Donors Make a Difference: Rishi Rajkumar

The Canderel Graduate Studentship was awarded to Rishi Rajkumar, a second-year Master’s student in the Department of Biochemistry, through the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute’s (GCI) 2024 internal scholarship competition. This award is made possible by the ongoing efforts of Mr. Jonathan Wener, the founder and CEO of Canderel Inc., and the Défi Canderel annual fundraising event.

Supervised by Profs. Jose Teodoro and Ivan Topisirovic, Rishi’s project centers on improving the effectiveness of chemotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, and of its various subtypes, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive and most difficult to treat. Currently, chemotherapy—particularly taxanes like Taxol—is a key treatment for TNBC. Taxol works by trapping cancer cells in mitosis to prevent them from dividing, leading to their death. However, resistance to this treatment remains a significant obstacle, as some cells develop mechanisms to escape this arrest and avoid death.

Rishi’s research in particular focuses on the role of PDCD4 in treatment resistance. PDCD4 is a tumor suppressor protein that binds to and inhibits the activity of eIF4A, a translation initiation factor. He believes that downregulation of PDCD4 during mitosis and the resulting increase in eIF4A activity promotes cell survival under arrest and mitotic progression. In fact, when Hippuristanol, an eIF4A inhibitor, is combined with Taxol, Dr. Jose Teodoro's group found that cancer cells become more sensitive to treatment, overcoming resistance. Thus, he aims to target the PDCD4/eIF4A axis to maximize cancer cell death and ultimately improve outcomes for TNBC patients.

The Canderel Graduate Studentship Award provides invaluable support for Rishi, not only by alleviating some of the financial constraints of conducting research but also by encouraging his passion for cancer research. “It fuels my drive and curiosity, enabling me to pursue more ambitious aspects of my project”, he shares. Opportunities such as these motivate him to remain steadfast in his personal mission to develop better treatment options for cancer patients.

In the future, Rishi envisions himself teaching students, inspiring new generations of scientists with this passion, while continuing to contribute to our knowledge of cancer biology and its translation into effective therapeutic strategies. On the road towards that goal, this scholarship will enable him to dedicate himself to his research and deepen his expertise in the field, as well as build confidence in his ability to develop new skills and insights and share them with others. Rishi expresses his gratitude to the GCI community: “it meant a lot to me that my research and hard work were being recognized at such a level”.

Being recognized by one’s community provides important encouragement for young scientists like Rishi that are striving to unravel the complexities of cancer. As he states, “it embodies a shared commitment for scientific progress”, one which inspires and empowers GCI researchers to make tangible impacts in the lives of those affected by cancer.