CRMY is collaborating with leading scientists from all over the world to work on improving screening methods, so that lethal cancers are detected early, and people are spared from over-diagnosis of slowly progressing (non-lethal) cancers. To counter this, our research specifically maps out breast cancer risk among Asians.
Over the past 10 years through research conducted in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, University Malaya, and Subang Jaya Medical Centre, we’ve identified more than 100 genetic loci that are associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer. However, for most of these genetic loci, we do not know precisely how much risk is associated with each genetic alteration.
We’re set to change this with the Collaborative Science Award from the Wellcome Trust, and are the first team in Malaysia to receive such an award from the world’s largest medical research charity. Starting in 2017, our team will be working in close collaboration with researchers at the University of Cambridge, University Malaya, Subang Jaya Medical Centre, National University of Singapore, and University of Nottingham (Malaysia campus) to determine how common these 100 genetic loci are in the Malaysian and Singaporean populations.
For Malaysian breast cancer patients and their families, this would result in an increased access to services and education on genetics, giving them the tools to make informed decisions about their health.