Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting women today. With over 211,000 American women learning each year that they have the disease, the quest for a cure is palpable at many institutions and laboratories. Florida State has become a component in finding a cure as our professors and students research this disease to save lives.

Holly Monroe, majoring in Chemistry and Biochemistry, is one such researcher, having completed a Directed Individual Study with Dr. Q.X. Amy Sang. Receiving the University's Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Award this past summer enabled her to continue their research, "utilizing immunohistochemistry and other histological assays to localize certain markers in breast tissue and to determine any relationships that may exist among these markers."

She is hopeful. "Our findings may offer headway in the identification of proteins that serve as biomarkers of pre-invasive breast cancer and in designing therapeutics that prevent the progression of ductal carcinoma in situ to full-fledged breast cancer." Her research will culminate in the completion of her Honors Thesis, "Identifying Molecular Markers of Early Invasive Human Breast Carcinoma."

She is also co-author of an invited review article, regarding the "the deleterious effects of inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and multiple sclerosis," for Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology (Sep 2006).

For her research, Holly has received multiple grants and scholarships, including the Bess Ward Endowment Honors Thesis Grant, the Katherine and Harold Hoffman Scholarship in Chemistry, and the DeLos and Frances DeTar Scholarship in Chemistry.

Despite her schedule, Holly has remained focused on her academic standing at Florida State. She maintains a 4.0 grade point average, which means she has consistently appeared on the Dean's List and the President's List. Nearly every honor society has invited her to join—Phi Eta Sigma, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Epsilon Delta, and the Golden Key International Honour Society.

And she has remained actively involved in the community, as a learning volunteer for Tallahassee Memorial Hospital's pediatric unit through Arts in Medicine Service, and as an intern and employee for the Tallahassee Neurological Clinic, where she witnessed first-hand "the physicians' compassion in handling emotionally trying cases."

Next stop—medical school, where we know Holly will excel.