Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is the most common cancer worldwide. Roughly 2.3 million people are diagnosed every year. About 70,000 of them carry inherited mutations in BRCA1, a protein whose job is repairing DNA damage. When BRCA1 fails, the damage piles up.
Among the rest, one of the most common drivers is Her2 — a kinase in the EGFR family that signals cells to divide. When over-produced or mutated, Her2 jams "on" and the cells keep growing.
Folding@home simulates both. We watch BRCA1 lose its grip and Her2 lock up, hunting for the moments where a treatment could step in. The Chodera lab leads the Her2 work; newer simulations explore mutations in BRCA1.
Selected posts
BRCA1 in breast cancer
Why mutations in this DNA-repair protein drive hereditary breast cancers, and what Folding@home can show about how they fail.
Her2 kinase in breast cancer
F@H projects 9104–9114 launch the Chodera lab's simulations of Her2.
EGFR — the ErbB family kicks off
The Chodera lab's first major F@H project at MSKCC: the epidermal growth factor receptor, parent of the family Her2 belongs to.