Now that October is well underway, we hope that your fundraising events and efforts to raise awareness for Breast Cancer Research are going well so far! It is exciting to see all the activities that have already been planned, and photos shared on social media as Dress for the Cause gets closer and closer. One of the fantastic things about fundraising this month is the fact that every donation counts towards supporting important lifesaving research that advances treatment and monitoring of breast cancer. Today, I wanted to highlight where some of the donations go to by describing a bit about what the TBCRU trainees do with the scholarships supported in part by the Breast Cancer Society of Canada.
Many of the trainees supported by this scholarship do daily work in laboratories, utilize various imaging technologies, perform computational analysis, and other research methods that contribute to their projects that are funded by generous donations. Trainees benefit from their scholarships by having valuable resources funded, such as laboratory materials and essential equipment, that allow them to carry out specific tasks to study different cancer cells and therapeutics.
Additionally, a significant focus of the TBCRU trainee’s work involves utilizing specific imaging technology that allows us to detect tumours and cancer cells inside the body or assist us with various techniques. Some of the most common methods that are used include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), bioluminescence imaging (BLI), positron emission tomography (PET), ultrasound and even microscopy! Some of these imaging technologies are operated independently by the trainees themselves as we learn to apply them to studying breast cancer within our research and as part of our studies. We hope that by utilizing these imaging techniques, we can provide unique insights into this disease that ultimately can improve patient outcomes, treatments, and understandings of the mechanisms of the disease.
Lastly, donations also allow for trainees to give back to the community and share the research that we do with others. Many of us have the opportunity to attend and present our results at different scientific conferences, and these are beneficial for learning more about our fields and collaborating with other research groups to expand our projects even more. Additionally, as part of our scholarship, we have the opportunity to do our fundraising with events like our Annual Bake Sale and the annual Mother’s Day Walk. These events not only allow us to also contribute to donations but also allow us to share our research with those in the community who may be affected by breast cancer. Several of the trainees also participate in various outreach programs that allow us to present our projects that are funded by donations with different audiences at the community level.
I hope that this overview provides you with a small window into where the generous donations to the Breast Cancer Society of Canada go when they give scholarships to students like me, and how much #ResearchMatters. We hope that our fundraising efforts can continue to be a success so that we can continue to support the scientists of the future, and ultimately provide new knowledge to improve outcomes for breast cancer patients with our work. Let us know how you plan to support this research by using #DressForTheCause.
Don’t forget to register or donate today at dressforthecause.ca
