Melissa Sobanko '21

Major: Integrative Neuroscience
Bio: Melissa Sobanko grew up in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania before moving to New York City to pursue her undergraduate studies in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience. She hopes to earn her PhD following graduation.

Title of Research: Cell Senescence in WS1 & CCD-1070Sk Skin Fibroblasts
Partner: Abdullah Salama
Mentor: Dr. Deborah C. Luckett
Abstract: This study was conducted to determine at which passage number senescence begins in WS1 and CCD-1070Sk skin fibroblast cells. Each cell line was cultured in EMEM and supplemented with 10% FBS, 1% penicillin-streptomycin, and 1% NEAA using T-25 and T-75 flasks. The cells were subcultured at 75% confluence. The Senescence-associated β-Galactosidase (SAβ-gal) assay was performed at various passage numbers using Lab-Tek 2-well and 4-well chamber slides. The senescence and morphologies of the cell lines were observed at various passages. Based on our preliminary work, we found more senescent cells in the higher passage numbers and that senescence appeared to start earlier in WS1 cells compared to the CCD-1070Sk cell. We plan to investigate this more and to include lung fibroblast cells in our future studies.