Dr. Helen McNeill

Dr. Helen McNeill's groundbreaking work looks at how cells organize into tissues. At heart is the question of why one cell stops growing while others surge out of control through the body. A better understanding of this process is critical in cancer research, a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth.

Dr. McNeill's research focuses on a gene called Ft, (known as 'fat'). Ft instructs cells on how they should interact with other cells, and how large to grow.

Mutations in the Ft gene can cause cells to overgrow and turn into tumours. Ft is also involved in a cellular pathway implicated in a large number of human cancers, including breast cancer, sarcomas and liver cancer. Ft regulates the Hippo Kinase pathway, a pathway that is mutated in many different cancers. Dr. McNeill is investigating the specific role Ft plays with the hope of identifying new treatment targets for cancer and other diseases related to Ft malfunction.

Mutations of the Ft gene could also become a biomarker to help identify women at most risk of breast cancer recurrence. Dr. McNeill is currently collaborating with Dr. Irene Andrulis, a breast cancer researcher at the Lunenfeld, to combine genetic findings with population data related to breast cancer, which has a recurrence rate of 20%. Dr. McNeill's research will look at the genetic basis for how and why some cancer patients relapse in hopes of helping doctors identify patients that are more likely to experience recurrence of the disease.