Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Brain tumors are among the deadliest of cancers affecting about 3000 Canadians each year. Cancer occurrence is often attributed to impaired gene expression, i.e. over or underproduction of gene products. For instance, ShcD, a protein that participates in signaling cascades within a cell, has been shown to be overproduced in brain tumors. Sequences of DNA, referred to as "promoters," play an important role in deciding how and when genes are expressed. These sequences carry special sites where the machinery responsible for gene expression initially assembles. Any alteration within these promoter sequences causes abnormal regulation of gene expression. It is, therefore, critical to understand the functional role of the ShcD promoter and the mechanisms through which it drives cancer progression by altering ShcD levels within cells. This will help lead to new approaches in designing new drugs and therapies that specifically target diseased cells by exploiting the regulation of genes involved in tumor occurrence and progression.