view . summer 2012
9
Learning that someone you love has breast cancer is a
shock. When that person is a man, however, the news is
even more stunning.
“Less than one per cent of breast cancer cases are men,” says
Bre-Anne Fifield, who was a teenager when her uncle was diagnosed
with the disease. “You never think that someone you know is going
to get it. And you don’t think it will be a man.” The diagnosis also
meant that her family was at risk to develop breast cancer.
Her uncle received treatment and
is now in remission. For Fifield, though,
fighting the disease has become her focus.
The UWindsor PhD student is
working with biological sciences
associate professor Dr. Lisa Porter to
determine how a certain protein can
affect the development of healthy
mammary glands.
To assist, Fifield received a PhD
fellowship from the Canadian Breast
Cancer Foundation (CBCF) in 2011 for
up to $112,000 over three years.
“When I received the email telling
me that I had won the fellowship, I had
someone re-read it for me to make sure I’d read it properly,” she
says. “I couldn’t believe it.”
The prestigious fellowship will allow her the luxury to work
as a full-time researcher, rather than needing to take on graduate
assistantships to earn an income.
“The fellowship means that I am further ahead in my research
than I would have been otherwise,” she says.
Fifield, who grew up in Windsor and graduated from Holy
Names High School, earned her undergraduate degree in biology
at UWindsor. While still only in third year of the program, Fifield’s
academic work so impressed Porter that the professor mistook her
for a fourth-year student and invited her to begin working in her lab.
It was there that Fifield began to realize that research is her passion.
“It was cool to do a thesis as an undergraduate student – better
than just reading in a textbook,” she says. “It was very hands-on and
gave me a better appreciation of the knowledge than simply reading
about it would have.”
According to the CBCF, breast cancer continues to be the most
frequently diagnosed cancer among Canadian women and rates
second for mortality.
Fifield’s work focuses on how the Spy-1 “Speedy” protein
regulates normal breast development, as well as its role in the
initiation and progression of breast cancer. “Everyone has the Speedy
protein in their body. In the cases of
breast cancer, we have noticed the levels
of Speedy have increased,” she says.
Therefore, Fifield’s research wants to
determine whether decreasing its levels
helps halt or slow the progression of
cancer. If it does, Fifield says that would
make the case to develop a drug that
would target the Spy-1 protein as a way to
address the progression of breast cancer.
Porter is impressed with Fifield’s
work. “Bre-Anne selected a very difficult
project that required a great deal of work
to begin collecting data.
“She excels academically and is a
dedicated, serious researcher who attacks a complicated problem
with vigour.” Porter says that she expects Fifield to make “significant
contributions in the health science field.”
Porter encourages the students in her lab, as a team, to
participate in community events that fight cancer such as the
Canadian Cancer Society’s “Relay for Life”.
“A lot of the funding and support that our work gets is
community based,” says Fifield. “So we believe it’s important to give
back and to let the public know what we’re working on.”
She had considered becoming a teaching professor but now isn’t
so sure she can ignore the lure of the research lab.
“I like that it’s something different every day. I like the challenge
of figuring out why things are happening. Those small moments that
come and you start to see the puzzle pieces coming together.”
n
v
ON THE FAST TRACK
Bre-Anne Fifield
“YOU NEVER THINK THAT
SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS GOING
TO GET BREAST CANCER. AND
YOU DON’T THINK IT WILL BE
A MAN”
BRE-ANNE FIFIELD,
UWINDSOR PHD STUDENT
Left: Bre-Anne Fifield is focusing on the Spy-1 “Speedy” protein.
STUDENT PROFILE
BY JENNIFER AMMOSCATO
