90 new grants to outsmart cancer, totalling $10.8 million
Annual Competition for Research Grants
The Cancer Research Society (CRS) is awarding 90 new research grants valued at $10.8 million as part of its annual competition. It is an all-time record for the organization for a second year in a row. The grants are awarded to some of the most promising cancer research projects in Canada.
As part of its annual competition, the CRS receives hundreds of applications from researchers and clinicians throughout Canada who are seeking a $120,000, 2-year grant for a cancer research project. The financial support is awarded to projects retained through a rigorous selection process conducted via peer evaluation committees which this year were composed of 85 researchers and clinicians who generously volunteered their time.
“The Cancer Research Society is an undisputed leader in Canada’s research sector. Our vision for the last 75 years has been to outsmart cancer by providing the necessary financial support to brilliant researchers across Canada whose research projects are both innovative and promising.
“This announcement further demonstrates our impact on cancer research and inevitably on cancer patients and their families.”
– Manon Pepin, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cancer Research Society
Whether it is to counter the adverse effects of certain cancer drugs or detect breast cancer with a blood test, discover some of the innovative proposals of researchers who received a grant by clicking here.
“We are very proud of the excitement our competition has generated within the scientific community and among leading researchers. All of the selected projects have a real potential to lead to breakthroughs that will ultimately have an impact in the cancer research ecosystem.”
– Dajan O’Donnell, PhD, Director of Scientific Affairs and Partnerships at the Cancer Research Society
The support offered by the CRS is made possible thanks to the generosity of thousands of donors and partners who co-fund certain grants, including Ovarian Cancer Canada, the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis, and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada.
Furthermore, CRS continues to fund grants and scholarships from previous years, as well as some research projects aimed at various types of cancer in partnership with other organizations.
Here is the list of all the researchers selected
Causes and prevention – the most effective approach to reducing the risk of developing the disease
Christina Addison
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Identification of pathways driving metastasis of invasive lobular breast cancer.
Fawzi Aoudjit
Université Laval – funded in partnership with “Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada”.
Uncovering the mechanisms of cell adhesion-induced chemoresistance in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Eric Campos
The Hospital for Sick Children.
ATRX-mediated chromatin compaction and the alternative lengthening of telomeres.
Johnathan Canton
University of Calgary.
The role of phosphoinositides in the generation of anti-cancer cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses by dendritic cells.
Edmond Chan
Queen’s University.
Mechanisms of mitochondrial fusion during tumour progression and metastasis.
Daniel De Carvalho
University Health Network.
Premalignancy as an opportunity for therapeutic interception of ovarian cancer.
Caroline Diorio
CHU de Québec – Université Laval – funded in partnership with “Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation”.
The effect of cannabinoid receptors on breast cancer survival.
Sean Egan
The Hospital for Sick Children.
APOBEC3, an endogenous mutagen driving breast cancer progression.
Shokrollah Elahi
University of Alberta – funded in partnership with “Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada”.
IL-16 as a novel therapeutic target in hematological cancers.
Federico Gaiti
University Health Network – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Defining the determinants of IDH-mutant gliomas evolution from indolent to aggressive disease phase.
Casimiro Gerarduzzi
Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
A novel pathway of VEGF-C/FLT4 signalling for renal cell carcinoma development.
Pauline Johnson
University of British Columbia.
Regulation and function of CD44 in tumour metastasis to the lung.
Lisa Julian
Simon Fraser University – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Defining ER stress profiles as determinants of cell identity and therapeutic vulnerability in mTORC1-driven brain tumours.
David Knapp
Université de Montréal.
Modelling the progression from clonal hematopoiesis to leukemia.
Robert Kridel
University Health Network – funded in partnership with “Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada”.
Elucidation of the immune contexture and gene regulatory basis underlying post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders.
Sylvie Mader
Université de Montréal.
Roles of the transcription factor FOXA1 in breast tumorigenesis.
Frederick A. Mallette
Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont – funded in partnership with “Herbert James Davies Memorial Fund”.
Novel function of DEPTOR in regulating the formation of spliceosomes in multiple myeloma.
Chantal Matar
University of Ottawa.
Role of the gut microbiome in epigenetic alterations at puberty and breast cancer in adulthood.
Kirk McManus
University of Manitoba.
Exploring and targeting reduced FBXO5 expression in colorectal cancer.
Lisa Munter
McGill University.
Investigating the role of RHBDL4 in HER2-driven mammary tumorigenesis.
Yoshiaki Tanaka
Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Investigating the roles of primate-specific retrotransposon-derived transcripts in glioblastoma.
Ivan Topisirovic
Jewish General Hospital.
The role of electron transfer flavoprotein dehydrogenase (ETFDH) in cancer.
Michel Tremblay
McGill University – funded in partnership with “Cancer Research Society Michael O’Gallagher Memorial Fund”.
PTP-PRL2 (PTP4A2) in lymphoangiogenesis and metastasis: a novel target in cancer.
Eva Turley
London Health Sciences Centre Research – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis”.
Roles of microenvironment hyaluronan in preventing skin cancer initiation.
Yojiro Yamanaka
McGill University.
Investigating ovarian cancer susceptibility of FANCI L604F in mouse ovarian cancer models.
Detection–early detection is critical to improving patient outcomes
Cathie Garnis
BC Cancer.
A blood-based biomarker for the early detection of oropharyngeal cancer.
David Juncker
McGill University.
Live imaging of individual extracellular vesicles from single breast cancer cells.
Jacques Lapointe
The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre – funded in partnership with “Suzanne and Louis Daubois Fund”.
Exploring the role of exomeres and supermeres in prostate cancer.
Chun Peng
York University– funded in partnership with “Ovarian Cancer Canada”.
Role of circSKA3 in ovarian cancer development.
Lynne Postovit
Queen’s University.
Proteomics-based biomarker discovery in human ovarian cancer extracellular vesicles.
Carlos Rossa
Carleton University – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Sensorized needles for prostate cancer localization in mpMRI/US targeted biopsy.
Karla Williams
University of British Columbia – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Development of a liquid biopsy for early breast cancer detection.
Zhaolei Zhang
University of Toronto – funded in partnership with “Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada”.
Single-cell proteogenomics integrating mutation profiles with protein signatures to identify relapse-fated leukemic clones in FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia.
Treatment–the development of new treatments, including targeted or personalized therapies
Costin Antonescu
Toronto Metropolitan University.
Metabolic control of glycogen synthase kinase 3ß nuclear translocation by lysosomal signals drives breast cancer cell proliferation and survival.
Michele Ardolino
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute – funded in partnership with “Suzanne and Louis Daubois Fund”.
PD-L1 metabolically imprints cancer cells to be more responsive to oncolytic virotherapy.
Christian Beausejour
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine.
New senolytic approaches for the elimination of senescent cells.
Andrew Beharry
University of Toronto.
A fluorescent chemosensor for the DNA repair protein, O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase, to guide clinician decision-making in glioblastoma.
Yannick Benoit
University of Ottawa – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Pre-clinical development of an extended-release nanosphere formulation to deliver a novel colorectal cancer stem cell-targeting agent.
Nicolas Bertrand
Université Laval – funded in partnership with “Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada”.
Anti-PEG antibodies and adverse reactions to PEGylated drugs: effect of mRNA vaccination and novel mitigation strategies.
Shawn Beug
CHEO Research Institute.
Evaluating the role of extracellular vesicles in response to Interferons and IAP antagonists.
Jean-Philippe Brosseau
Université de Sherbrooke – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis”.
Development of NF1 gene therapy.
Frédéric Charron
Montreal Clinical Research Institute.
Chemoprevention of medulloblastoma.
Jacques Côté
Université Laval.
Understanding the molecular determinants of high-grade endometrial stromal sarcomas.
Kyle Cowan
CHEO Research Institute – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Pannexin 1 in rhabdomyosarcoma: role in pathogenesis and progression & mechanisms of action.
Andrew Craig
Queen’s University.
Impact of chromosome 19 miRNA cluster oncomiRs on melanoma progression and metastasis.
Shoukat Dedhar
BC Cancer – funded in partnership with “Rob Lutterman Memorial Fund”.
Pancreatic cancer progression: Targeting NET-DNA-induced ILK activation.
Fred Dick
University of Western Ontario.
Investigating Hoxa9 as a novel therapeutic target in advanced prostate cancer.
Susan Done
University Health Network.
Impact of the microenvironment on triple-negative breast cancer progression.
Nicoletta Eliopoulos
Jewish General Hospital – funded in partnership with “Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation”.
Gene-Modified Mesenchymal Stem Cells as Delivery Vehicles for the Treatment of Breast Cancer.
Aravindhan Ganesan
University of Waterloo – funded in partnership with “Charlotte Légaré Memorial Fund”.
Developing novel small molecule inhibitors of VISTA for cancer immunotherapy.
Alina Gerrie
BC Cancer.
Integrative genomic analysis of Hodgkin variant Richter transformation in CLL.
Ing Swie Goping
University of Alberta – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Investigating breast cancer organoids.
Jean-Philippe Gratton
Université de Montréal.
Role of ZO-1 in endothelial cell stress responses and in tumour angiogenesis.
Patrick Gunning
University of Toronto.
Development of selective allosteric inhibitors of JPRK for fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma.
Kevin Hay
BC Cancer – funded in partnership with “Herbert James Davies Memorial Fund”.
A proteomics-guided approach to multi-antigen targeted (CAR)-T cells for myeloma.
Matthew Hebb
University of Western Ontario – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Novel electrotherapy for enhanced drug delivery and control of brain-seeking breast cancer metastases.
Ryan Hili
York University.
Development of selective inhibitors of human m6A demethylases.
Kristin Hope
University Health Network – funded in partnership with “Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada”.
Targeting the epigenetic reader MBD1 as a novel strategy to intercept acute myeloid leukemia.
Sung Kim
University of Western Ontario.
Reprogramming the tumour-associated macrophages and microenvironment by PU.1 inhibition.
Madhuri Koti
Queen’s University.
Investigating the role of age-associated B cells in response to BCG immunotherapy in bladder cancer.
Anand Krishnan
The University of Saskatchewan – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Potential therapies for cisplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy in breast cancer.
Jean-Philippe Lambert
Université Laval.
Structural characterization of full-length BET proteins and their functional implications to cancer.
Scot Leary
The University of Saskatchewan – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Targeting mitochondrial fission machinery in tumour-initiating cells.
Chinten James Lim
University of British Columbia – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Paracrine and autocrine IL-6 as drivers of treatment resistance in medulloblastoma.
Luke McCaffrey
McGill University.
Identifying tamoxifen-persistent cells to predict ER+ breast cancer outcomes.
Francois Mercier
Jewish General Hospital – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Deciphering the role of the E3 ubiquitin ligase HERC1 in the chemotherapy response of acute myeloid leukemia.
Wilson Miller
Jewish General Hospital.
Using MNK1/2 inhibitors to target CDK4/6 resistance in breast cancer.
Torsten Nielsen
University of British Columbia – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Optimizing triple-negative breast cancer therapy based on immune cell morphology.
Armen Parsyan
University of Western Ontario – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Studies of anticancer effects of radiation therapy and polo-like kinase 4 (PLK4) inhibitor CFI-400945 in triple-negative breast cancer.
Lisa Porter
University of Windsor.
Dissecting the progression to treatment-resistant neuroendocrine prostate cancer.
Moutih Rafei
Université de Montréal – funded in partnership with “Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada”.
Optimizing the anti-tumour potency of the MSC-TPr vaccine.
Kirill Rosen
Dalhousie University.
The cell death-regulating protein MLKL as a novel target for colorectal cancer treatment.
Derek Rosenzweig
The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Targeting senescent cells to subdue breast-to-bone metastasis.
Anthony Rullo
McMaster University – funded in partnership with “Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada”.
Tumour targeting of universal T cells using covalent adapter molecules.
Luc Sabourin
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.
The role of Sox7 in phenotype switching of BRAF melanomas.
Andreea Schmitzer
Université de Montréal – funded in partnership with “Charlotte Légaré Memorial Fund”.
MitoCure: a program for the development of biguanides targeting mitochondria.
David Spaner
Sunnybrook Research Institute.
Targeting interferon to improve leukemia therapy.
Jonathan Spicer
The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.
Disentangling radiation-resistant lung cancer by targeting neutrophil extracellular traps.
Woong-Kyung Suh
Montreal Clinical Research Institute – funded in partnership with “Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada”.
Epigenetic driving forces of angioimmunoblastic T cell lymphoma (AITL).
Anastasia Tikhonova
University Health Network – funded in partnership with “Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada”.
Targeting the molecular interaction of acute lymphoblastic leukemia with the bone marrow microenvironment.
Sue Tsai
University of Alberta – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Regulation of CD8+ T cell-mediated anti-tumour immunity by insulin signalling.
Jonathan Wasserman
The Hospital for Sick Children.
Transcriptome-based risk stratification of pediatric thyroid neoplasms.
Nadine Wiper-Bergeron
University of Ottawa.
Suppression of cancer stem cells and cancer cachexia by candidate C/EBPß reducing drugs.
Simon Wisnovsky
University of British Columbia.
Defining new glyco-immune checkpoint ligands as next-generation targets for leukemia immunotherapy.
Michael Witcher
Lady Davis Institute at the Jewish General Hospital.
Targeting aberrant transcriptional processes in high-grade serous ovarian cancer.
Sarah Wootton
University of Guelph – funded in partnership with “Ovarian Cancer Canada”.
Preclinical translation of oncolytic Orf virus as a potent inducer of anti-tumour immunity in an orthotopic model of late-stage epithelial ovarian cancer.
Samuel Workenhe
University of Guelph.
Igniting pyroptotic fire to boost anticancer immunity.
Xiaolong Yang
Queen’s University – funded in partnership with “Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research”.
Characterization of PTPN12 as a novel regulator of the Hippo pathway in breast cancer metastasis.
Jonathan Yeung
University Health Network – funded in partnership with “Aristotle Fund”.
Prediction of drug response in esophageal adenocarcinoma patients using organoids.
Gelareh Zadeh
University Health Network.
Proteomic markers of treatment-induced adaptation to hypoxia in glioblastoma.