NIU graduate student Sandra Moore has received a five-figure honor for her research on breast cancer.

After winter break, Moore was notified that she had won a $44,000 fellowship & one of the largest ever given to an NIU student & from the U.S. Department of Defense so she can continue her studies.

“I was incredibly excited,” she said.

Moore, who graduated from NIU in 1996 with a biological sciences degree, originally wanted to go to medical school, but couldn’t get in with her undergraduate record.

“As a graduate student, I began working in a laboratory and doing basic cancer research,” she said.

Moore spent two months writing her application for the fellowship, and said her job in the Office of Sponsored Projects, which aids students in finding grants and scholarships, helped her.

Moore plans to work with cancer for a career, but probably won’t teach at NIU.

“It depends on where my job is located to know where I will be,” she said.

Biology professor John Mitchell conducts basic cancer research and works with Moore and other students in his laboratory.

“I did support her with her proposal because I like my students to practice writing proposals,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell also won a grant for his cancer research.

“I have been at NIU for 27 years and have been supported by national institutes of health,” he said. “I work with the understanding of cancer and why cells in the body become cancer cells.”

Moore currently is using her fellowship to research a protein involved in cancer that could improve treatments.

“I believe cancer research is important because cancer is a big problem and there is a lot that we still don’t know,” she said. “Studying cancer helps us to understand how normal cells grow.”

Moore doesn’t know specifically how she will use the rest of her fellowship money.

“It’s obviously a good thing to have,” she said. “Without the fellowship, I wouldn’t be doing my research as quickly and efficiently.”