Exploring Women's Health from cells to diagnosis

My research group have been developing a urine test that can diagnose people with deep endometriosis. I will be talking about our plans for the next 18 months to get to the point where we have a commercial test for endometriosis which people can access. The test is non-invasive and we hope will help triage patients into the correct care pathway. This should help reduce waiting lists and get people the help they need quicker.

For my PhD project I investigate the effects of environmental contaminants and their potential role in breast cancer development. ‘Forever chemicals’ as you may know them by are man-made substances that can be found in items such as non-stick pans, disposable food packaging and waterproof clothing. These chemicals are very strong and do not break down easily which leads to their build-up in the environment as well as in our bodies. I have been exposing non-cancerous breast cells to these chemicals over a long period time at concentrations that have been found in human blood. From this I have seen that long-term exposure of cells to these chemicals change their behaviour, in fact pushing them to behave more like cancer cells. The aim of my research is to see whether these ‘forever chemicals’ that are all around us, can possibly influence our cells over our lifetimes and if this could then increase breast cancer risk.