BME Undergrad Makenna Aitken Discusses Ovarian Cancer Research on Thesis Thursdays

Every Thursday, Tucson radio station KXCI 91.3 interviews students about their research and interests on a program called Thesis Thursdays. Recently, the show featured Makenna Aitken a third-year BME undergraduate student studying ovarian cancer in Jennifer Barton’s Tissue Optics Lab.

"We're studying early detection methods for ovarian cancer because right now, only about 15% of ovarian cancer cases are an early-stage diagnosis," Aitken said. "One of our main projects is developing micro-endoscopes. These are tiny little endoscopes with cameras and lasers, and they also have a tissue-collection probe that will collect samples inside the ovary that we then take out and examine for ovarian cancer."

After graduation, Aitken plans to get her master’s degree in BME through the Accelerated Masters Program.