Noor Al-saden, Centre for Pharmaceutical Oncology

As a PhD student at the Centre for Pharmaceutical Oncology, Noor is on the cusp of an exciting discovery in breast cancer treatment.

Q: Please explain the focus of your research?

Answer: I am investigating a way to identify which breast cancer patients would benefit from treatment with trastuzumab-DM1 and which would not. Tagging the drug with a radioisotope will allow a PET scan to track its targeting to breast cancer tumours. We propose that if the PET scan shows that the patient would benefit, then by all means, the patient should be treated with the drug! But if the PET scan indicates that the patient may not benefit, then other treatments that could be more effective should be tried instead. If it is determined that a patient responds to the drug then it will significantly improve their treatment, while avoiding unnecessary side-effects in those unlikely to respond to treatment, and at the same time reduce the costs to the healthcare system.

Q: What motivates you to do this research?

Answer: My ability to contribute to efforts to eradicate cancer, improve patient treatment, and benefit the Canadian health care system motivate me to pursue this research.  

Q: At what stage is this research? (how close to clinical application?)

Answer: The current work is at the preclinical stage, where the PET drug is being tested on animal models. Before introducing the PET drug to the clinic, the next stage is to formulate the PET drug under Health Canada’s specifications. Professor Reilly’s lab is well equipped to perform the clinical grade formulation.

Q. What is the most exciting thing about pursuing this work at U of T?

Answer: By pursuing this work at U of T and at the Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Targeted Radiotherapeutics in particular, I am fortunate to join a highly collaborative interdisciplinary research team. This not only facilitates the quality of the research, but also inspires me to be equally ambitious scientists in building bridges between laboratory research and its clinical application.

Q: What’s next?

Answer: The ultimate goal of the project is to introduce the PET drug to the clinical stage and evaluate it as a diagnostic tool to select breast cancer patients who will respond to treatment with trastuzumab-DM1.

Noor Al-saden is a graduate student in the Centre for Pharmaceutical Oncology, a centre of research excellence at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. The Centre aims to develop new diagnostics and treatments for cancer and advance these to early phase clinical trials to improve the outcome of cancer patients. Her supervisor, Professor Raymond Reilly is the inaugural Director of the Centre.
 

Please Consider Making a Gift to the Centre for Pharmaceutical Oncology to advance cancer research.