Ten questions: Meet cancer researcher and artist Anamaria Zavala

Anamaria Zavala, assistant research professor in the Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering. Photo by Priscilla Grover

Anamaria Zavala, an assistant research professor in the Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, studies how applying physical forces to the body can help cancer patients recover from chemotherapy. Her research explores using vibrations to stimulate cells, enhancing DNA repair, reducing side effects like fatigue and osteoporosis, and lowering the risk of cancer returning.

"About 80 percent of patients experience cancer-related fatigue, on top of the exhaustion caused by treatment," Zavala said. "We're exploring ways to use gentle mechanical forces, like vibration, to give the body the benefits of exercise and support DNA repair-even when patients are too fatigued to be active."

But Zavala is more than a scientist. She's an artist who sees great similarities between creative and scientific pursuits. She is also a mentor committed to supporting the next generation of scientists.

A first-generation college student, Zavala works with the Institute for Inclusive & Transformative Scholarship at Boise State. This program helps students, faculty and staff explore research and creative projects, including those that give undergraduates hands-on research experience. Zavala has mentored 15 undergraduates in the lab during her time on campus.

She took time to answer our 10 questions.

1. What is a question you have spent your life trying to answer?

AZ: I want to know why or how a cell determines that its DNA is damaged and how it initiates DNA repair. If we can understand that, we can seek to reduce mutagenesis [the changes or mutations in a person's DNA code that can alter how proteins function and how cells work].

Not all mutations lead to disease - many are harmless, and some may even be beneficial. [examples include the high-altitude adaptations that let people thrive in the Andes and Himalayas, where oxygen levels are low, or gene mutations in Arctic populations that curb adverse effects from a high-fat diet from marine animals]. But mutagenesis can lead to disease if critical genes like tumor suppressors or DNA repair genes are affected.

Everybody thinks of cancer as a disease, but what it actually is is an accumulation of mutations in a living being over their lifetime. That's why cancer risk becomes more prevalent as we age. The genetic code gradually changes, with the potential to eventually cause dysregulation of the cell. The cell either doesn't die appropriately or it grows unusually. It's no longer a normal, healthy cell.

Zavala in her lab, where she specializes in cancer research. Photo by Priscilla Grover

2. When did you first become fascinated by your field?

AZ: I was 7 years old, and I read a book on how Watson and Crick discovered the DNA double helix. That was it. I've since learned that another scientist, Rosalind Franklin, was the first to identify the structure. They took her research and expanded it. They got the Nobel Prize. She didn't.

In elementary school, one of my first scientific projects was looking at the structure of the double helix. I made a DNA model of twine and matchsticks, and even had a broken matchstick representing DNA damage. We moved to a new school when I was 11. I made a friend who remembered the first conversation we ever had. 'There's this thing called DNA,' I told her. She remembers me being so excited about it. My first thought was, and you still talked to me?

3. Who was the first person who made you feel seen and heard in STEM?

AZ: When I was very young, we lived close to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena. Our phone number was one digit off from theirs. My mom would get their calls and forward them. My mom loved to learn. We would wake up early to watch the launch of the Voyager missions on TV. Eventually, she called JPL and said, 'Look, I've been forwarding your calls for years. I want my kids to get a tour.' We went, and they showed us all the mockups of rockets and diagrams of planetary systems and the Mariner missions. I remember standing next to a mockup of a Voyager capsule. I was probably 4 or 5, dressed in my plaid pastel pinafore. They explained how they used the gravity well around Saturn to propel the Voyager crafts into interstellar space. I asked this distinguished older gentleman in a suit what a gravity well was. He knelt to my level and explained what it was and how it was useful [think: gravity-powered slingshot]. I was drawn in and captivated that he would take the time to talk to me in a way that I could understand. He didn't speak down to me.

4. What's a principle you try to live by?

5. What do you think is misunderstood about what you do?

AZ: It should be easy to solve cancer. It's just a disease. But one person's lung cancer is different from another person's, and that's different from everybody else's. That's why developing a mechanical, non-pharmaceutical adjuvant-a therapy on top of another therapy-is so important. A non-pharmaceutical adjuvant can support cancer treatment without adding more drugs and potentially more side effects.

6. Did you face a significant barrier in your career path?

AZ: As soon as I got my Ph.D., both of my parents had debilitating accidents. I had to come home to Idaho and take care of them because I was the only one who could.

7. What do you do when you're stuck on a problem?

AZ: I love to take classes through Boise State's tuition benefit, one of the best benefits we have. I have taken all of Anika Smulovitz's metal arts classes and am taking them all for a second time. I have also taken graphic design with Eryn Pierce. Taking classes gives me a creative outlet to completely change what I'm thinking about, and that helps me stay more focused on my research. At the AARC (American Association for Cancer Research) conference, people were talking about burnout. I realized that I have built something into my life that is all-consuming while I'm doing it and that allows me to escape science when I need to in a healthy, creative way. And it's in keeping with who I have always been.

Zavala shares office space with a series of metal cat sculptures she made for a Boise State art metals class. Photo by Priscilla Grover

8. Where do science and art overlap?

AZ: Both require a willingness to try and fail. Failure isn't the end, it's the beginning, troubleshooting the next step to figure out how to make it work.

9. What is one thing about you that would surprise your colleagues and students?

AZ: I can remodel a structure from the ground up. I have remodeled five houses and converted a barn on my property into a house. I can do everything from plumbing to running electricity, to tiling and finish carpentry.

10. What's one hope you have for the next generation in your field?

Bonus: What's a book, or film, or work of art, or piece of music you want everyone to read, watch, see, or listen to?

AZ: Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" series features a flat world carried through space on the backs of four elephants standing on a giant turtle named A'Tuin - a reference to Hindu mythology. Pratchett was the best writer-funny, fascinating, and what I love about him, he was so incredibly smart. There are so many 'round world' references in his work. He knew so much about history and delighted in sneaking it into the world he created. Even his footnotes are funny. These are beautiful books.

Photo by Priscilla Grover

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