Aanchal Udaynath Pareri

Hi, my name is Aanchal and I’m from Mumbai, India. I was always passionate about cellular biology and therapeutics, so in 2020 I moved to Dundee to pursue a master’s in Biomedical and Molecular sciences. Towards the end of my master’s, I knew I wanted a career in cancer research, focussing on targeted anti-cancer therapy. I was incredibly grateful to have been offered this studentship by the NCC-DTP in Precision Cancer Medicine under the supervision of Dr Adrian Saurin and Prof Russel Petty.

My PhD project focusses on understanding the mechanisms of CDK4/6 inhibitors – a new class of anti-cancer drugs which are currently licensed for treating breast cancer. An essential part of my project is to investigate how these drugs have long-lasting effects on tumour growth. This information will help reveal relevant biomarkers and effective combination therapies across a range of different cancer types. We believe that these drugs, which are well-tolerated in patients, have potential for use in pan-cancer therapy and may possibly offer an alternative to conventional and more toxic chemotherapies and would help improve patient outcome.

I am truly grateful to the Ninewells cancer campaign for their support and for giving me an opportunity to be working on a project that I am passionate about, and which would hopefully have a clinical impact.