Title:   
Associate Professor

Institute:
University of Ottawa

Department:  
Biochemistry, Microbiology & Immunology

Province:
Ontario

Training:
Postdoctoral fellow, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario
PhD, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
 
Research interests:
Breast and ovarian cancer research and basic biology of cell migration.  A novel breast and ovarian cancer oncogene, elongation factor eEF1A2 has been identified.

Research Projects

Project title: 
The good oncogene: eEF1A2 and the control of breast cancer outcome

Funding period:  
2010-2012

Program:
Operating Grant (Basic Research)

Summary:
Our ability to treat and ultimately cure cancer necessarily involves the identification of biochemical and genetic factors that control long-term survival in individuals with the disease. These factors are termed prognostic factors, in that they can be used to determine the probability of long-term survival in individual patients. My laboratory was the first to discover that eEF1A2, a gene highly expressed in 30-50% of breast and ovarian tumours, is a prognostic factor for these cancers. We determined that patients with eEF1A2 expression in their tumour have a better chance of long-term survival than those whose tumour does not have eEF1A2. The goal of this proposal is to determine how eEF1A2 regulates breast cancer outcome  We hypothesize that eEF1A2 may regulate metastatic development or control breast cancer stem cells. The goal of this project is to test these ideas in several mouse models of breast cancer. This study will have an impact on our understanding of the factors regulating breast cancer survival.

Past CRS projects: 
 
2008 The control of filopodia formation by elongation factor eEF1A2
  
1999 Control of mitosis by the p53 tumour suppressor