Dipanjan Chowdhury, PhD

Bob Bast Translational Research Grant*

Most women from families that have the greatest risk for breast and ovarian cancers are not aware that they are at higher risk. Even among women who are aware of this risk, no tests are available for ovarian cancer, and no tests for breast or ovarian cancer can predict when a cancer is most likely to occur. The current tests typically detect cancer when it has already spread and is very difficult to cure. There is a great need to have a test that can accurately identify women who are at higher risk for breast and ovarian cancer and can detect cancer early. Our project will develop a blood test which can predict which women are most at risk for ovarian and breast cancer. Following that, we will study whether the same blood test can predict when cancer among these women is most likely to develop, increasing the chances that a cancer is found early and significantly improving the odds of survival. The novelty of our test is that we are looking at a new class of molecules in blood using cutting-edge strategies that have never been used for cancer detection.