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Breast Cancer Coalition Awards $50k to UR Researcher

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A University of Rochester Medical Center researcher plans to use a $50,000 grant from the Breast Cancer Coalition to keep breast cancer from spreading to the bones.

Doctor Zhenqiang Yao’s research will investigate whether IAP Inhibitors, a type of protein, can slow or prevent the spread of breast cancer to the skeletal system.

"It's not breast cancer per say that actually kills women. It's metastatic breast cancer," said Holly Anderson, the Executive Director of the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester. "It's when breast cancer spreads to other parts of the body, the bone, the liver, the lung, the brain that actually kills women."

Anderson explained research that leads to treatments to prevent the spread of breast cancer is particularly important today.

“We're going to be dealing with what they're calling a silver tsunami. The baby boomers are aging. Cancer is primarily a disease that risks increase as you age,” said Anderson.

The Breast Cancer Coalition’s Research Initiative has awarded more than $525,000 to area researchers since 2003.