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Fresh Scientist wins UK study tour for "Is breast cancer caused by a virus?"

September 23, 2003

Caroline Ford from the University of New South Wales has discovered that more than 40% of Australian breast cancer samples contain a newly discovered virus. Only 2% of normal breast tissue samples have the virus.

Caroline presented her research with 15 other scientists at Fresh Science during Science Week.

She wins the 2003 British Council Australia Fresh Science Prize for her achievements. "I plan to use the $4,000 prize to visit research labs in the UK to establish collaborations for future research," Caroline said.

"Caroline has demonstrated that complex ideas can be communicated in plain English," said Simon Gammell, British Council Australia Director.

"British Council Australia is delighted to be supporting young Australians in the field of scientific research and our Fresh Science award gives them an opportunity to broaden their horizons by interacting with their UK colleagues."

In the eyes of the judges, Caroline gave the clearest explanation of her work. She engaged the audience well and used plain language without dumbing down the science.

Fresh Science is an Australian program to bring public attention to the unsung achievements of young Australian scientists. 110 scientists nominated for the 16 places in the event.

During Fresh Science, Caroline spoke to the public, school students and the media about her work.

"If this virus does in fact play a role in breast cancer it opens up the prospect of a vaccine," said Caroline. "However we have to do much more work to prove the link."

Breast cancer is the most common cancer of Australian women, affecting 1 in 11 women.

While many risk factors have been identified, no clear causes of breast cancer have been defined. The new virus, known as HHMMTV, is the human homologue of mouse mammary tumour virus which causes more than 95% of breast cancer in mice.

Caroline's research was conducted with researchers from the Prince of Wales Hospital and published in the Journal of Clinical Cancer Research. Not only does the study demonstrate a strong link between this virus and breast cancer, it also suggests an association between the virus and more severe forms of breast cancer.

"Many people believe that breast cancer is purely a hereditary disease, yet hereditary breast cancer is estimated to account for only 5% of all cases of breast cancer. In other words, we have little idea what causes 19 out of 20 cases. Our preliminary research indicates that a virus may be involved," Caroline said. "It's an exciting discovery, but there's a lot of work still to do to get sufficient proof of the role of the virus."

"I'm excited at the prospect of the tour and the opportunity to present my work at the Royal Institution in London."

Fellow Fresh Scientist JP Hobbs won the 2003 ABC Fresh Science Fellowship. JP will be flown to Sydney for a one week intensive media program. JP Hobbs, an honours student at James Cook University, Townsville, has discovered that coral gobies only mature when they meet an adult fish. If they meet a male fish they mature as females and vice versa.

Science in Public