2004 Recipient — Shu-Wing Ng, PhD

Shu-Wing Ng, PhD

Studying Membrane Proteins for Early Diagnosis and Disease Progression in Ovarian Cancer

Project Summary

Proteins on the surfaces of cell membranes move chemicals in and out of cells, transfer information between cells and their environment, and play crucial roles in many cellular and physiological processes. Dr. Ng is hoping to find cell surface prote ins present at high levels in ovarian tumors to serve as possible markers for early detection of the disease. In order to identify t hese ovarian cancer cell surface markers, Dr. Ng proposes to employ an innovative high-throughput two-dimensional ProteomLab PF2D system to fractionate and compare the membrane proteins from normal human ovarian cells and tumor cells. The system allows detection of proteins of low abundance, which may have physiological importance and be possible markers. Novel antibodies specific to the identified cancer markers also can be developed for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, and may thereby improve the overall survival of ovarian cancer patients.

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