Seven Students Awarded Scholarships to Advance Cancer Research in Ireland

This summer, seven promising third-level students will embark on a significant journey to help advance Ireland’s understanding and treatment of cancer. Their innovative research into poor prognosis cancer is being funded by Breakthrough Cancer Research’s Summer Scholarship Programme. This year’s scholarships are kindly supported by the annual AIB Community Fund.

This initiative connects students with top research teams to cultivate the next generation of leaders in cancer research. The charity is dedicated to ensuring that patients have access to the best possible cancer treatments and never have to hear that there is ‘no hope’. Each student has been awarded a scholarship of €3,000 to conduct their research over a 6–10-week period this summer.

The funded projects include:

1. Assessing the impact of palliative and ablative radiotherapy on poor prognosis cancers.
2. Improving the treatment of seizures associated with brain tumours
3. Exploring the information and communication needs of lung cancer patients.
4. Examining drug treatments that could improve survival rates and minimise side effects in ovarian cancer patients.
5. Studying the effects of physical activity and nutritional health on ovarian cancer patients before and after surgery.
6. Identifying how certain proteins and molecules affect drug resistance and cell behaviour in ovarian cancer.
7. Investigating potential new treatments for pancreatic cancer.

Amongst the students awarded scholarships is Kimya Ghaffarian from University College Cork, who is exploring the impact of quality-of-life palliative radiotherapy may have in patients with poor prognosis cancers. Kimya says ‘Unfortunately, many patients with incurable cancer don’t know the potential benefits of radiotherapy. It is a safe and effective treatment option for pain and other debilitating symptoms. There is currently no quality-of-life data on Irish patients with incurable disease receiving radiotherapy as it is difficult to ask patients who are often near the end of life to return to hospital for additional appointments to complete questionnaires.’ This study will use easy-to-access mobile phone electronic applications to collect the important information which will help healthcare practitioners identify patients who may benefit most from treatment. It is hoped that the electronic application will encourage more patients to be assessed in a cost-effective and less disruptive way.

Meanwhile, medical student Nazia Rafiq from Trinity College Dublin is looking at whether treatments for seizures associated with brain tumours can be improved. Around the tumour is an area of brain tissue called the peritumoral region. Using cell lines from donated brain tissue, in-vivo models and novel clinically relevant drugs, this project will assess if the AMPA receptors contribute to generating seizures and the growth of the tumour. The project aims to improve treatment options for patients using drugs that target the AMPA receptor.

Adam Daly from Dublin City University will look at the information and communication needs of lung cancer patients, which are particularly important in survivorship due to the severity of the physical symptoms, psychological issues and stigma associated with the condition. He will use previously collected data from survivors, caregivers and healthcare professionals to examine if information is being communicated to patients effectively and identify barriers that exist. He will look to use his findings to establish key messages and targets for training programmes for healthcare professionals.

Saoirse Doyle from the National University of Ireland Maynooth will investigate drug treatments that have the potential to improve patient survival from ovarian cancer while minimising drug side effects. HER2 is a known instigator of several types of cancers. Drug treatments that specifically target HER2 have been extremely effective in treating breast and stomach cancers and have also been shown to be switched on in some ovarian cancers. She will use an advanced type of anti-cancer drug – ADC – to target HER2 in ovarian (or this) cancer. This special type of drug can have a strong anti-cancer effect and minimise damage to healthy cells and has the advantage of being an oral tablet form which can be taken at home.

Meanwhile, Alex Neuroth from Dublin City University will examine the impact of physical activity and nutritional health on patients with ovarian cancer who undergo CRS-HIPEC surgery. This complex procedure where all visible tumours of the lining of the abdominal cavity are removed with heated chemotherapy can take an extreme toll on the patient and can be associated with complications and poor outcomes. The Peri-Operative Exercise and Nutrition Optimisation (PANO) Trial will determine if physical activity levels and good nutrition before and after surgery will improve patient outcomes.

Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed late when it has already spread, partly due to a process called epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) where the cells gain invasive and migratory properties allowing them to spread and which also causes drug resistance. In many types of ovarian cancer, a protein called ZEB helps cells enter EMT and become resistant to drugs, but in high-grade serous ovarian cancer, ZEB levels are very low. Emily Carvalho from University College Cork aims to determine if ZEB helps these cancer cells produce specific RNA molecules and if increasing ZEB can push these cells into EMT, which may explain the unique behaviour of this cancer type.

Markus Hahn from Paris Lodron University Salzburg will study the role of the molecule syndecan-4 in pancreatic cancer, aiming to develop new drugs that target its function and potentially provide a new treatment for pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is resistant to treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy partly due to high levels of collagen that make tumours hard and stiff. One of the ways cells interact with their surrounding tissue is through a molecule called syndecan-4. Removing this molecule from cancer cells makes them less mobile, which could prevent them from spreading. More than 600 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year in Ireland and it has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers with less than 1-in-10 surviving 5-years beyond diagnosis.

Orla Dolan, CEO of Breakthrough Cancer Research, emphasises the importance of investing in future cancer research leaders: ‘Advancing research into new cancer treatments and diagnostics is the key to improving survival rates for some of the hardest to treat cancers. Patients are always our focus. We want to enhance cancer care and make more survivors. Now in its fourth year, the Summer Scholarship Programme is key to cultivating the cancer research leaders of the future with the support of established research teams. It’s a fantastic opportunity for these students to gain hands-on experience in state-of-the-art research labs in Ireland.’

Breakthrough Cancer Research is Ireland’s leading cancer research charity.  They work with researchers and scientists throughout Ireland and fund exceptional patient-focused translational research throughout Ireland and beyond. They particularly focus on poor prognosis or low survival cancers which are often diagnosed at an advanced stage and are poorly served by current treatments.

Over the past 20 years, Breakthrough has helped bring 9 new treatments to the clinic and delivered over 300 novel discoveries in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Now in its fourth year the Summer Scholarship Programme promotes and drives more patient-focused cancer research within Ireland, through the education of the next generation of cancer researchers.