research

Research Partnership and Goals

Belles with Balls NL is proud to donate all proceeds to the Ovarian Cancer Research and Education (OCRE) Fund at Memorial University. The OCRE Fund provides assistance to researchers exploring the genetic markers that may impact Ovarian Cancer patients in Newfoundland and Labrador. As well, it hosts educational events for the general public with speakers from various professions including researchers, oncologists, gynecologists, a nurse, pharmacist, psychologist and Ovarian Cancer survivors.

Currently, there is no effective detection test for Ovarian Cancer which unfortunately results in most patients being diagnosed in late stages of the disease. By supporting OCRE, Belles with Balls NL hopes to further uncover the genetic component of Ovarian Cancer to create a better detection test.

Current Research

The Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University is currently researching Ovarian Cancer genetics through the Lynch Syndrome Lab. The Ovarian Cancer research team at Memorial is led by Dr. Lesa Dawson MD FRCSC and Dr. Darren O’Rielly PhD CCMG. Dr. Dawson is an Associate Professor at Memorial University and a Gynecologic Oncologist who specializes in cancer genetics and prevention. Dr. O’Rielly is the director of the molecular genetics laboratory at Memorial University.

Ovarian Cancer-specific Newfoundland-based research studies ongoing include:

• Evaluation of RAD51C genetic variant to discover a possible founder mutation in Newfoundland. This project is working with five large Newfoundland families with many ovarian cancers to find out if a particular rare change in this gene is responsible for the many breast and ovarian cancers.
• A project to see if the birth control pill lowers ovarian and endometrial cancer rates in women with Lynch Syndrome. Lynch syndrome carries very high rates of ovarian endometrial and colon cancer.
• A study to determine why almost one half of women with BRCA (Hereditary Breast Ovarian Syndrome) in Newfoundland are not getting breast cancer screening or ovarian surgery, despite clear evidence that these interventions are lifesaving
• A proposal to build an inherited cancer family registry that would assist mutation positive Newfoundlanders with prevention and screening and give them extra support.
• A project that studies ovarian cancer families who have inconclusive genetic testing results. This will be very complex molecular genetics analyses to figure out of changes seen in the genes are causing cancers in the family.
• A new imitative to review all new cases of ovarian cancer in the province and make sure that each woman gets appropriate genetic evaluation and testing.
• A laboratory project to review all cases of women in the province with ovarian cancer and carry out specialized tumor testing to see if they might be eligible for a brand new ovarian cancer drug (in pill form-not chemotherapy) that has just been approved in Canada.

Key Researchers

The Lynch Syndrome Lab consists of a very dedicated staff of professionals including Dr. Lesa Dawson and Dr. Darren O’Rielly who along with their colleagues, work on the projects listed above. To find out more about them please see the research team.

We would like to draw attention to Dr. Lesa Dawson and Kerri Smith who work closely with the Ovarian Cancer Research and Education (OCRE) fund and dedicate countless hours to the research projects.