Texas A&M Department of Biology Professor Deborah Bell-Pedersen is breaking the mold in her search for new innovations in cancer therapy. She has discovered that a certain type of bread mold has a circadian rhythm (the equivalent of roughly a day, or 24 hours) that is similar to the circadian rhythm found in our body's cells. In humans, defects in the circadian clock caused by genetic mutation or by living out of synchrony with the clock (for example, doing shift work) can lead to an increased risk for certain types of cancer. Dr. Bell-Pedersen believes that by studying how the circadian rhythm of bread mold regulates cell division, we can develop drug therapies that would prevent cancer cells from replicating.

Learn more about how this research could lead to increased effectiveness against cancerous cells.



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