New Biomedical PhD Scholar - Rebecca Sheridan
The Irish Cancer Society is proud to announce that it has recently granted biomedical scholarship funding to Rebecca Sheridan, University College Dublin, for research into blood cancer.
Rebecca recently completed her MSc in Biotechnology, Bioinformatics and Bio-business from the University of Aberdeen. Previously, Rebecca received a first-class honour BSc (hons) degree in Genetics from University College Dublin. During her degree she received the stage 3 genetics scholarship, in which she partook in a prestigious 3 month summer studentship program in the National Science and Technology Department Agency in Bangkok, Thailand.
Rebecca explains why she applied for this funding: “I applied for my PhD funding from the Irish Cancer Society as they strive to not only develop our understanding of cancer at a scientific level but also to build a public knowledge about the current research being done, thanks to their strong push for the development of PPI in Ireland. This close interaction both the scientific and public communities will allow me to develop invaluable skills in disseminating but also in aiding in driving my research."
Rebecca explains her project: “Blood cancers arise due to uncontrolled growth of cells in the blood circulation, including red blood cells, white blood cells and plasma cells. Multiple myeloma is a common blood cancer that arises due to excessive growth of plasma cells in blood and bone marrow”
“Factors secreted by cancer cells include small spherical vesicles that contain functional DNA, RNA and protein cargo from the cancer cell.”
“These vesicles are released in greater quantity by cancer cells, thus are highly abundant in body fluids including blood, bone marrow, saliva and urine, making them easily accessible disease markers and therapeutic targets, however, to-date their mechanisms of uptake and content remains poorly characterised.”
This project “will unveil new strategies to prevent vesicle signalling between cancer and normal cells that is required for the progression of blood cancer.”
