CHAPEL HILL, NC - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center has named three graduate students as Lineberger Fellows for excellence in cancer research.

Graduate students Katherine Taylor, Kathleen Christine and Carlos González-Alvarez have received the annual award, along with a $5,000 stipend each to conduct cancer-related research.

Taylor, a graduate student in chemistry, is focusing on developing hybrid nanoparticles in hopes of applying the research to biomedical technology such as anti-cancer drug delivery and medical imaging. Her preceptor is Wenbin Lin, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences and Lineberger member.

Christine, a graduate student in biology, is researching how immature cells grow and mature into functional heart cells in a developing embryo. She studies instructive growth signals within a cell to better understand cancer biology. Christine’s preceptor is Frank Conlon, Ph.D., associate professor of genetics in the School of Medicine, adjunct associate professor of biology in the College of Arts and Sciences and Lineberger member.

González-Alvarez is a graduate student in microbiology and immunology in the laboratory of Blossom Damania, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology and immunology in the School of Medicine and Lineberger member. González-Alvarez studies various lymphomas in the HIV-positive population and Kaposi's Sarcoma-associated Herpes Virus (KSHV), which is the cause of Kaposi’s Sarcoma, a type of cancer. His research focuses on characterizing viral proteins and how they contribute to viral replication, a requirement for the development of cancers.

The center’s Board of Visitors began the Lineberger Fellows program in 1988 to promote and encourage graduate students to pursue cancer research.