Recently, Lisa Crowley, who is currently completing her PhD with Dr. Sharon McKenna, represented Cork Cancer Research Centre at the Annual Meeting of the Haematology Association of Ireland (October 16 - 18 2009). Lisa’s project entitled “The role of cell death in drug resistance and recovery of Bcr-Abl expressing cells” won an award for best poster presentation.

The project focuses primarily on cell death in leukemic cells. The inability of cancer cells to undergo “normal” cell death is a major barrier to effective chemotherapy today. For the majority of patients with leukaemia, treatment is palliative rather than curative. Too often leukemic cells become drug resistance and eventually lead to disease progression or relapse. Identifying and understanding the type of cell death employed by leukemic cells is key to improving the treatment of patients. By manipulating and exploiting the cell death involved, new more effective therapies can be developed.

Shown in picture: Lisa Crowley, PhD student - BSc. Biochemistry, U.C.C.