This week 17-year-old Chatelech Secondary School student Matthew Clarke will be investigating whether or not cancer is hereditary at a gene research lab in Montreal.
Matthew is one of a select group of students from across the province who will be placed in labs during spring break under the Gene Researcher for a Week program run by the Canadian Gene Cure Foundation. The Foundation is a charity that supports the Canadian research community in discovering cures and treatments for inherited diseases.
Matthew applied earlier this year when his class was told the program was looking for students who had an aptitude for science. He had to supply a transcript of his marks, letters of reference and an essay explaining why he should be chosen.
"I thought I should be in the program because I was interested in it, I had good grades and it followed the future career path that I was looking at. I want to go into medicine," he said.
Within a couple of weeks Matthew got the news he was accepted and soon he found out he would be working in a lab in Montreal near McGill University.
"It was a nice coincidence they did put me in McGill because that's where I applied for university. I just got my early acceptance a couple of weeks ago," Matthew said.
Matthew is in Montreal starting work today (March 21 in the lab.
"I think its great. It's a chance to take a look at the university to see if I want to go there. It's going to be kind of different," he said. "I get to be away from my family for a week and I've never really done that. Also I'm really interested in what they're doing. Biology was one of my favourite courses. I like all the sciences, but biology was one that came really easy to me."
He's excited to see what it's like to work in a lab and help do research that could be beneficial and lead to a better understanding of cancer.
"They're focusing on whether or not cancer can be hereditary, which is really interesting because I did like the gene part of biology," he said. "It was kind of cool how you can trace all kinds of traits through a family line. So it would be really interesting if we could actually learn if cancer can be related to your family."
Matthew's biology teacher, Mrs. Johnson wants him to take lots of notes and report back to the class on his experience when he's home after spring break.
"She wants me to take a camera, take a picture of everything and take notes on everything and bring it back to make a Power Point presentation for the class. She was actually really excited when I got in," he said.
The Canadian Gene Cure Foundation hopes the week as a gene researcher will help get students excited about working in the field.
"Enabling high school students to get real hands-on experience under the guidance of highly accomplished scientists inspires our youth to follow their passion and interest in science into a career in research," said Sandra MacPherson, board chair of the Canadian Gene Cure Foundation.
To find out more about this initiative go to www.genecure.ca.
