A SCIENTIST here is working on a treatment method that will kill only cancerous cells in the nose, without affecting the healthy cells surrounding them.

For over a year, the National Cancer Centre Singapore’s Dr Marissa Teo has been researching how to treat patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a type of nose cancer, by combining chemotherapy with cell therapy.

If she is successful, the method could spare patients from complications resulting from radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments, such as hearing loss, jaw-muscle deadlock and tooth decay. It could also reduce the incidence of relapse.

The cancer recurs in about 70 per cent of patients, as some cancerous cells still survive.

Dr Teo, 33, is the first Singaporean to be awarded the Unesco-L’Oreal For Women in Science International Fellowship, which was first given 12 years ago.

She accepted it at the Unesco headquarters in Paris last week. The award comes with a US$20,000 (S$27,960) research grant with Baylor College of Medicine in the United States.

She is among this year’s 15 winners, who were picked from 150 nominees.

The annual award supports the scientific pursuits of three female scientists from each of the world’s five continents for their contributions to life sciences. To date, 864 women from 93 countries have received it.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is prevalent in southern China and South-east Asia. In Singapore, about 300 people are diagnosed with it each year, and it is the sixth-most-common type of cancer here.

Dr Teo said: “There is an ever-increasing need for research into the forms that are more common here...which is why this award is so important, as it allows me to advance my research in this area.”

Professor Leo Tan, who chairs the Singapore National Commission for Unesco’s science sub-commission, said that the award is a “real testament (to) and recognition” of Dr Teo’s work.

He said: “This award also affirms, in a way, Singapore’s efforts at providing the best possible environment for the cultivation of scientists and for good scientific research to flourish here.”