Archived News

Continued support for Cancer research at Robarts

By Communications staff
October, 2008

Marilynne Fuller has made a gift of approximately $50,000 to support the cancer research of Robarts scientist Caroline Schild-Poulter, PhD.

Fuller’s husband, Robert W. Fuller, died from cancer in 2002, and her gift is a reflection of her commitment to advance cancer research. Schild-Poulter holds the position of Fuller Scientist, which is funded by a previous donation from Marilynne Fuller.

Schild-Poulter is investigating ways in which cells respond to DNA damage, providing hope for the development of targeted cancer drugs or anti-cancer combination therapies.

Recently, her lab identified a protein that appears to regulate programmed cell death – otherwise known as ‘apoptosis’ – in the event of irreparable DNA damage. DNA is damaged regularly by cellular processes and, typically, cells work to repair that damage. This is normally a good thing; however, when damaged DNA is not repaired and the damaged cells continue to proliferate, cancer manifests itself.

“A hallmark of cancer is the body’s inability to activate apoptosis of diseased cells; in fact, the ability of cancerous cells to evade cell death represents the major obstacle for most cancer treatments,” said Schild-Poulter. “If we knew how these proteins told damaged cells to stop replicating and encouraged salvageable cells to repair themselves, we might be able to develop preventive therapies and targeted anti-cancer drugs.”