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Faye Antonopolou, a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the University of Manchester, was recently awarded the Don Whitley Scientific (DWS) Travel Grant. Faye’s research contributed to the Tumour Hypoxia Group led by Dr. Isabel Pires, both of whom received and used the DWS Travel Grant to attend the British Association for Cancer Research (BACR) ‘New Developments in Breast Cancer - From Lab to Clinic’ meeting. The meeting took place in the Glasshouse International Centre for Music between 25 – 27 November 2024.
We asked Faye to share more about her work and her experience at the BACR:
“My project is an investigation into hypoxic WSB-1 biology as a novel therapeutic target for metastatic and difficult-to-treat triple-negative breast cancer. In particular, we aimed to find the underlying mechanism of WSB-1 in the DNA Damage Response pathway; a pathway that is deregulated in all cancers, in both normoxic and hypoxic conditions. To induce hypoxia, we placed our samples inside a Whitley H35 Hypoxystation and set it to 1% O2 for RNA and protein extraction. This was carried out for a minimum of 24 hours.
We found that modulation of WSB-1 causes drastic changes in genes implicated with the DNA Damage Response pathway in hypoxia, as well as changes in the levels of DNA damage and by extent, the cells’ ability to repair the damage. We are also investigating novel WSB-1 interactors that might be implicated in these changes.
I would like to thank DWS for the generous £250 travel award which enabled me to attend this meeting and for giving me the opportunity to present my work at such a prestigious conference.”
We congratulate Faye and her achievement in presenting her research at the BACR. If you are interested in applying for one of our travel grants, please find more details on the DWS Travel Grant page. For more information on our Hypoxystation range please see the products below or email us at sales@dwscientific.co.uk
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