4th year student with The Department of Veterinary Medicine
Canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT) is an infectious cancer which is transmitted between dogs by an unusual route - living cancer cells themselves. My work focuses on understanding how this cancer arose in the first place, and what genetic mutations it acquired that enabled it to become transmissible and avoid rejection by the immune system. Through genetic analysis of over 1000 samples from 52 different countries, my research has already provided novel mechanisms in cancer biology, which may not be detectable during the life span of normal cancers, but can help us to understand and prevent cancer in humans.
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