Release

UAlbany Faculty Receive Breast Cancer Research Awards

Contact: Lisa James Goldsberry (518) 437-4980

ALBANY, N.Y. (November 8, 2004) - Douglas S. Conklin and Carolyn A. MacDonald, professors at the University at Albany, have received awards from the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program (DOD BCRP) for their novel concepts in breast cancer research. The global award competition offers hope that new research may provide improved prevention, detection or treatments for breast cancer.

Conklin, a professor of biomedical sciences, won an Idea Award and will receive $448,442 for "Functional Genomic Analysis of Breast Cancer Cell Tumorigenicity Using a Novel Gene Silencing Resource." A researcher at UAlbany's Ge*NY*Sis Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics, Conklin recently joined the University from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

MacDonald, a physics professor, won a Concept Award and will receive $104,988 for "Wide Field Coherent Scatter Mammographic Imaging." Among her areas of expertise are medical imaging, materials science, x-ray optics and laser beam processing of materials. A UAlbany faculty member since 1986, she earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University.

The DOD BCRP was established in 1992 by the Joint Appropriations Conference Committee, which provided $25M for research on breast cancer screening and diagnosis for military women and family members. Since its inception, the BCRP has funded research at universities, hospitals, nonprofit and for-profit institutions, private industry, and state and federal agencies. This research is targeted toward the program's vision to eradicate breast cancer.