Saint Louis University Student Takes 1st Place in National Competition for Nuclear Medicine Research

ST. LOUIS – An undergraduate at Saint Louis University is conducting research that may interest women all over the world. It's all part of a unique program that gives students the opportunity to conduct meaningful research alongside seasoned faculty.

SLU senior Meghan Blase recently was awarded first place for undergraduate research she presented at this year's Society of Nuclear Medicine annual meeting in San Diego.

Blase, a major in nuclear medicine technology at Saint Louis University's Doisy College of Health Sciences, earned top honors in the student technologist portion of the meeting for her research that examined the effect wearing a bra has on patients undergoing PET/CT scans.

Blase, a SLU Presidential Scholar, conducted the retrospective study while participating in the Nuclear Medicine Technology Student Research Initiative, a program coordinated by William Hubble, MA, CNMT, chair of the nuclear medicine technology department, and Medhat Osman, M.D., Sc.M, Ph.D., assistant professor of nuclear medicine and director of PET at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. The initiative aims to give undergraduates the opportunity to conduct meaningful research alongside seasoned faculty.

"Meghan’s research exemplifies what we’re trying to accomplish with the student research initiative," Hubble says. "We may have started out simply trying to give students research experience, but we now know there are so many other possibilities. Students like Meghan are very much contributing to science, and if we keep working the way we’ve been working and producing the way we’ve been producing, all of our students will soon be seeing this kind of success."

"Our research raised interesting questions dealing with hormonal differences between men and women and the impact of bra use on circulation and flow to the breast," says Osman, who mentored Blase during the study.

Blase and Osman reviewed 144 PET/CT scans in patients with no history of breast cancer and examined the differences in PET/CT scans between men and women; women who wore bras during the scan and those who didn't; and women who wore underwire bras versus wireless bras.

They examined the amount of FDG tracer uptake – accumulations of the tracer used to identify malignancies during PET/CT scans – from each group.

We found that there was a significantly higher tracer accumulation in females than males, and in women wearing bras and those who weren't, regardless of the type of bra they wore," Osman says, adding that the study suggests that underlying hormonal differences may explain the higher uptake in females, and the tight fit of the bras to explain the higher uptake in bra users.

"We saw more of the FDG uptake in the nipple and areolar region. The tracer is supposed to highlight malignancies, but those patients didn’t have breast cancer," Blase says. "We believe that the tight fit of a bra could be the reason for the increased the uptake but further studies are needed to confirm our findings and hopefully provide explanation."

Osman says he couldn't be more proud of Blase's achievement.

"This is the first time in the history of the department of Nuclear Medicine technology program at Doisy College for a student to win first prize (in a conference like this)," he says. "But Meghan is a Presidential Scholar. Clearly, she’s not your average student."

Seniors in the nuclear medicine technology program are expected to complete a research project before they graduate, Hubble says, pointing out that Blase could turn in the award-winning research she conducted as a junior but instead plans to expand on it or begin a new study entirely.

After she graduates in May, Blase says she plans to enroll in Doisy College’s graduate-level physician assistant program.

Blase wasn't the only undergraduate in the nuclear medicine technology program to present at the conference.

Recent graduates Isaac Tran, Jared Thatcher and Katie Leonard also showcased their research, along with former NMT student Scott Huston, now a technologist at Saint Louis University, who won 3rd place in his division for his research on the impact of the use of warm blanket as a simple solution for the problem of brown fat in PET/CT scans. Tran, Thatcher and Leonard also received scholarships from Doisy College to attend the conference.

Long a leader in health professions education, Saint Louis University began its nursing program in 1928 and the first baccalaureate degree program in an allied health profession in 1929. Today the Doisy College of Health Sciences offers degrees in nursing, clinical laboratory sciences, health information management, investigative and medical sciences, nuclear medicine technology, nutrition and dietetics, occupational science and occupational therapy, physical therapy and a physician assistant program.

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