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University of Windsor
Swan dives into cancer research with new funding
The average person would be hard-pressed to name even one characteristic that's remotely similar between people and fruit flies. To geneticist Andrew Swan, however, those tiny, pesky insects have a great deal in common with humans and just may help unlock secrets about the potential cure for a variety of cancers and other diseases.
"Fruit flies don't get cancer, but fruit flies and humans have a lot in common at the genetic and cellular level," said Dr. Swan, an assistant professor in biology, during a reception Monday to celebrate a $100,000 grant from the Canadian Cancer Society to continue his research.
Many cancer researchers explore the changes in DNA that occur in cancer cells and the mechanisms that control them. Swan studies Cks85A and Skp2, two genes that have been implicated in a number of cancers, to determine their role in regulating the copying of DNA and what happens in normal and abnormal genetic development.
"We can take that knowledge and translate it into a better understanding of the mechanisms that allow cancer to spread," Swan told an audience of colleagues and reporters in the Medical Education Building.
President Alan Wildeman, whose research background is also in genetics and various aspects of cancer cell biology, praised Swan for his work on the type of fundamental science and knowledge creation that often leads to important cancer therapies.
"A lot of treatments have happened because of fruit flies and yeast and little worms and all kinds of little organisms that can be studied," he said.
Swan's work builds on momentum that has been growing in the past few years and enhanced the relationship between the cancer society and the local research community, said Martin Kabat, CEO of the Ontario division of the Canadian Cancer Society. He said Canadians diagnosed with cancer now have a 62 percent survival rate thanks to generous donations devoted to research funding.
"Without research nothing changes and nothing grows," he said. "Progress is being made. More people are surviving cancer today than ever before."
Swan is an excellent example of the many academics at a research-intensive university enabling people to make a better world, said Ranjana Bird, the University's vice-president, research.
— Stephen Fields
Professor Andrew Swan in his Biology Building laboratory.