The results of the EMC2 competition announced
7 INNOVATIVE COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS WILL GO FORWARD!
JUNE 5, 2018
In February, the Cancer Research Society announced a contribution of 1.5 million dollars to the Oncopole for its competition EMC2 to help finance exceptional research projects in oncology with the potential to make a difference in the prevention, diagnostic, and treatment of cancer.
Following a competitive process and rigorous evaluation of individual applications by an independent international peer review committee, seven innovative projects were selected. Teams are made up of 61 researchers from 12 Quebec institutions:
- Developing innovative anti-leukemic vaccines (Claude Perreault, IRIC): The goal of this project is to discover antigens exclusively present on leukemic cells that can elicit a strong immune response.
- Optimizing prostate cancer treatments using molecular imaging and targeted radioligand therapy [Brigitte Guérin (CRCHUS), Frédéric Pouliot (CRCHUQc), Jean-Mathieu Beauregard (CRCHUQc)]: This project is aimed at developing new medical imaging tools in order to visualize and better characterize the various metastatic prostate cancer cells and thus, provide patients with better treatment.
- Developing new targeted therapies to improve survival of children suffering from leukemias [Brian Wilhelm (IRIC), Frédéric Barabé (CHUL), Sonia Cellot (CHU Ste-Justine)]: This project consists of identifying new drugs to improve survival rates with respect to high fatality acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in children.
- Exploiting the Achilles’ heel of ovarian cancers in order to develop effective treatments [Anne-Marie Mes-Masson (CRCHUM), Francis Rodier (CRCHUM), Jean-Yves Masson (CRCHUQc)]: The goal of this project is to improve current therapies for ovarian cancer in order to increase survival and quality of life for women who are suffering from it.
- Targeting cancer stem cells to fight leukemia relapses (Trang Hoang, IRIC): Leukemic stem cells spared by the current treatment depend on their interactions with a niche for their survival, revealing a vulnerability that this team intends to exploit in order to develop new compounds that prevent relapses following treatment.
- Overcoming drug resistance in poor outcome breast cancers [Morag Park (McGill), Michael Pollack (HGJ), Sylvie Mader (IRIC)]: The goal of this project is to develop approaches to target treatment-resistant tumors, or for which no treatment is currently available, and thus reduce mortality.
- Reducing the burden of cancer for patients and the healthcare system: Collaborative governance of the Quebec Cancer Network [Dominique Tremblay (CRHCLM), Nassera Touati (ENAP)]: The purpose of this project is to analyze how, why, by whom, for whom and under what conditions the network’s governance contributes to practices resulting in added-value effects for patients, health professionals and the overall system.
“The EMC2 competition is a great example of the possibilities for research collaboration, and we are proud to contribute to it thanks to the unwavering support of our donors. It is by joining the efforts of researchers that we will succeed in outsmarting cancer. And we are convinced that tangible benefits will come from these projects involving some of the best oncology researchers in the province,” explains Max Fehlmann, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cancer Research Society.