A CPI grant funded Dr. Kotsopoulos at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada for Evaluating BRCA1 haploinsufficiency as a putative target for the prevention of BRCA1-associated cancer. She and her collaborators developed a cell-based test to screen for drugs, small molecules, or natural compounds that could alter BRCA1 levels. Following the screening of more than 6,000 compounds using this assay, they identified several agents that can decrease BRCA1 protein levels. Some of these compounds can sensitize breast cancer cells to the PARP inhibitor Olaparib and may therefore have future clinical utility.

Read the full article in iScience.