Cold Spring Harbor, NY — On December 20, 2010, the Manhasset Women’s Coalition Against Breast Cancer (MWCABC) met with members of Dr. Mikala Egeblad’s laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and presented her with a check for $50,000 to support her research on breast cancer. Since 1999, CSHL has received over a quarter of a million dollars in funding for breast cancer research from MWCABC.
Dr. Egeblad uses mouse models of breast cancer and real-time imaging of cells in tumors in live mice to study how the tumor microenvironment, including tumor-associated stromal cells, affects breast cancer progression and response to therapy. The grant from MWCABC will provide funding for Dr. Egeblad’s research on the effects of cytotoxic chemotherapy on immune cells in breast cancer.
“Despite the wide use of chemotherapeutic drugs in breast cancer patients, surprisingly little is known about how cells in tumors react to such therapy. Chemotherapy not only kills cancer cells but also has side effects on immune cells,” said Dr. Egeblad. “We are very grateful for the support of the Manhasset Women’s Coalition. This grant will allow us to conduct experiments that will shed light on the effects of chemotherapy on both tumor-inhibiting and tumor-promoting macrophages—a type of immune cell—in breast cancer.”
“The Manhasset Women’s Coalition Against Breast Cancer is proud to support the world-class breast cancer research that’s happening in our own backyard—at Cold Spring Harbor,” said Janet Price, Vice President, Research of MWCABC. “We believe that Mikala’s research is a unique approach to finding new ways to combat breast cancer, and we look forward to results from this project.”
Written by: Communications Department | publicaffairs@cshl.edu | 516-367-8455