about her work and exemplifies a curiosity about the advancement of the field,” said Dr. Cooper-Morgan. “Her work not only contributes to our understanding of bladder cancer but highlights the importance of experiential learning and underlines the impact that young researchers can have on the future of cancer research.”

After graduation, Hannah plans to enter the workforce in the field of biology with consideration for pursuing graduate studies in future years.