BRCA1 and BRCA2, the genes implicated in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, have become common parlance, especially since Angela Jolie’s May 2013 disclosure of her genetic mutation and subsequent mastectomy. This has not always been the case – just twenty years ago, these genes were being discovered.

In a “Perspective” article featured in Science Magazine, Dr. Katherine L. Nathanson, MD, Director of Genetics and a funded investigator at the Basser Research Center for BRCA, explains how far we have come in respect to genetic assessment of risk for breast cancer.

“A woman’s risk of breast cancer is still very much tied to family history, but it’s not just about their mother or grandmother; it’s about their father and his family history, too, and the population groups an individual’s family belongs to,” said Dr. Nathanson.

“Twenty years of research has provided a lot more information about these risk factors, which helps us to more effectively counsel patients about their own cancer risk and possible preventative strategies.”

Researchers say that mammography can “overdiagnose” breast cancer, meaning that some of the tiny cancers it finds would probably never progress, but tumors are treated anyway.

Modern Healthcare, a leading source of healthcare business and policy news, research and information reports on the Homologous Hope sculpture, designed to honor the Basser Research Center for BRCA of Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center.

Highlighting the sheer size of the sculpture—900 pounds—and it’s fidelity to the actual form and function of the BRCA2 protein, Modern Healthcare emphasized artist Mara G. Haseltine’s desire to spin hope from science in article entitled Outliers: “The really BIG picture on cell repair.”

Read the full article here.

More magazine recently reported on the trend towards increased rates of double mastectomy, featuring an eye-catching image of a female torso with open circles dotting the bare chest instead of breasts which had been hollowed out from the statue. Investigating this trend towards mastectomy, the article extensively quotes Susan Domchek, MD, director of the Basser Research Center for BRCA at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center.

While a proven method of decreasing breast cancer risk, mastectomy is not the only option for women at high risk for breast cancer who can also consider more rigorous breast cancer surveillance, medications to reduce risk, and oophorectomy, which if done pre-menopausally decreases breast cancer risk by 50 percent.

Read more and learn what else Dr. Domchek has to say.

Learn more about the Basser Research Center for BRCA.

“DNA Comes Alive in Penn Medicine’s Basser Research Center for BRCA” reads a video billboard in a glittering Times Square, alerting New Yorkers to the exciting unveiling of the Homologous Hope Sculpture at the Basser Center.

Focusing on hereditary forms of cancer caused by mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, the Basser Center now welcomes visitors with a nearly one-ton sculpture, replete with LED lights that glow through the glass walls of the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine late into the night.

Modeled to resemble a portion of the BRCA2 protein responsible for the all-important function of DNA-repair that helps the body stop the development of cancers, an image of the sculpture lit up Times Square, pictured above.