New comparative oncology review in Pharmaceuticals
A new review has been published in the journal Pharmaceuticals by UCD’s Comparative Oncology research group. The review discusses one of the most aggressive human cancers, malignant melanoma, which also affects many other species, including dogs and horses.
Lead author Dr. Stephanie Bollard, a specialist Registrar in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital (MMUH) and a Wellcome-HRB ICAT Fellow, is currently working towards a PhD in comparative oncology. Her research is concerned with extracellular vesicles (EVs), tiny particles that are released into the blood stream by cancer cells, and how they may be used as a “liquid biopsy” to inform the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of malignant melanoma in humans and dogs. Spontaneously occurring canine malignant melanomas show striking similarities with human melanomas so represent a valuable translational animal model.
Other authors on the paper are Bollard’s PhD co-supervisors Professor Amanda McCann, UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, Assistant Professor Pamela Kelly, UCD School of Veterinary Medicine, and Associate Clinical Professor Shirely Potter, Consultant Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon at MMUH, as well as other researchers from the Conway Institute and UCD’s Charles Institute for Dermatology.
Read more about UCD’s Comparative Oncology group here and access the full journal article here.
Represented in the image, L-R: Assistant Professor Pamela Kelly, Dr. Stephanie Bollard, Jane Howard (PhD student co-supervised by Kelly and McCann), Professor Amanda McCann