MACON, Ga. — Professors from Middle Georgia State University's School of Information Technology are ecstatic to receive the $480,000 grant for research that could detect early stages of cancer. Professor Yingfeng Wang is the mastermind behind this project.
"If we can make a small step, it will still significantly benefit related areas like cancer detection," he said.
Senior Michael Koohang is one of the 8 students working with him to identify special chemicals called metabolites.
"If we can identify which metabolites are associated with which kind of processes we can actually see what's going on inside of the body using those identifications," Koohang said, which can help with early disease detection.
Professor Myungjae Kwak says the grant money is used to recruit students for research. It also covers the cost of the equipment needed to break down and identify the compounds.
"We need to develop more accurate algorithm. To do that, we need to have more computing power, so we're going to use those funds to purchase higher-computing computers," Kwak said.
Wang says this method of identifying compounds in biological samples like blood or urine could help detect cancer early, when it's easier to treat.
"If you can get the job as easy as possible, as reliable as possible, as cheap as possible, it will also help the cancer early detection," Wang said.
Wang and Kwak believe state-of-the-art research opportunities will bring more undergraduate students to Middle Georgia State. The grant came from the National Science Federation and will take three years to complete.
