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Conway scientist secures early-career award for breast cancer research

Dr David Croucher, a research fellow in Systems Biology Ireland and UCD Conway Institute, is one of only 22 early-career scientists to be awarded Government funding through the first Science Foundation Ireland Starting Investigator Research Grant (SIRG) programme with co-funding from the International Marie Curie COFUND scheme.

The four year grant award, which includes provision for a PhD studentship, will allow Dr Croucher to shed light on the fundamental behaviour of signalling pathways in breast cancer using systems biology approaches.

Announcing the investment, Minister for Research and Innovation, Mr Séan Sherlock TD said: “We are determined as a Government to ensure that the very best young scientific talent is given compelling reasons to either stay in Ireland or come from abroad and conduct research here. The SIRG Programme provides an opportunity for researchers at a pivotal juncture in their careers to propel themselves to the next level and realise their potential in their respective fields.”

More than 30% of breast cancer cases display high levels of a protein named receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) ErbB2, which is known to be associated with aggressive tumour behaviour and poor patient survival.

Although therapies such as Herceptin and Lapatnib that target ErbB2 over-expressing tumours exist, many patients develop resistance to these therapies and relapse. Recent studies have suggested the existence of crosstalk between ErbB2 and other RTKs that may underlie this resistance to single agent therapy.

Dr David Croucher plans to identify the occurrence and consequence of crosstalk between ErbB2 and other RTKs of relevance to breast cancer. He intends to use novel techniques to observe and quantitate protein-protein interactions, coupled to biochemical readouts of both oncogenic transformation and resistance to ErbB2 targeting therapies.

Subsequent analysis of detected ErbB2/RTK interactions will involve the use of high-throughput signalling pathway analysis and mathematical modelling approaches to identify the mechanisms by which ErbB2 recruits other receptor pathways to avoid drug inhibition.

Commenting on the research proposal, Dr Croucher said, “I would hope that this research will not only elucidate the behaviour of oncogenic signalling pathways in breast cancer and other tumour types but may also present opportunities for the development of novel drugs or drug combinations.”

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