The Breast Cancer Society of Canada, the University of Manitoba, and CancerCare Manitoba are proud to announce the Hope Scholarship. The Hope scholarship is funded by the Breast Cancer Society of Canada with a mandate to encourage an enriched training experience for graduate students who are involved in breast cancer-related research projects.
The Hope Scholarship will provide CancerCare Manitoba with the funding necessary to support 3 full studentships. The studentships will be awarded to 3 MSc or PhD University of Manitoba students and will provide them with funding to perform breast cancer research at CancerCare Manitoba.
The goal of the Hope Scholarship is to provide hope for breast cancer patients and their families by conducting life-saving breast cancer research.
The 3 students awarded with the Hope Scholarship will be conducting research at CancerCare Manitoba and the University of Manitoba under the supervision of Dr. Yvonne Myal (Professor – Pathology and Physiology)/Dr. Renee Douville (University of Winnipeg), Dr. Afshin Raouf (Assistant Professor – Immunology), and Dr. Sabine Hombach-Klonisch (Associate Professor – Human Anatomy & Cell Science).
Dr. Yvonne Myal’s long term research program focuses on identifying breast/breast cancer specific biomarkers and understanding the biological role of these markers in the progression of breast cancer from a localized disease to metastases.
Dr. Afshin Raouf’s research focuses on better understanding the cells that generate and maintain breast tumours (cancer stem cells) and exactly how they are abnormal in a given patient.
Dr. Hombach-Klonisch’s research efforts focus on the role of non-histone chromatin binding proteins of the HMGA family, found exclusively in stem cells and many cancer cells, in telomere architecture and resistance to DNA damage in cancer cells and investigates their innovative use in advanced strategies for the treatments of cancer patients.