Submitted by: Chris Maxwell
We all arose from one fertilized egg cell; ~50 trillion cells, in the precise and correct ratios, arose from the division of one primitive cell. This requires incredible balance- too many divisions of the same clone equals cancer. The division of primitive cells resident in human tissues sets this balance. By studying how molecules work together during the division of these cells, my group hopes to better detect, monitor, and treat the childhood and hereditary cancers that arise as a result of too many cell divisions and inflict 1,400 kids and 2,200 young adults each year in Canada.