National Denim Day: Meet Jason Topolski, CURE Foundation Fellowship in Breast Cancer Research Recipient

For 30 years, the CURE foundation has been powering research and the fight against breast cancer. May 12th, 2026, is National Denim Day, their annual fundraiser.

Every day, 89 Canadian women receive a life-changing breast cancer diagnosis. For Jason Topolski, a first-year MSc student in Biochemistry working among Professor Morag Park’s research team at the Rosalind & Morris Goodman Cancer Institute (GCI), that statistic is driving his research. He was awarded the CURE Foundation Scholarship in 2025, and today we highlight the impact it has on his research.

In the Park lab, Jason is tackling one of the most persistent challenges in breast cancer treatment: what happens to the cancer cells that survive after treatment.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is among the most aggressive subtypes of the disease, and chemotherapy remains one of its primary treatments. But chemotherapy is not perfect, and some cancer cells manage to survive. This is where Jason’s research comes in: he wants to know why some cells survive.

“If chemotherapy fails to cause a complete response, the disease has a relatively high risk of recurring,” Jason explains. His research focuses on these resilient, residual TNBC cells and a curious phenomenon that occurs in their wake: some cancer cells respond to chemotherapy by ramping up their production of lipid droplets – small fat-storage structures within the cell.

His goal is to unravel the function of these lipid droplets and the mechanisms behind their formation. This knowledge could, one day, inform new therapeutic strategies targeting lipid droplet metabolism in TNBC patients.

A broader motivation for breast cancer research

Treatment options for TNBC patients remain limited, and that gap is a strong motivation for Jason. “It’s necessary to have multiple treatment options in case first-line therapy does not work,” he adds. “Fundamental research is critical in this regard.”

For Jason, scholarship support from the CURE Foundation has been especially meaningful at this early stage of his graduate training. The award allows him to fully dedicate himself to his science and begin building the foundation of his research career.

To support the CURE Foundation and contribute to research like Jason’s for National Denim Day, donate today.