Seed the Scientist Updates

Our strategy: Seed the Scientist

Art beCAUSE is committed to seeking out and funding "Seed the Scientist" research projects that deal with the links between breast cancer and the environment.

Dr. Lucia Speroni at Tufts

November 2011



Art beCAUSE Breast Cancer Foundation is proud to award $30,000 to Dr. Lucia Speroni at Tufts; this is her first ever grant, She and Dr. Soto and Dr. Sonnehschein, who are the Senior Investigators at the Lab, are overjoyed! Stay tuned for updates on the progress of her research.

Brookline scientist looking for cause of breast cancer in household objects

November 2009



Since she started a new job as medical researcher six years ago, 2009 Seed the Scientist Recipient, Doctor Perinaaz Wadia has started to view all the plastics in her house with suspicion. She’s stopped microwaving leftovers in plastic containers and eats out of glass dishes whenever possible.

That’s because many of the plastics in our homes contain a chemical called Bisphenol A, a new-age material that’s great for sealing the inside of tin cans and making sturdy plastic bottles, but it could also be responsible for many otherwise-unexplained cases of breast cancer in the United States... Read more

2008 Seed the Scientist Grant Recipient

In 2008 a $15,000 grant was awarded to Dr. Betina Lew of the University of Rochester, who is looking at the "In utero" exposure to TCDD and the development of breast cancer. TCDD activates the AhR receptor which can lead to later life breast cancer. So if the AhR receptor can be deregulated, perhaps cancer formation in later life can be prevented. The Art beCAUSE Breast Cancer Foundation is the first "seed" on this research.

Art beCAUSE Seed the Scientist Progress Report

Regulation of Constitutive and Inducible AHR Signaling: Complex Interactions Involving the AHR Repressor1

July 2008

The AHR is well known for regulating responses to an array of environmental chemicals. A growing body of evidence supports the hypothesis that the AHR also plays perhaps an even more important role in modulating critical aspects of cell function including cell growth, death, and migration. As these and other important AHR activities continue to be elucidated, it becomes apparent that attention now must be directed towards the mechanisms through which the AHR itself is regulated. Here, we review what is known of and what biological outcomes have been attributed to the AHR repressor (AHRR), an evolutionarily conserved bHLH-PAS protein that inhibits both xenobiotic-induced and constitutively active AHR transcriptional activity in multiple species. We discuss the structure and evolution of the AHRR and the dominant paradigm of a xenobiotic-inducible negative feedback loop comprised of AHR-mediated transcriptional up-regulation of AHRR and the subsequent AHRR-mediated suppression of AHR activity. We highlight the role of the AHRR in limiting AHR activity in the absence of xenobiotic AHR ligands and the important contribution of constitutively repressive AHRR to cancer biology. In this context, we also suggest a new hypothesis that, under some circumstances, constitutively active AHR may repress AHRR transcription, resulting in unbridled AHR activity. We also review the predominant hypotheses on the molecular mechanisms through which AHRR inhibits AHR as well as novel mechanisms through which the AHRR may exert AHR-independent effects. Collectively, this discussion emphasizes the importance of this understudied bHLH-PAS protein in tissue development, normal cell biology, xenobiotic responsiveness, and AHR-regulated malignancy. Click here for the complete report and Exhibits.

2007 Seed The Scientist Recipient Wins an Award

December 2007

Supraja received the top Carcinogenesis Specialty Section Student Award from NIH. Congratulations from everyone at Art beCAUSE, Supraja!

Art beCAUSE presents $12,500 to Supraja Narasimha

November 2007


Art beCAUSE presents $12,500 to BU School of Medicine PhD. Candidate, Supraja Narasimhan. She also will be co-authoring a manuscript entitled "The role of the aryl hydrdocarbon receptor in breast epithelial cell growth and invasion."

Art beCAUSE Seed the Scientist Progress Report

The Role of an Environmental Chemical Receptor, the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor, in Breast Cancer Cell Survival

June 12, 2007

The age-adjusted incidence of breast cancer in the U.S. increased ~1% per year between 1940 and 1990 such that breast cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women aged 20 to 59. A substantial and growing body of evidence indicates that exposure to certain environmental chemicals contributes to the development of breast cancer. For several years our laboratory has focused on the role of common air pollutants and food contaminants in the development and progression of breast cancer. We have shown that hydrocarbons, commonly found in ambient air as a consequence of the burning of fossil fuels or any other carbon source, preferentially induce breast cancers in laboratory animals. The ability of these environmental hydrocarbons to turn normal breast cells into tumors is dependent on a specific receptor within breast cells which recognizes and binds a variety of ubiquitous environmental hydrocarbons (i.e., the aryl hydrocarbon receptor). Once bound by environmental pollutants, this hydrocarbon receptor delivers signals to the cells which, we hypothesize, increase cell growth, increase cell survival, and drive progression of relatively treatable breast tumors into lethal metastatic breast cancers. The work supported by Art beCAUSE is designed to test this hypothesis. Click here for the complete report

Art beCAUSE Launches "Seed the Scientist"

November 2006

By Ellie Anbinder
Executive Director

"Seed the Scientist," a groundbreaking effort to combat breast cancer, was launched at a festive event November 8, at the State Room in Boston.

Sponsored by Art beCAUSE, the occasion highlighted the $10,000 donation presented to grant winner and principal researcher Dr. Xinhai Yang, M.D., Ph.D, Boston University School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health.

Authorities have long believed that there are environmental causes underpinning this devastating disease. Now prevalent among younger women, the epidemic is growing rapidly and must be stamped out. Art beCAUSE is a non-profit committed to making ours the last generation to suffer this way.

Thus, Dr. Yang’s proposal, “The Role of an Environmental Chemical Receptor, the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in Breast Cancer Cell Survival,” speaks to this mandate.

Each year 1.2 million people in the United States, 98% women, learn they have breast cancer. One in seven receive this diagnosis and 40,000 will die.

We now know that breast cancer is associated with natural estrogens and other hormones. Certain chemicals, found in common household products, can mimic estrogen. More than 100 of these are capable of creating breast cancer cells in the lab.

Carcinogenics such as diesel fuel, grilled meat and smoked food, as well as a genetic predisposition, are among the known toxins.

Therefore, Art beCAUSE is establishing “seed” money to help discover a cure. We are supported by a growing number of donors and volunteers who recognize the urgency to terminate this disease. Many of them (including myself, now 14 years cancer-free)) have battled the onslaught and survived.

We are often asked about our unusual name. It draws from the contribution of all types of artists with a connection to the disease. A percent of the sale of their work is dedicated to our Foundation.

My colleague and longtime friend, Joyce Crieger, is an artist who conceived the idea of linking the beauty of art with the despair of this frequently terminal illness.

Art, in fact, was in abundance at the November 8 party. It was on display for both silent and live auctions. Also brightening the evening were Dr. Yang’s lovely wife and three year old son.

A native of Beijing,Yang expressed his pleasure at being able to share this "exciting event." "Although it is a relatively small amount for the demands of our needs," he said, "I am overjoyed to feel your caring."

At BU, Yang works under the mentorship of Dr. David Sherr, PhD.

Sherr explained, "It’s as though these cells forget how to die, then grow too fast, and ultimately have an 'identity crisis,' which we call 'metastasized.'"

Sherr and Yang were brought into the "Seed the Scientist" program through the intervention of Art BeCAUSE board member Dr. George Klavens. Acting on a suggestion from his son Jon, a lawyer keenly interested in environmental issues, Klavens talked to Dr. Larry Shulman, chief medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Institute. With Shulman’s guidance, Klavens sent RFP’s (Request for Proposals) to major research institutions. From the three proposals Art beCAUSE received, Dr. Yang’s was selected.

Thus the seed has been planted. May it thrive!