“Take chances, go into new fields and do not stick to your comfort zone in your research program”
One in two Canadians develops cancer in their lifetime, and one in four will die from this disease. Many anticancer drugs have improved patients’ prospects, but they are forced to contend with serious side effects and often develop resistance to therapy. This is particularly true for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), for which there are no FDA-approved targeted therapies. This project seeks to develop structures made from the molecule DNA that deliver chemotherapy drugs to cancer cells without entering normal cells. They are biodegradable, non-toxic and they respond selectively to tumours.
During the two year period of her Killam Research Fellowship, Dr. Hanadi Sleiman will work to optimize these vehicles to eliminate the toxic side-effects of cancer chemotherapy, bypass drug resistance and dramatically improve the quality of TNBC patients’ lives.
Photo: Studio Iris Photography