Two UCF Researchers Receive Grants to Support Innovative Breast Cancer Research

Two University of Central Florida (UCF) cancer researchers were bestowed state grants to support their innovative projects to fight breast cancer. Alicja Copik and Debbie Altomare each received $100,000 from the Florida Breast Cancer Foundation (FBCF) for their research, which aims to create novel and effective ways of diagnosing and treating breast cancer.

Copik focuses her research on equipping the body’s natural killer (NK) cells to wipe out cancer through the use of genetic engineering and nanoparticle technology. Copik has developed NK cells that possess an enhanced ability to recognize and kill cancer cells. The FBCF grant will help Copik fine-tune her advancements to specifically fight breast cancer. Also, she will use the grant to analyze the most recent and still experimental treatment strategies around metastatic breast cancer which may affect patients’ own NK cells.

Altomare focuses her research on the cellular pathways that can signal cancer cells, and help immunity cells better fight the disease. She is currently assessing the role of inflammation in pancreatic cancer, and harnessing the body’s innate immunity to create new therapeutics for ovarian cancer. Specifically, Altomare’s lab has been studying a particular growth factor called FGFR4 (fibroblast growth factor receptor 4) in breast cancer cells. Her work thus far has uncovered that while encouraging the growth of cancer cells, the growth receptor may also suppress immune cells.

Due to the difficulty of treating breast cancer because of the heterogeneity of breast tumors, Altomare will use the FBCF funding to analyze how the presence and absence of FGFR4 and pathways in specific tumors impact their ability to spread and affect immunity. Her hope is that the discoveries will facilitate the development of novel therapies for metastatic breast cancer.

“This [grant] shows we have tremendous intellectual capital in cancer research,” said Annette Khaled, who leads the College of Medicine’s Cancer Research Division via a press release. “FBCF is looking for new, innovative ideas in fighting breast cancer and they are supporting UCF.”

Image credit: University of Central Florida.