Hark the Sound: The Hingtgen Lab Playlist
Music keeps the Hingtgen Lab motivated while they build platform technologies to battle cancer
Story by Ryan McDaniel | Published February 7, 2023
Hark the Sound is a series exploring music playlists curated by faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
As rewarding as the outcomes of research can be, working in a lab is often a tedious job. Going through a process again and again, repeating steps over and over can become monotonous. One simple way to keep up the energy and vitality in such an environment is through music. The Hingtgen Lab has cracked the code on this, bringing in tunes from an eclectic range of music genres and styles to match the diversity of backgrounds and cultures of the people in the lab. Each team member has hand-picked one song for their addition to the playlist, which we present to you today. Enjoy!
| Song Selection | Lab Member Name | Role |
| Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen | Andrew Buckley | Research Specialist |
| Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters by Elton John | Alex Woodell | PhD Candidate |
| Sunday Best by Surfaces | Breanna Mann | PhD Candidate |
| Say Something by Justin Timberlake & Chris Stapleton | Shawn Hingtgen | Principal Investigator |
| Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd | Andrew Satterlee | Associate Director, Brain Slice Technology Program |
| Robbers by The 1975 | Lauren Kass | PhD Candidate |
| Malibu Nights by LANY | Nicole Tan | Visiting Research Student |
| Dangerous by Michael Jackson | Rajaneekar Dasari | Research Associate |
| The Great Escape by Patrick Watson | Morrent Thang | PhD Candidate |
| Read All About It, Part III by Emeli Sande | Adebimpe Adefolaju | Research Specialist |
| Cole World by J. Cole | Rami Darawsheh | Undergraduate Research Student |
| Radio Gaga by Queen | Alain Valdivia | Research Specialist |
| The Good the Bad and the Ugly by Ennio Morricone | Albert Baldwin | Principal Investigator |
| Mutineer by Warren Zevon | Max Wallace | Advisor |
As they jam out to these tunes, the Hingtgen Lab is working on some exciting research with potential to profoundly affect the field of oncology. The team is working with neural stem cells to deliver therapeutics directly to glioblastoma tumors, leveraging the stem cells’ ability to “chase” the tumor. The lab’s process modifies patients’ own skin cells for this use, reducing the risk of immune-rejection upon administration.
The team is also working on another platform technology to better treat brain cancers. The platform utilizes brain slice tissue and tissue from a patient’s own tumor to assess efficacy of different therapeutics on the tumor, ex vivo. Through this, post-surgical drug regimens can be safely and effectively tailored to optimize destruction of remaining tumor tissue.
One can imagine the transformative possibilities these technologies could have on the lives of thousands of patients. Thank you to the Hingtgen Lab team – keep the music playing and keep up the incredible work!