February 16, 2016  Print

The Westmead Institute’s research fellow Dr Heidi Hilton has been awarded a $200,000 Cure Cancer Australia sponsorship to continue her groundbreaking work into finding a cure for breast cancer. 

Breast cancer researcher Dr Heidi Hilton
Cancer researcher Dr Heidi Hilton

This is the second time Heidi has received the sponsorship, which is awarded to the country’s brightest emerging cancer researchers.

Dr Hilton’s research project aims to discover why the ovarian hormones progesterone and estrogen act differently in normal breast tissue and in breast cancer, and what drives the change.

Previously, Dr Hilton was awarded a Westmead Institute Science Prize for her work – published in the journal Oncotarget  –  which demonstrated that estrogen receptors and progesterone receptors are quite distinct in the normal human breast but that their action and expression converge in breast cancer.

This research changed our understanding of the role of these receptors in the breast, which were previously believed to always co-express in the same cell.

 “Unless we understand accurately or completely how hormones work in the normal human breast, we are not going to understand breast cancer,” Dr Hilton said.

 “Unless we understand accurately or completely how hormones work in the normal human breast, we are not going to understand breast cancer,” Dr Hilton said.

Dr Hilton hopes that her work will help researchers understand how abnormal hormone action may increase the risk of getting breast cancer – and how to prevent it.

“This support will provide a critical stepping stone for me to build a career in cancer research and contribute to the significant advances made here in Australia.”

The projects Cure Cancer Australia funds are considered the most likely to succeed based on their scientific merit.

“Early career funding provides a much needed start for researchers who go on to achieve significant, often ground-breaking outcomes,” Cure Cancer Australia Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Floyd Larsen said.