TEAL HEART Scholarship & Awards

The TEAL HEART scholarship fund was created to enhance the training of young Canadian scientists and is offered to all graduate students participating in ovarian cancer research.

Ovarian cancer is among the deadliest of all cancers. One in seventy women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in their lifetime and sadly, more than 50% of these women will succumb within five years of detection. With greater awareness of symptoms and earlier detection, survival rates for the disease could be as high as 90%.

It is our hope that maybe one day a recipient of a TEAL HEART Award may make a discovery that would change for the better the life of someone's mother, grandmother, aunt, sister or friend.

2010 TEAL HEART Scholarship & Awards Recipients

We wish to congratulate the three 2010 TEAL HEART recipients:

Raquel De Souza, University of Toronto

Jaeline Spowart, Deeley Research Centre, BC Cancer Agency

Rohann Correa, University of Western Ontario

Susan Antonacci
Event Co-Chair & Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Living Magazine

Darrin Bast
Event Co-Chair & Founder of HEART & MUSIC

Lee Poulin
Producing Artistic Director & Creator of HEART & MUSIC




Why TEAL HEART?

The TEAL HEART was designed as a symbol to raise awareness of the symptoms of ovarian cancer and to pay homage to those who have lost their lives to this dreadful disease.

TEAL is the international colour of ovarian cancer.

Symptoms

If you experience an onset of symptoms lasting three weeks or longer that include swelling or bloating of the abdomen, abdominal pain, difficulty eating, feeling full quickly and frequent or urgent urination we urge you to share it with your family physician.

Raquel De Souza

Recipient of a $3000 TEAL HEART Award.

Throughout my PhD project, I have been intrigued with the complexities underlying ovarian cancer, and how much we have yet to understand it. As early diagnosis remains a challenge. a great need exists for effective treatment strategies. My project seeks to investigate whether a continuous low-dose chemotherapy strategy results in a better therapeutic outcome than intermittent administration of chemotherapeutics at maximum tolerable doses, the method currently used clinically. During the first half of my PhD program, I showed that continuous chemotherapy leads to greater antitumour efficacy in models of ovarian cancer. During the second half I will investigate changes to the tumour biology and microenvironment that lead to the different treatment outcomes observed.

I have come to appreciate the importance of collaborations for successful research. The development of a formulation for continuous chemotherapy was possible through collaboration with a polymer chemistry laboratory. I used an ovarian cancer model developed by other researchers through kind donations of biological material and expert advice. These and other experiences taught me the importance of scientific community. We are fortunate to have a strong community of ovarian cancer researchers in Canada willing to share their skills and expertise. I strongly believe that the key to finding a cure lies in multidisciplinary efforts. lt is therefore important that our ovarian cancer research community continues to grow.

My goal is to pursue an academic career in ovarian cancer research. If I am successful in acquiring an academic position, I plan to establish a laboratory with two main research areas ~ early diagnosis of ovarian cancer and novel therapeutic strategies. The core principle of the laboratory as a whole will be to seek in-depth understanding of the biology of ovarian cancer which is key to success in both diagnosis and treatment.

Jaeline Spowart

Recipient of a $3000 TEAL HEART Award.

I have always had an interest in the biological sciences, especially as they pertain to disease and medicine. I took my first in-depth course on the topic of cancer biology, I knew I had found my passion. The disease(s) both fascinates and horrifies me. It can be so complex and intricate, yet the notion of a part of your body turning against itself is particularly malicious. Based on these considerations, I decided to pursue my masters degree in a cancer research laboratory that would allow me to undertake a translational research project. it is here at the Deeley Research Centre that I have been more thoroughly introduced to ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is the maior cancer site of focus at the centre, in part because one of its founders, Joyce DeeLey, died of ovarian cancer in 2001. One of the first things brought to my attention when I began was that this disease crucially lacks effective treatments that can deliver sustained responses, resulting in relapse being a common and substantial concern for patients. I am now pursuing a project with the intention of improving ovarian cancer patient treatment and survivai outcomes. My long- term goal is to become a physician scientist with a focus in ovarian cancer. I believe that one of the best strategies for fighting this disease is to improve communication between physicians and researchers, and someone who can speak either language and understand both basic and clinical research is an invaluable asset to this cause. I therefore plan to follow my masters with medical school and postdoctoral training in an ovarian cancer research setting, providing me with the knowledge and foundation to begin my own research iaboratory, culminating in the production of translational ovarian cancer research.

Rohann Correa

Recipient of a $2000 TEAL HEART Award.

The Translational Ovarian Cancer Research Program in London takes a team approach to study ovarian cancer: we work closely with oncologists and surgeons who help us (the scientists) appreciate how this cancer progresses in their patients. This collaboration allows us to pinpoint things about this cancer that remain unexplained and in need of further research. The oncologists and surgeons then provide us with cancer cells from patients, cells that we use in our experiments to study the disease as directly as possible.

My work specifically focuses on the “metastasis” of ovarian cancer, which is the spread of the cancer from the primary tumour to other sites. Surprisingly, this process is not well-understood, even though metastasis is the main reason we lose so many women to this disease. My experiments on cancer cells taken from patients suggest that these cells might be able to slow their growth and activate certain survival mechanisms, entering a “resting state” or becoming “dormant”. We think cells may do this when they are spreading or metastasizing, allowing them to “lay low” so to speak, and actually buy the cancer some time to eventually progress or recur.

It is sometimes shocking to us what lengths cancer cells will go to adapt and survive. However, like all living things, they will always have weaknesses. And what the cancer cells don’t know is that with every experiment, we’re slowly learning more about these weaknesses. Perhaps, once we understand these “dormant” cells more fully, it may be possible to develop therapies that attack them specifically.