Dr Ivana Sestak
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
Applications are invited from graduates with a BSc (First or Upper Second) or MSc (Distinction), or equivalent, to work within the Centre for Cancer Prevention. This 4 year studentship will commence in autumn 2017 and will be based at the Charterhouse Square Campus. This is an exciting opportunity for a graduate from disciplines related to epidemiology, statistics, and behavioural sciences.
Endocrine therapy is used not only for the treatment of ER positive breast cancer but also increasingly for the prevention of breast cancer in women at high risk. Several trials have shown that these drugs (tamoxifen and so called aromatase inhibitors) significantly reduce the occurrence of breast cancer. However, uptake of these drugs in eligible high risk women has been low. Side effects have been stated as the most common reason why women do not want to take these drugs on a daily basis for a five year period. There is a need to identify potential markers for side effects and to understand the potential mechanisms that lead to these side effects to help identify women at increased risk of them. In recent years, anastrozole (an aromatase inhibitor) has been investigated for the use of breast cancer prevention in postmenopausal women. One side effect that has emerged from clinical trials is hypertension, which might possibly have an adverse effect on the uptake of this drug. It is important to further investigate the potential role of anastrozole in causing hypertension and which women are at greatest risk of experiencing it.
This project will involve an observational study investigating the role of hypertension in anastrozole users (clinical study experience). Furthermore, the project will include a detailed investigation of a range of markers (such as oestrogen, inflammatory markers, etc), genetic polymorphisms measureable on the 500 000+ SNP Oncoarray for side effects using data and blood from two prevention trials (IBIS-1 for tamoxifen related side effects and IBIS-2 for anastrozole related side effects) and explore whether mammographic density changes predict side effect occurrence. An important aspect of this project is to understand the mechanism that causes side effects in women using these drugs for prevention. Finally, the project will explore ways in which the findings from this project can be communicated to health care professionals.
Informal enquiries can be made to Dr Ivana Sestak: [Email Address Removed]
Funding Notes
This 4 year PhD studentship is funded by Cancer Research UK and comes with a tax-free stipend of £21,000. It is open to UK Nationals, EEA/Swiss migrant workers and non-UK nationals with indefinite leave to remain in the UK who will have three years ordinary residence in the EU prior to the start of the studentship. University tuition fees (at UK/EU levels) will be met by the funding body.
References
Your application should consist of a CV and contact details of two academic referees. You must also include a personal statement (1,000 words maximum) describing your suitability for the project including how your research experience and interests relate to the project.
Please submit your application to: Ellie Stewart (e.stewart@qmul.ac.uk)
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