Bre-Anne Fifield is the first student in Windsor to hold a Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Ontario Region Fellowship.
Bre-Anne Fifield hopes to be an academic researcher and professor some day. While the reward of scientific discovery is a motivating factor, it’s the hope of protecting her friends from such diseases as breast cancer that really gets her out of bed in the morning.
“I’ve got lots of friends whose mothers have had breast cancer, so knowing that they’re at increased risk kind of pushes you harder,” says Fifield, who just finished the first year of her PhD program in the lab of biology associate professor Lisa Porter.
Fifield, who grew up in Windsor, graduated from Holy Names High School and completed her undergraduate degree in biology at UWindsor, received a PhD fellowship from the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation for up to $112,000 over the next three years. She’s the first student in Windsor to ever hold a CBCF Ontario Region Fellowship.
It’s an accomplishment that doesn’t surprise Dr. Porter, who said Fifield’s third-year academic performance was so impressive, she accidentally mistook her for a fourth-year student and invited her to begin working in her lab.
“She’s been amazing,” Porter said.
For her part, Fifield said she was surprised at how much she actually enjoys the lab work.
“There’s lots of time and energy put in to lab work, but it’s totally worth it when you start seeing results,” she said.
Most of Fifield’s work is focused on understanding the role that Spy1, a cell cycle protein, plays in normal mammary gland development, as well as how it to contributes to tumour formation and the progression of cancer. She has also studied how environmental carcinogens affect development of the gland in lab mice. The results have been surprising, and support that while carcinogens induce tumours in most mice, those that breast feeding their young seem to have some level of protection.
“We didn’t find exactly what we thought we would,” she said, “but what we did find was really interesting and it’s something we’re following up on.”
That process of trial and error is one she finds rewarding and hopes will lead to better treatment and prevention of breast cancer some day.
“There’s something new every day,” she said. “Nothing works the first time and sometimes it’s those unexpected results that keep you going. Even getting small results is a pretty good feeling.”
Bre-Anne Fifield is the first student in Windsor to hold a Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Ontario Region Fellowship.
Source: UWindsor Daily News