From Jurassic Park to Cancer Research: Dr. Vipin Shankar’s Journey
In his lab at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Vipin Shankar looks through powerful microscopes at skin cells from cancer patients. He’s looking for tiny changes in DNA that might explain why some people get skin cancer called melanoma.This role is something Vipin dreamed about ever since he watched a famous movie as a kid.
“It all started when I first watched Jurassic Park,” Vipin remembers. “I was really fascinated about the whole cloning thing, and I decided that’s what I wanted to do.”
Of course, bringing dinosaurs back to life is just movie magic, but Vipin’s love for science was very real. As he read more books, he became super interested in cancer. He wondered about something that seemed strange to him.
“Think about when you get a tiny grain of sand in your eye,” Vipin explains. “Your eye gets red and tears up to push the sand out. But when cancer grows in the body, which is much bigger than a grain of sand, sometimes the body doesn’t even notice it’s there.”
He wondered, “What makes the cancer cell evade the body’s protection, the body’s mechanism to fight against invading particles or fight against foreign objects? Or how does the cancer protect itself and still grow in the body when the body is trying to eliminate it?”
This curiosity led him to pursue higher education in the field. “I did my undergrad in biochemistry and a master’s in biochemistry and then I did a PhD in medical sciences where I looked at specific cancers in pediatric patients. I was working with neuroblastoma which is a cancer that’s in pediatric patients and then this was in Japan then I moved on to Canada where I did postdoctoral fellowship there.
And then in 2020, I came to Cleveland Clinic.” Early exposure to medicine influenced his path. “My mom is an oncologist, so I used to drive her to the hospitals. That’s how I would go to the hospital. I would spend time at the hospital with her. That time also I was introduced to cancer patients and also caregivers who worked in the hospitals.”
For students thinking about science careers, Vipin has some advice: “The important thing is to always ask questions and try to find answers. That’s all science is about,” he says. “Ask why things happen, read about what people already know, and then try to discover what nobody knows yet.”
“In science there’s always a lot of obstacles… Most of the time you don’t know if you would be able to answer a question.”
He wants kids to know that science isn’t always about getting things right the first time. “In our lab, we have more failed experiments than successful ones,” he explains. “But even when something doesn’t work, that’s still useful information. It tells us ‘don’t go this way’ – like a stop sign pointing us to try a different path.”
He emphasizes the importance of perseverance: “One thing that you should always keep in mind is that a negative result or a no result is also a result. You just showed the world that it is not X, Y, or Z. It might be something else.”
When asked what STEM means to him, Dr. Shankar says: “STEM is how we find answers to cool questions. I want to know what makes normal cells turn into cancer cells. To figure this out, I use science experiments, amazing technology like special microscopes, math to calculate the right amount of medicines, and engineering to design new tools. All parts of STEM work together to solve mysteries.”
For students who feel stuck or discouraged, Vipin offers this encouragement: “Don’t get scared when something goes wrong or doesn’t work how you wanted. Keep going, keep trying. Even if your guess was wrong, that’s okay – sometimes the surprise answers are the most exciting ones that help the most people.”
From sitting in a movie theater watching scientists bring dinosaurs back to life, to working in a real laboratory solving the mysteries of cancer, Vipin’s journey shows how curiosity and not giving up can lead to an amazing career in science – one that might someday help save lives!