Ovarian cancer is a silent, deadly threat to women’s health, due in part to late detection and limited screening options.

Immaculate Edwin, a PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Genetics, aims to generate insights that could lead to more effective treatment options for ovarian cancer. Edwin’s research focuses on uncovering mechanisms of resistance that arise in patients with recurrent low-grade serous ovarian cancer – a rare and slow growing subtype of the cancer.  

“Even when patients go through the standard treatment that involves surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible followed by chemotherapy, approximately 80 percent of these patients have their cancer return,” Edwin says.

When this happens, there is no treatment plan that works well for all patients, causing ovarian cancer to be the fifth-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States.

In these recurrent cases, a faulty protein signaling pathway appears to drive the tumor’s growth. To address this problem, scientists have developed inhibitor drugs designed to block the tumor’s growth. This treatment, however, is not highly effective in cases of low-grade serous ovarian cancer as these inhibitors lose their battle against cancer cells.

“My focus is figuring out how these cancer cells are becoming resistant to these inhibitor treatments over time,” Edwin says. “These cancer cells learn to survive and adapt and ultimately ‘outsmart’ this treatment.”

Edwin treats cancer cells from patient tumors with these clinical inhibitors. Over time, these cells that “outsmart” the treatment emerge, prompting Edwin to investigate the genes that are being activated during this process. 

“This work is the first step toward uncovering why these treatments are becoming less effective. This could give patients with low-grade serous ovarian cancer better outcomes.”

Edwin earned a bachelor’s degree in genetics from Iowa State University and a master’s degree in health and human physiology from the University of Iowa. Her interest in cancer research was piqued at an early age after witnessing her grandfather’s battle with the disease.

“My grandpa was diagnosed at stage 4. At that time, there was not much they could do,” Edwin says. “I watched my family go through the struggles of that. I thought, ‘What could I have done?” 

As a graduate student at Iowa, she is doing something about it.

Bringing science to life

Edwin wanted a graduate program that would prepare her to communicate effectively about scientific topics, as she hopes to pursue a career path that allows her to do that on a day-to-day basis.

She found a great fit in her mentor – Adam Dupay, professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Iowa.

“He’s the one who pushed me to do my first conference just four or five months into my research,” Edwin says. “Overall, it comes down to having a supportive mentor and a project you really like. My peers and co-workers also are great.”

The Genetics Program also encouraged Edwin to participate in the Graduate College’s Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. In the 3MT, graduate and professional students present their groundbreaking research in just 180 seconds with one static slide.

The competition allowed Edwin to strengthen her communication skills, advance her research, and deepen public understanding about low-grade serous ovarian cancer. Edwin was a finalist in 2025.

Bridging the information gap

After earning her doctorate, Edwin plans to pursue a career as a medical science liaison (MSL). A MSL is a field-based scientific expert employed by pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical device companies. They function as a non-promotional bridge between their organization and medical professionals, sharing complex clinical data, supporting research, and gathering field insights.

“Liaisons communicate regularly with clinicians to educate them on scientific and clinical evidence supporting medicines or medical devices and their appropriate use in patient care, while also relaying insights from clinicians back to the company to help enhance the development of the therapies,” Edwin says.