$1M funding given to 16 researchers for prostate cancer research

Toronto, ON – The Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada has awarded over $1 million to Canadian researchers actively investigating the causes, cure, treatment, and prevention of prostate cancer.

“The foundation is thrilled that we are a part of history-making research today and for the future,” says John Blanchard, the foundation’s president and CEO. “The research that the foundation funds will improve treatment for patients, find better ways of diagnosing the disease, and will one day bring us closer to finding a cure.”

Since 1999, the foundation says it has awarded over $5.8 million to researchers at health science centers and universities across the country. This year’s grantees have proposed pilot studies that take innovative new approaches to the treatment, prevention and diagnosis of prostate cancer. Grants have been awarded to researchers in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Recipients include:

– Dr Jeremy Squire of the University Health Network in Toronto, who is investigating a gene fusion protein that is specific to prostate cancer, and could yield a new, highly accurate diagnostic marker of the disease in as little as 12 months of study.

– Dr Wilfred Jeffries of the University of British Columbia who is researching a new method of enhancing the body’s immune system to better identify and eradicate cancerous cells in the prostate, positively affecting the outcome of therapies.

– Dr Jacques Lapointe of McGill University, who is using a novel technique that accurately measures thousands of genomic changes at a time in a large number of prostate tumours. This could lead to an identification of the good genes that are lost during cancer development and aid in the development of better treatments for the disease.