Update to the original post: This grant has ended prematurely because Dr. Frerich moved away from Texas. The colleagues in her former lab will continue her research. LBCA will share the results once we receive them.

The Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance (LBCA) is proud to announce Candace Frerich, PhD, as the recipient of its 2021 AACR-Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC) Research Fellowship. Dr. Frerich is a postdoctoral researcher at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Frerich’s research will focus on understanding: why ILC tumors grow and spread differently and sometimes resist estrogen blocking drugs, the relationship between glucocorticoid receptors (GR) and ILC cell growth, and the potential for targeted GR therapy to more effectively prevent ILC progression.

Dr. Frerich has also indicated that since GR modulating drugs are already in clinical trials, should it be determined that they are effective at slowing ILC tumor growth, they can fairly rapidly be introduced into clinical research to test the impact on ILC patient outcomes.

This two-year, $120,000 research fellowship is a joint effort by the two organizations to support and encourage innovative research projects with direct applicability and relevance to ILC. It is hoped that the fellowship will help establish a successful career path in the field.

LBCA Executive Director Laurie Hutcheson is excited for the focus of this research, LBCA’s first ever two-year fellowship grant, made in collaboration with AACR. She commented, “We are thrilled that Dr. Frerich has chosen to conduct such important work on the different characteristics of ILC and hormone drug treatment resistance early in her career. We are eager to see the results of her study, which could hold such promise for identifying a targeted therapy for people with ILC that can improve long-term survival.”