Molly Appeal Targets Cancer Research
Survival rates for cancers such as for breast, lung, colon, and prostate are on the rise. We now have better ways of detecting and treating cancer. Deaths from breast and lung cancer have dropped nearly 25 per cent in the past decade.
Even so, cancer is a complex disease that comes in more than 300 forms. One in every two Canadians will develop cancer over the course of their life, and that half of these people will die of the disease. Here in the Maritimes, rates are the highest in the country. There is still a long way to go.
An Atlantic Canada First
Every penny of this year’s Molly Appeal will go toward the purchase of Atlantic Canada’s first RNA-interference (RNAi) Library. This facility will give researchers 70,000 genetic tools they can use to determine the function of every gene in a cell.
Here’s how it works. It will allow researchers to identify suspect genes and assess how the proteins they produce block or trigger cancer. From there they can design therapies to regulate the protein and prevent cancer from progressing.
Cancer researchers at Dalhousie Medical School and the Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute are eager to take their research to a new level. The RNAi Library holds the potential to accelerate the pace cancer research.
Making Breakthroughs
Here are some of the world-leading cancer researchers who will use the RNAi Library to unlock the genetic secrets of cancer and discover powerful new ways of preventing, diagnosing and curing cancer:
Faces of Molly 2009-10