Grant: DRA : Canada Graduate Research Scholarship - Doctoral Program (CGRS D)

Prostate cancer is a common and serious disease affecting many men worldwide. While hormone treatments can shrink tumours, some cancer cells go into a "sleeping" or dormant state, making them hard to detect and treat. These dormant cells can later wake up and cause the cancer to come back, often in a more aggressive form. Our research focuses on understanding this special group of cancer cells and preventing them from causing prostate cancer recurrence. By studying these dormant cells in detail using advanced technologies that look at individual cancer cells, we aim to discover how they survive treatment and cause recurrence. We will investigate their unique features and survival strategies. The knowledge gained will help us find new ways to identify patients at higher risk of relapse and guide the development of treatments that specifically target dormant cells before they cause the cancer to return. Furthermore, the findings may have broader implications for other types of cancer where dormant cancer cells lead to disease recurrence. Ultimately, this research supports the development of more personalized and effective cancer therapies, helping healthcare systems deliver better outcomes for patients.