Assumption University Chair in Cancer Research

Dr. Lisa A. Porter, Assumption University Chair in Cancer Research. She is a cell biologist and an associate professor in Biological Sciences at the University of Windsor and a Canadian Institute of Health Research New Investigator.

Dr. Porter has received national research awards and grants for her work, with focuses on breast cancer research.

A University of Windsor scientist acclaimed for her work in the fight against cancer has also become one of the community’s most recognized boosters for support. In her laboratories at the University of Windsor, Biology Professor Lisa Porter is learning how a recently discovered protein may be implicated in breast cancer and the implications for improved treatments for the disease. The protein, named Spy1, is referred to as Speedy around the laboratory. “Speedy has a function in normal development of the mammary gland, but we have found high levels of Speedy in human breast cancer, says Dr. Porter. “This suggests Speedy could be a target in the treatment of breast cancer in the future.” The Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance share her belief that it is important to learn more about the link between Speedy and breast cancer. The agencies recently announced they will provide $750,000 in additional funding for Porter and her team to pursue their research over the next five years. This new research grant brings total financial support for her projects to $2.3 million since she moved from San Diego in 2004. Since then, she has supervised more than 30 aspiring scientists at the University of Windsor and won many accolades from colleagues and peers. Beyond her laboratory, Porter, her research technicians and graduate students fight the disease on another, very public level. They have a team entered in the Relay for Life, and are out in force each year for the Run for a Cure. Porter is also the neighbourhood canvasser for the Canadian Cancer Society. “I also do tons of talks,” she says. “Schools, service clubs, all kinds of groups… everyone is interested in cancer research because everyone has been touched by this disease. It could be themselves, someone in their family, a friend, a colleague, or a neighbour. This is why

Windsor has a huge number of people who are active in fighting cancer.” “Oddly enough, although everybody cares about fighting cancer, few people understand very much about the disease,” says Porter. When canvassing, she hears people ask, “I have been giving year after year, why don’t we have a cure yet?”

“People do not realize that cancer is actually a whole set of diseases. It isn’t caused by a germ getting into your body, but by functions of your body itself, at the most basic molecular level, within a cell. “The level of complexity is astronomical,” says the molecular biologist. “Each research project takes us a step closer to gaining the understanding that we need to fight and treat and prevent the various forms of cancer.” This is why Porter takes that message to so many audiences. She says she wants people to realize how much more there is to be done, and why their contributions and support for research is so important. She says that only about 18 percent of the research that experts deem important is funded each year. That means 82 percent of the best ideas out there for fighting cancer get no money. It would require an additional $21 million
each year to support all of these cancer research projects in universities and research institutions across Canada. This is less than $1 per Canadian. “The public does not widely understand that research is what a professor does. It’s what a university does, and when a professor has an idea for a project, there has to be a detailed description of that idea proposed to the funding agencies,” she says. “These agencies assemble the most knowledgeable doctors and researchers to assess all the proposals and determine which ones should be funded.”
Porter says she sees the greatest hope in young people. “Even though the tobacco industry spends $41 million a day worldwide to promote smoking, young people are much better educated about health risks and they believe they can make a difference,” she says. This is why in May 2009 Porter willingly addressed the students at St. Anne’s French Immersion School in Windsor who had collected $1,632.50, mostly in pennies, to support the Carl and Gloria Morgan Graduate Scholarship in Breast Cancer Research. Porter told the youngsters that cancer was likely to affect most of them at some time in their lives, whether directly or through the diagnoses of a friend or family member. “However, we now have so many new ways to treat cancer, and there will be so much more we can do,” she added. Less than 25 years ago, a former University of Windsor microbiologist, Dr. Michael Dufresne, was the first to publish an explanation of the mediated process that allows a toxic molecule to penetrate the protective enzyme layer of a human cell. The right sequence of toxic molecules may disrupt the cell function and begin the formation of a tumour. Today, based on that discovery, Porter is one of thousands of researchers who are taking our knowledge of cancer forward in great leaps and bounds.

<h1>
	Assumption University Chair in Cancer Research</h1>

	Dr. Lisa A. Porter, Assumption University Chair in Cancer Research.  She is a cell biologist and an associate professor in Biological Sciences at the University of Windsor and a Canadian Institute of Health Research New Investigator.  

	Dr. Porter has received national research awards and grants for her work, with focuses on breast cancer research. 
	  
	A University of Windsor scientist acclaimed for her work in the fight against cancer has also become one of the community’s most recognized boosters for support.  In her laboratories at the University of Windsor, Biology Professor Lisa Porter is learning how a recently discovered protein may be implicated in breast cancer and the implications for improved treatments for the disease.  The protein, named Spy1, is referred to as Speedy around the laboratory.  “Speedy has a function in normal development of the mammary gland, but we have found high levels of Speedy in human breast cancer, says Dr. Porter. “This suggests Speedy could be a target in the treatment of breast cancer in the future.”  The Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance share her belief that it is important to learn more about the link between Speedy and breast cancer. The agencies recently announced they will provide $750,000 in additional funding for Porter and her team to pursue their research over the next five years.  This new research grant brings total financial support for her projects to $2.3 million since she moved from San Diego in 2004. Since then, she has supervised more than 30 aspiring scientists at the University of Windsor and won many accolades from colleagues and peers.  Beyond her laboratory, Porter, her research technicians and graduate students fight the disease on another, very public level.  They have a team entered in the Relay for Life, and are out in force each year for the Run for a Cure.  Porter is also the neighbourhood canvasser for the Canadian Cancer Society.  “I also do tons of talks,” she says. “Schools, service clubs, all kinds of groups… everyone is interested in cancer research because everyone has been touched by this disease. It could be themselves, someone in their family, a friend, a colleague, or a neighbour. This is why

	Windsor has a huge number of people who are active in fighting cancer.”  “Oddly enough, although everybody cares about fighting cancer, few people understand very much about the disease,” says Porter.  When canvassing, she hears people ask, “I have been giving year after year, why don’t we have a cure yet?” 
	  
	 “People do not realize that cancer is actually a whole set of diseases. It isn’t caused by a germ getting into your body, but by functions of your body itself, at the most basic molecular level, within a cell.  “The level of complexity is astronomical,” says the molecular biologist.  “Each research project takes us a step closer to gaining the understanding that we need to fight and treat and prevent the various forms of cancer.”  This is why Porter takes that message to so many audiences. She says she wants people to realize how much more there is to be done, and why their contributions and support for research is so important.  She says that only about 18 percent of the research that experts deem important is funded each year. That means 82 percent of the best ideas out there for fighting cancer get no money. It would require an additional $21 million 
	each year to support all of these cancer research projects in universities and research institutions across Canada.  This is less than $1 per Canadian.  “The public does not widely understand that research is what a professor does. It’s what a university does, and when a professor has an idea for a project, there has to be a detailed description of that idea proposed to the funding agencies,” she says. “These agencies assemble the most knowledgeable doctors and researchers to assess all the proposals and determine which ones should be funded.” 
	Porter says she sees the greatest hope in young people.  “Even though the tobacco industry spends $41 million a day worldwide to promote smoking, young people are much better educated about health risks and they believe they can make a difference,” she says.  This is why in May 2009 Porter willingly addressed the students at St. Anne’s French Immersion School in Windsor who had collected $1,632.50, mostly in pennies, to support the Carl and Gloria Morgan Graduate Scholarship in Breast Cancer Research.  Porter told the youngsters that cancer was likely to affect most of them at some time in their lives, whether directly or through the diagnoses of a friend or family member. “However, we now have so many new ways to treat cancer, and there will be so much more we can do,” she added.  Less than 25 years ago, a former University of Windsor microbiologist, Dr. Michael Dufresne, was the first to publish an explanation of the mediated process that allows a toxic molecule to penetrate the protective enzyme layer of a human cell. The right sequence of toxic molecules may disrupt the cell function and begin the formation of a tumour. Today, based on that discovery, Porter is one of thousands of researchers who are taking our knowledge of cancer forward in great leaps and bounds.