Yvonne Vasquez, Graduate Student, MCD Biology
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. To help spread awareness of the different cancers that impact children, we will be profiling a different researcher each week to talk about the cancer they study, their motivations for doing this research, and how they hope their research will help in the fight against childhood cancer.
What type of cancer do you research?
My lab studies rare cancers that occur in kids and young adults. Our lab’s goal is to learn more about pediatric cancers and identify more effective and less toxic treatments for patients.
I am currently researching a cancer called synovial sarcoma. Synovial sarcoma is an aggressive and rare cancer of the connective tissues in our body, including tendons, muscle, and ligaments. About 800-1000 people are diagnosed with synovial sarcoma in the United States each year. Synovial sarcoma can occur at any age, but it is more common in adolescents and young adults (10-40 years). Since the first reporting of synovial sarcoma in 1865, a lot of progress has been made to better understand this cancer, however it still remains mysterious. Because of a lack of understanding of the biology of synovial sarcoma, there are no effective treatments, and the survival rate of patients remains low. There is an urgent need to better understand the underlying causes of rare cancers like synovial sarcoma so that effective therapies can be identified and patient survival can be improved.