We are pleased that our partnership with Brain Research UK has led to a successful application for a Studentship in Glioblastoma. This is a devastating condition, with only 5% of patients surviving beyond 5 years. Many of us will have had a friend or relative who has suffered from this.
Researcher Febe Fero
The successful student is Febe Ferro, who will be working with Dr Sourav Banerjee at the University of Dundee. Here is a very brief lay summery of Febe’s project:
Enzymes are proteins that help speed up metabolism or chemical reactions in our bodies. They build some substances and break others down. All living things have enzymes and they are naturally produced in our bodies.
Febe will be investigating a specific enzyme that is greatly elevated in stage IV brain cancer. It has been shown in experimental settings that absence of this enzyme in the tumours radically extends the survival of mouse bearing brain cancer. This needs to be explored in much more detail to see if it could be a potential target and whether it could make the brain cancer much more amenable to chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
