Few high school students can say they spent their summer researching cures for cancer, but Zoey Silarek can.
The Greenbrier High School rising senior is one of 22 students who spent their summer participating in the Georgia Cancer Center’s Summer Research Experience. The students will conclude the program with a celebratory ceremony and oral presentations on July 15.
“I feel like I’ve learned a lot and not just about science. I’ve learned about myself and the people around me,” said Silarek, who wants to major in molecular biology at Augusta University. Her goal is to be a dermatologist specializing in Mohs surgery.
While she gained insight into a world of research, she also realized that her path to her goal might not be linear, but could take many twists and turns along the way.
Silarek worked on Nicholas Gascoigne’s research. Gascoigne, the Lamar B. Peacock, M.D. Distinguished Chair for the Study of Immunological Disease and a professor in the Department of Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, has been researching T-cells since the early 1980s.
His current focus is on whether a protein called Themis improves the function of T- cells.
“We have reason to believe it regulates the signaling in T-cells,” he said and is hopeful for what that find will mean for cancer treatments.
Gascoigne has only been at the cancer center and MCG for 18 months, and this is his first summer serving as a mentor in the Summer Research Experience program, but he sees the value because he was part of something similar when he was an undergraduate student. It was influential in his own career path
“Our long-term goal is that they become scientists,” he said.
The summer experience is only in its fourth year, but interest has grown exponentially, and it’s become a highly competitive program, according to Lisa Middleton, director of scientific affairs at the cancer center, who leads the education and training office.
The program took several years to develop, but it was born our of need. There was no other program like it in the area and filled criteria for the cancer center to to receive NCI certification.
Piloted in 2022 with one student, it fully launched in 2023 with 12 participants and 16 applicants. This year, there were more than 200 applications for 22 slots. Priority went to students in Richmond, Columbia and Aiken counties, but Middleton said applications came from multiple states from Florida to Michigan. They also received an application from Hong Kong..
Students spend six weeks “alongside top cancer researchers and help advance novel research projects in cell and molecular biology, cancer immunology, clinical outcomes, bioinformatics, population health, computational biology, or other focus areas. Students will learn key principles of cancer biology and be introduced to multidisciplinary approaches to address the disease,” according to the university’s website.
While research is an integral part of what students do, they learn other skills including communications. Giving an oral presentation based on a single slide is part of their culminating activity.
They also can network with the university and with one another.
Middleton said one graduate of the program reached out to his mentor and returned after his freshman year of college to do research that counted toward his degree.
“His college mentors were floored. Most students don’t have that until their senior year,” she said.
Several students have participated more than one summer. Middleton said one told them he couldn’t return this year because he landed an internship at the National Cancer Institute this year.
Middleton said she has ideas on ways to grow the program.
Applications for summer 2027 open in October. Go here for more information.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named best local writer by readers of Augusta Magazine in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
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