Dr Carla Milagre

Before joining Barts Cancer Institute, I completed a degree in Biology at Lusofona University in Portugal.

My research focuses on ovarian cancer patients and the reasons why they can relapse. I hope to determine the main factors that contribute to the spread of this cancer, which kills so many women every day all over the world.

In the future, in collaboration with clinical staff also working at the centre, we hope to find a more effective treatment that could be given to patients to improve their quality of life and perhaps cure them once the disease is diagnosed at an early stage. Ovarian cancer is a well-documented cancer type and we know that intreleukine-6 plays a major role in the development of the diseases. Thus, the current approach we are taking in the laboratory involves evaluating what other signalling targets might cooperate with the high production of IL-6 in those relapsing patients.

Life at the Institute

Working at the Barts Cancer Institute is a very interesting, exciting and challenging experience. In my personal opinion, it is extremely useful for the study of cancer to be in an environment that allows us to collaborate with researchers from different fields and different backgrounds. In addition, the number of facilities available helps us to conduct a huge number of high quality experiments at the Institute.

The BCI also has a great level of cooperation and interaction with clinical staff from Barts hospital, many of whom are heavily involved with teaching and research here. This brings a new perspective and makes our work extremely valuable in the development of new drugs to target human cancer. For me, it is very important to see that our research at the bench can be translated to the clinical level, where we can genuinely improve the lives of patients.

Highlights

After 4 months of working at the Institute, I think the main highlight has been the environment that we share in the lab, which is really sociable and supportive. The staff are always keen to interact with us and encourage us in our work, which provides extra motivation for those days when experiments don’t go to plan.

Low Points

So far, I’ve had no moments of despair! I’m still fairly new though, so I hope that the supportive environment will help me to do with these moments when they arrive!

Future Plans

I would like to stay in the research field for longer and perhaps do a second post-doc, increasing my knowledge in the cancer field. There are still many genes and signalling pathways to be explored and understood in the future.