Your support is moving brain tumor research forward!
The work of Alexander Rodzinka, who was granted a 2017-2018 Brain Tumour of Canada Research Studentship that was supported by our foundation, has made a large impact.
Alex was working on a project that aimed to determine what brain tumor-initiating cells (BTICs) are driving tumor cell growth in Glioblastoma Multiforme. He discovered that increased levels of SPY1, a unique cell cycle regulator, resulted in increased proliferation, aggressiveness and therapy resistance. Alex established a BTIC bank to be used to help move this research forward.
Dr. Lisa Porter’s lab at the University of Windsor, where Alex conducted his studentship, was recently awarded over $1 million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to fund her project on ‘Targeting Cell Cycle Checkpoints in Glioma’. This project will determine how the Spy1 protein is involved in driving BTICs to divide and will test the potential of targeting Spy1 for treatment of this aggressive form of cancer.
We’d like to give a big thank you to all of you who’ve made it possible for us to help fund these important research studentships. Read more about the Research Studentships we’ve funded.