Can a cup of tea a day keep the oncologist away?

Emily Brown was set to attend Arizona State University after graduating high school in 2019. She had her housing ready, even a roommate — but, ultimately, she decided to change course and enlist in the United States Marine Corps. 

When she found herself stationed in Japan in 2021, she came to the realization that she wanted to start college again. With help from her education advisor, she checked out ASU Online and resources like the Pat Tillman Veterans Center. That’s when she made the jump and started taking classes.

Brown also wanted to pursue a path to medical school, but she wasn’t sure how to make herself stand out in applications. 

“I wanted to get involved in research, but I didn't really know what to do,” said Brown. “I'm overseas, 16 hours away. How do I even get involved in research?”

It’s a common question among online students looking to pursue careers related to research or post-grad academic endeavors. That’s where the Online Undergraduate Research Scholars (OURS) program comes in. 

The OURS program was built to help online students in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences gain academic and professional experience that meets them where they’re at geographically by providing group-based research opportunities and mentorship. Students can gain valuable skills that set them apart in the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences. 

“I was looking through all of the different opportunities that they had for research, and I came across ASU Professor Judith Klein-Seetharaman and her approach with linking plant metabolites to health benefits,” said Brown. “I want to be a physician who focuses on the whole body. I don't want to just focus on symptoms. I want to see why that is happening. I want to look at the full body first before I go to the diagnosis.”

After finding the opportunity, she joined Klein-Seetharaman’s OURS opportunity, which was also inspired by her personal motivations: Brown’s grandmother survived breast cancer with the help of hormone therapy and supplements.

“What I wanted to do is provide an opportunity for students to gain access to actual novel results, because the definition of research is that you need to find something new. This is normally very difficult to accomplish for online students except with computational tools,” said Klein-Seetharaman. 

Klein-Seetharaman’s interest is in trying to get a fundamental understanding of what the interactome for different ligands with all the human proteins looks like and if they compete with each other. The lab looks at different medicinal remedies from plant-based supplements to artificial drugs and what happens when many compounds are combined. 

“Nobody knows where these ligands could be binding beyond the targets that were already previously known and that could be either reported in literature or in databases,” said Klein-Seetharaman. 

Klein-Seetharaman asked students not only to search for scientific publications but to look for clinical trials in order to see what evidence exists to support whether or not different natural supplements and their mixtures are effective in reducing disease risk or treating diseases. She aimed to help bridge knowledge gaps through this practice from the molecular fundamental basis to the demonstration of clinical efficacy. 

Brown started researching green tea while in the lab, inspired by her location in Japan and her love of matcha. Her research led her to study the metabolite in green tea known as epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG for short, and how it can regulate the circadian rhythm in patients with breast cancer. 

The circadian clock pathway holds the core processes in the human body that help regulate the 24-hour sleep-wake cycle and hormone regulation. The proteins found in this cycle decrease significantly in patients with breast cancer, linking to a disruption in the rhythm. 

“What I'm trying to see is whether green tea can help restore that circadian rhythm disruption, ultimately helping patients with breast cancer restore it,” said Brown. 

Brown took a look at these proteins of interest and used a software system to investigate the potential interaction of these proteins with the green tea ligand, EGCG, by calculating its binding affinities to the proteins. 

“What we actually found was that those proteins involved in the circadian clock pathway had the best binding affinity. So it's predicting that in this environment, green tea may bind to these proteins in a way that can restore the circadian rhythm,” said Brown. 

While this research shows promising results, there are still unknowns, such as the concentration of the tea, whether that’s a cup of it or if a dietary supplement is enough. However, the computational results give Brown a good idea of where to go next and what to test in a lab.

Brown went on to promote and present her research at this past spring’s AAAS conference in Phoenix, where she was awarded a first-place prize. She has since spoken about the research to others at the university, including during a symposium hosted by the School of Molecular Sciences. 

One of her favorite aspects of being involved in the OURS program was the opportunity to gain experience in fields outside of her major, like biochemistry. 

“In this program, I was doing it for the experience, to grow and to become a better applicant. It ultimately became something that I am really interested in,” said Brown. “It expanded my interests as well, beyond me just focusing on my major. It helped me explore a little bit more than my major without having to switch everything and change everything.” 

After graduating with a degree in biological sciences in May from the School of Life Sciences, she plans to take a gap year and prepare for medical school. 

“I did my entire project in Japan. (Professor Klein-Seetharaman) was able to work with my schedule. Take it from me, I was able to do full-time active duty, full-time school and be able to do this with the support of her,” said Brown.

“The best thing (about) the whole ASU experience being online was that no matter where you (are) in the world, there (are) people there to support you."

Learn more about upcoming OURS program opportunities this fall here.