Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Globally, over one million men are diagnosed with prostate cancer worldwide. It is currently the cancer with the highest number of newly diagnosed cases per year, and is second highest for cancer mortality rates for men in developed countries. The current screening test looks for prostate specific antigen (PSA) in blood samples. This method is highly inaccurate; over-diagnosis rates range up to 67%. Studies have shown that PSA is linked to overall prostate size, not cancer specifically. This creates overlap with other prostate issues such as benign prostate hyperplasia and prostatitis. Prostate cancer, along with all other cancers, emit proteins into the blood stream that are unique to that cancer. A proteomic approach, which looks at all proteins in a sample, will be used in this research to find a new set of proteins that will be better able to screen for and detect prostate cancer. Technology with higher sensitivity than the current methods will be used in order to detect proteins at lower concentrations, as it is often these proteins that are unique to the cancer. The overall goal of this research is to develop a novel screening method for prostate cancer that can be used in a clinical setting.