Treatments for breast cancer have improved significantly in the last few decades with survival rates better than ever. But thousands of women still die from breast cancer every year and that’s often down to the tumour spreading, which is known as metastasis. While treatable, metastatic breast cancer cannot be cured.
We know that a particular protein known as Bcl3 is involved in the spread of breast cancer but we don’t currently know how it does this. The aim of my research is to explore how other proteins in the body interact with Bc13 and how that leads to the spread of breast cancer.
This information will enable us to better understand the effect that new and recently-developed drugs have on this process, and further the development of the next generation of drugs for treating breast cancer metastasis.
I’m working toward a PhD funded by Tenovus Cancer Care and I’m really enjoying the project. I feel privileged to follow in the footsteps of researchers who pioneered the use of drugs like Tamoxifen. Research is often met with many obstacles along the way but once overcome, they enhance the overall sense of achievement.
