News
Professor Roisin Connolly becomes Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) Funded Investigator
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation has awarded research grants to 255 investigators around the world, including to Professor Roisin Connolly, the Gerald O'Sullivan Chair in Cancer Research in University College Cork and Cork University Hospital.
BCRF’s annual award programme is an elite invitation-only programme that invites mid- to senior-level research faculty from around the world who have made, or are positioned to make, significant contributions to the breast cancer field. With secure funding, BCRF Investigators have the flexibility to pursue their most novel ideas in a non-competitive and collaborative environment.
Professor Roisin Connolly has become one of 255 researchers around the world to receive the prestigious award for 2022-2023. Her funding will go to significant research into biomarkers and the breast cancer microbiome in collaboration with Professor Mark Tangney, Cancer Research @UCC and Professor Leonie Young, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), with a goal of ensuring treatment is tailored to the patient. Prof. Connolly and her team will utilise a stepwise approach to identify promising biomarkers in blood samples and tumour biopsies from patients who have received chemotherapy with or without immunotherapy. They will focus on biomarkers related to the tissue environment surrounding tumours and the breast cancer “microbiome”—the bacterial composition of breast cancers. Assessment of microbiome biomarkers is a novel approach and Prof. Connolly hopes these studies will identify a unique way to define which triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) will respond to the chemotherapy and immunotherapy regimen.
On sharing news of the award, Professor Connolly said
“I am delighted and honoured to become a Breast Cancer Research Foundation Investigator. This BCRF funding will enable collaborative research across University College Cork and the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland to determine predictive biomarkers of response to chemotherapy and immunotherapy in early-stage triple-negative breast cancer. A major focus will be the tumor-associated microbiota and immune-based biomarkers. I envision that this research will guide development of novel clinical trials and ultimately lead to more individualised treatment plans for patients with triple-negative breast cancer.”
While the award is for a single year, BCRF annual grants are renewable based on annual progress reporting.
For more information on the BCRF awards, visit https://bcrf.org/blog/bcrf-2022-2023-research-investment/…
For Prof. Connolly's BCRF profile, visit https://www.bcrf.org/researchers/roisin-connolly