Victoria MuliadiPhD Student

Breast cancer is a disease where cells in the breast grow uncontrollably, causing surrounding normal cells to die. These cancer cells become abnormal because they have mistakes in their genes, the instruction manual for how cells should behave. Cancer cells can gain more mistakes in their genes and become stronger, causing the cancer to be more difficult to treat, or to spread and invade other organs. To defend itself against cancer, the body employs a type of immune cell called T cells, which act as guards protecting the body from foreign invaders. T cells have a unique receptor on its surface that can detect specific foreign substances. The type of receptor expressed by the T cell, and therefore what it will target, depends on the instructions from the T cell receptor genes. When the T cell identifies its target, it can attack them or help other immune cells to eliminate the threat. T cells can also recognise cancer cells, but currently we do not know which T cells can recognise and attack cancer cells. My project focuses on studying the relationship between cancer cells and T cells in breast cancer. I will use a technique called in situ sequencing, which can detect different gene sequences on tumour samples. Using this technique, we can locate different cancer cells and T cells and see how they interact with each other. By understanding these interactions, we can try to identify T cells that can attack cancer cells and use this knowledge to develop better therapies for breast cancer.