Irish Cancer Society announces Dr Britta Stordal ‘Researcher of the Year’ at Celebration of Research

At last night’s special Celebration of Research, breast and ovarian cancer researcher, Dr Britta Stordal, was announced as the Irish Cancer Society’s Researcher of the Year 2013. Dr Stordal scooped the top prize from three shortlisted candidates for her research entitled, ‘Avoiding BRCA blind alleys in cancer research.’  Her research will help scientists avoid research blind alleys raising standards and allowing personalised treatments for ovarian and breast cancer.   Mutations in the BRCA genes increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Dr Stordal examined the BRCA genes of most of the ovarian cancer cell lines used in research worldwide. The team also studied the cell lines' growth and how they responded to chemotherapy drugs called PARP inhibitors, which are designed to treat patients with BRCA mutations. The study is the first to document the BRCA status of ovarian cell lines, founding that BRCA-mutated cell lines were more sensitive to PARP inhibitors. Unexpectedly, the study found that BRCA mutations were less common in cell lines in the laboratory than in ovarian tumours. This may be because an ovarian tumour can contain a mixture of cells with and without BRCA mutations. When tumours are made into cell lines the slower-growing BRCA-mutated cells are less likely to survive.  Dr Britta advises that scientists using BRCA-mutated cell lines double check their BRCA status regularly, as it can easily change. This knowledge will help scientists avoid the research 'blind alley' of inadvertently performing experiments on cells without BRCA mutations. This will raise the standard of laboratory research into BRCA mutations.  Research can therefore be focused on biomarker discovery to personalise treatments for ovarian and breast cancer. Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Stordal said, “I am honoured to be awarded the Irish Cancer Society Researcher of the Year Award. The Society has been extremely supportive of my research from the outset and I’m very grateful for their research fellowship funding, without which this ‘Avoiding blind alleys in cancer research’ cancer study would not have been possible. It’s my hope that this research, in addition to the research projects shared by the other Society Scholars and Fellows, will help change the lives of cancer patients for the better in Ireland.” Evelyn O’Rourke, RTE Presenter and cancer survivor spoke about her own experience battling breast cancer and why research matters to patients, “There is no doubt that that all the work that the Irish Cancer Society does is vital in beating cancer and gives great hope to cancer patients. The ‘Celebration of Research’ initiative allows cancer patients to take part in the fight to beat cancer and get access to the latest medication. I have been on this journey and I know that it makes a big difference during an extremely challenging time.”  The other two finalists were Dr Gregor Kijanka for ‘How TRIM is your bowel?  New marker predicting patient outcomes’ (who was unable to present due to family commitments) and Dr Maria Pertl ‘Understanding cancer-related fatigue in breast cancer patients’. Professor John Fitzpatrick, Head of Research at the Irish Cancer Society, said, “We are very proud of all three shortlisted researchers who are helping to further enhance Ireland’s contribution to the international cancer research community. We congratulate Dr Britta Stordal for her pioneering study, which was very deserving of this award for its powerful insights and results. The Irish Cancer Society has contributed more than €33 million to cancer research since 1963 and is the largest voluntary funder of cancer research in Ireland. We are committed to increasing our funding of cancer research in order to eliminate cancer.” For further information on the Irish Cancer Society’s programme or to make a donation, visit www.cancer.ie or contact the Irish Cancer Society on Call Save 1850 60 60 60.