Better science through technology
(continued)

Sharing her belief in the relevance of genetic research to cancer, the National Cancer Institute has awarded LaSalle a three-year grant to investigate the dynamics of imprinted chromosomal regions.

The practical side for this basic science project in genetic research offers intriguing possibilities. What if doctors had a tool for telling which carcinomas would progress and which would remain localized? Or if they could tell what genetic abnormalities drive metastasis?

Such prognostic information would help oncologists plan more effective treatment, or pave the way for new therapies to short-circuit the proliferative process. At the very least, physicians could give a little peace of mind to those cancer patients whose disease is not likely to advance.

LaSalle, co-investigator Gandour-Edwards and a team of research assistants are using fluorescent colored markers to study two genes thought to initiate cancerous changes, HER-2/neu and p53. Samples of transitional cell carcinomas of the bladder were provided by UC Davis Cancer Center patients.

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Principal investigator Janine LaSalle.