Samantha Arbour, a molecular biology senior on the pre-med track, chose to focus in on cancer as her senior research topic under the supervision of Roslyn Crowder, PhD. Specifically, the focal point of her research is to investigate how a component in green tea extract can be used as a mechanism to kill lymphoblastic leukemia cells as an alternative to the commonly prescribed chemotherapy, which is not 100 percent effective. For Arbour, her interest in cancer stemmed from both a personal connection with her family and the fact that it is a rising global issue.

Arbour proposes a combination of chemotherapy and the use of green tea extract because one of its components, egcg, has the ability to kill cancer cells without causing harm to our bodies.

Over the summer of 2017, Arbour studied under specialists in the phrenology department at the University of Florida, where she was able to gain valuable skills from her internship and use them to better her research. Her experience this year provided the hands-on opportunity she needed to design a meaningful research project and allowed her to gain important experience that she can draw upon in the future.