The Conquest of Cancer

Through Research

October 2020 eNews

     Ashwin Menon, a summer 2020 UREP participant and student at the Gatton Academy will be presenting a poster on his UREP summer project at the Kentucky Academy of Science (KAS) annual meeting November 6th & 7th, 2020.  Ashwin's project is entitled, "An In-Silico, Stochastic, Eden-Type Growth Model of Cell Competition in a Two-Dimensional Tumor." Using mathematical modeling, Ashwin examined the hypothesis that competition between subsets of tumor cells can inhibit tumor growth. Analysis of the data produced by the in-silico model supports the hypothesis that an increase in rates of cell competition due to increased selective pressures (such as those caused by chemotherapy or environmental changes) will lead to a slower tumor growth rate.

     The KAS meeting will be held virtually this year for the health and safety of the community.  We hope that we will still feel the camaraderie of Kentucky scientists gathering together although we are not physically gathering and that students will still learn from this experience. 

     Thank you to all who bought "Piggest Raffle Ever" tickets on behalf of Wood Hudson!  Although we didn't win the raffle (congratulations to American Council of the Blind of Ohio Greater Cincinnati Chapter for winning first place), with your support Wood Hudson raised nearly $1,000 for our cancer research and education programs through raffle ticket sales.  Thank you to the Flying Pig Marathon for hosting such a generous event with 100% of the ticket purchase price benefiting local nonprofits.  Maybe next year will be our year to win!

     Adrian Guy is a Wood Hudson research assistant who started late November 2019.  During the pandemic shut down, she worked from home on our new donor management software, Network for Good.  This project was supported by a grant from the R.C. Durr Foundation and the Horizon Fund. If you are new on the Wood Hudson email list, it is probably because Adrian has contacted you.  Adrian is also the author of the Wood Hudson eNews.  She is now back in the lab doing histology and immunohistochemisty for several projects.  She loves labwork and managing the details of scientific protocols.  Adrian has a B.S. in Chemistry from Utah State University and had been a stay-at-home mom for 18 years before joining Wood Hudson.  She and her husband live in Northern Kentucky with their five children.

     About 1 in 8 U.S. women (about 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.  This year 42,176 American women will die from breast cancer.  Besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. These occur due to genetic mutations that happen as a result of the aging process and environmental exposures, rather than inherited mutations.

     For nearly forty years scientists at Wood Hudson Cancer Research Laboratory have conducted research on the causes, diagnosis, and potential new treatments for breast cancer. Some of these studies include: studies of hormonal factors controlling the growth and inhibition of chemically induced breast cancers; proteins involved in migration and invasion of human breast cancer cells; changes in metabolism associated with breast cancer development; and biomarkers for risk, diagnosis, prognosis, and targets for therapy in human breast tumors preserved in the Wood Hudson Biospecimen Repository. All this work has been made possible by donations from you, the public, fundraisers, grants from both national and local foundations, and grants from government agencies and pharmaceutical/biotechnology companies. Thank you to all who have supported our work. Through the efforts of many physicians and scientists working globally, the lifetime of many breast cancer patients has been extended and many cures have been achieved.