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This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences Associate Professor, Alumni Co-Author Journal Article
Mark Jaffe, D.P.M., associate professor in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, along with college alumni Honey Diaz Perez and Alexandra Paroulek, joined Appu Rathinavelu, Ph.D., executive director of NSU’s Rumbaugh-Goodwin Institute for Cancer Research, and colleagues Panneerselvam Chinnakkannu, Sivanesan Dhandayuthapani, and Umadevi Kandalam in conducting the research and co-authoring a journal article about their collaborative research on breast cancer. Titled “Bromelain-Induced Apoptosis in GI-101A Breast Cancer Cells,” the article was published in the 2012 Journal of Medicinal Food.
As described in the article, results of the group’s research indicate that certain concentrations of bromelain, an enzyme extracted from pineapples, reduced the tendency of known breast-cancer cells to spread. When added in test tubes and Petri dishes containing breast-cancer-tissue cells, the bromelain caused an increase in apoptosis, a programmed cell death that reduces the chances of tumors forming or spreading.
The collaborative study began as a thesis project by Paroulek, who was a member of NSU’s Undergraduate Honors Program prior to graduating from the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in biology. Diaz Perez then took over the project, extending the research until earning her bachelor’s degree in biology from the college in 2011.