Laboratory research is initiated in the first year of the three-year fellowship. Over the past 15 years, this has been directed by Andrew Berchuck, M.D. This laboratory is predominantly involved in defining molecular alterations in growth regulation that occur during carcinogenesis and in the genetics of ovarian and endometrial cancers.

 

After initial orientation and familiarization with pertinent laboratory techniques, the fellow develops and executes a laboratory project(s) in conjunction with the laboratory faculty. (It is expected that this project will result in a paper meeting the requirements for the fellowship thesis as specified for subspecialty certification.) The skills of bench research and the planning and execution of a project are emphasized in this experience. Continued pursuit of laboratory research during the clinical fellowship years is encouraged although it is clear that most of this research is as an "interface" between the clinical arena and the laboratory. Collaboration with faculty, subsequent laboratory fellows, and technicians by the clinical fellow allows projects to mature over a three-year period. It is expected that the fellow will complete his/her fellowship with the skills necessary to pursue laboratory research as a faculty member.

 

Research Space and Opportunity: The Gynecologic Oncology laboratory (Dr. Berchuck, Director) encompasses 2,000 square feet of space in the new Medical Sciences Research Building (MSRB). It is fully equipped with state-of-the-art molecular biology equipment and reagents. The fellow has a 150 square foot office with a desktop PC that is connected to the Duke network with access to MEDLINE. We have built a tumor bank that contains frozen specimens from approximately 1000 patients with gynecologic malignancies, including more than 500 ovarian and 300 endometrial cancers. We also have stored thousands of serum samples and ascites from patients with ovarian cancer as well as leukocyte DNA. These tissues, sera, ascites, and DNA's are available for Fellow research projects. Finally in our laboratory, monoclonal antibody technology and molecular biologic techniques are routinely employed.

 

Our laboratory group includes physician scientists, Ph.D.'s, and postdoctoral students. As a result, the fellow has at his or her disposal individuals with a wide range of expertise and interests. Most of the learning process will occur as he interacts with these various individuals during the course of working on his projects. Finally, Dr. Berchuck bears ultimate responsibility for assuring that the lab Fellow has a successful research experience. In this regard, all of the Gynecologic Oncology fellows who have spent one year in our laboratory have been productive and authored multiple peer review publications. (See complete list of Presentations and Bibliography .)