Cancer researchers awarded $33M in funding

Toronto, ON – The Canadian Cancer Society has announced a total of $33 million in funding for 71 research projects across the country.

Of these, 60 are Canadian Cancer Society grants, five are the result of a special call for lung cancer research applications by the Ontario division of the society, and five are results of a new prevention initiative that was announced in November.

In an open letter to the successful applicants, Dr Michael A Wosnick, vice-president research with the Canadian Cancer Society and scientific director with the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, says that despite fundraising challenges brought by the current economic downturn, the society has “gone to extraordinary lengths to preserve and protect the funding ‘envelope’ for this year’s research grant competition:” He adds that he is “pleased to say therefore that the number of grants, success rates, amount of dollars being awarded etc are all similar to last year’s competition.”

Following are the successful applicants, with applicant name, institution, type, title and award:

1. Canadian Cancer Society grants:

Alaoui-Jamali, Moulay; Lady Davis Institute; CS Research Grant; olecular and functional studies of focal adhesion protein trafficking and turnover in invasive cancer cells; $510,000 over four years.

Archambault, Jacques; IRCM – Clinical Research Institute of Montreal; CCS Research Grant; HPV polymorphism in high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cancer of the uterine cervix; $510,000 over four years.

Baetz, Kristin; University of Ottawa; CCS Research Grant; Deciphering novel roles of the acetyltransferase NuA4 in genome stability; $689,725 over five years.

Barr, Ronald; McMaster University; CCS Research Grant; Health-related quality of life measurement in pediatric cancer clinical trials: an examination of acute lymphoblastic leukemia; $47,423 over one year.

Bijl, Janetta; Hopital Maisonneuve-Rosemont; CCS Research Grant; Elucidating the role of HoxA genes in hematopoiesis; $631,375 over five years.

Brown, Grant; University of Toronto; CCS Research Grant; The S phase response to DNA damage; $690,000 over five years.

Brundage, Michael; Queen’s University; CCS Research Grant (Prostate Cancer); A national “patterns of care” study in prostate cancer radiation therapy: development and use of quality indicators; $249,866 over two years.

Coomber, Brenda; University of Guelph; CCS Research Grant; The role of ischemia in tumour progression: implications for response to therapy; $481,760 over four years.

D’Amours, Damien; University of Montreal; CCS Research Grant; Mitotic regulation of the Condensin complex; $688,250 over five years.

Dirks, Peter; Hospital for Sick Children; CCS Research Grant; Defining cancer stem cell and clonal heterogeneity in mouse brain tumours; $549,400 over four years.

Frappier, Lori; University of Toronto; CCS Research Grant; Host cell interactions of the EBNA1 protein of Epstein-barr virus; $690,000 over five years.

Fraser, Andrew; University of Toronto; CCS Research Grant; Genome-scale RNAi screens in C. elegans to identify modifiers of ras signaling; $381,650 over three years.

Gaudreau, Luc; Universite de Sherbrooke; CCS Research Grant; Shaping the euchromatic and heterochromatic landscapes by p400 complex-mediated incorporation of H2A.Z; $690,000 over five years.

Giaever, Guri; University of Toronto; CCS Research Grant; Chemogenomic assays to identify novel targets and compounds for cancer chemotherapeutics; $637,500 over five years.

Gingras, Anne-Claude; Mount Sinai Hospital; CCS Research Grant; Structure, regulation and function of the cisplatin-sensitive protein phosphatase 4 complex; $688,605 over five years.

Groome, Patti; Queen’s University; CCS Research Grant; Health care utilization and diagnostic delay in oral cavity cancer; $158,601 over two years.

Hung, Rayjean; Mount Sinai Hospital; CCS Research Grant; Post-genomewide association study of lung cancer in Ontario; $877,735 over four years.

Jongstra, Jan; University Health Network; CCS Research Grant; The oncogenic protein kinase PIM-1 as a chemotherapeutic target in cancer; $381,861 over three years.

Klassen, Anne; McMaster University; CCS Research Grant; Caring for a child with cancer: understanding single parent families’ experiences; $126,920 over two years.

Klassen, Anne; McMaster University; CCS Feasibility Grant; What factors are important for understanding quality of life of children with cancer?; $35,000 over one year.

Krahn, Murray; University Health Network; CCS Research Grant (Prostate Cancer); Phase-specific and lifetime costs of cancer in British Columbia and Ontario; $674,546 over four years.

Lai, Raymond; University of Alberta; CCS Research Grant; Identification of novel therapeutic targets and prognostic markers for mantle cell lymphoma; $316,200 over three years.

Lam, Wan; BC Cancer Agency (Vancouver); CCS Research Grant; Understanding the genetic basis of lung cancer in never smokers; $378,647 over three years.

Laprise, Patrick; Laval University; CCS Research Grant; Roles of CRB3 in Wnt signalling regulation and colon cancer; $610,515 over five years.

Li, Shawn (Shun-Cheng); University of Western Ontario; CCS Research Grant; Diverse signalling by the SH2 domain protein SAP and the molecular mechanism of the XLP syndrome; $634,800 over five years.

Lichty, Brian; McMaster University; CCS Research Grant; Determining the fate of tumour cells killed by an oncolytic virus; $403,335 over three years.

Lorimer, Ian; Ottawa Health Research Institute; CCS Research Grant; Cancer cell responses to Hsp90 inhibition; $288,438 over three years.

Mai, Sabine; University of Manitoba; CCS Research Grant; Mechanisms and consequences of three-dimensional (3D) nuclear remodelling of telomeres in cancer; $377,390 over three years.

Marshall, Jean; Dalhousie University; CCS Research Grant; Mechanisms of TLR2-mediated inhibition of tumour growth; $567,120 over five years.

Martino, Rosemary; University of Toronto; CCS Research Grant; Psychometric testing of a new scale measuring medical outcomes of dysphagia (MOD) in adult patients with swallowing disorders secondary to head and neck cancer; $424,592 over three years.

McGlade, C Jane; Hospital for Sick Children; CCS Research Grant; The role of the E3 ubiquitin ligase LNX2 in Wnt, cell polarity and cancer; $626,195 over five years.

Meyn, M. Stephen; Hospital for Sick Children; CCS Research Grant; Common pathways of human DNA double strand break repair and telomere maintenance; $614,385 over five years.

Minchinton, Andrew; BC Cancer Agency (Vancouver); CCS Research Grant; Hypoxia-selective radiation sensitizers; $446,934 over four years.

Moran, Michael; Hospital for Sick Children; CCS Research Grant; Phosphotyrosine networks in multiple myeloma; $690,000 over five years.

Neel, Benjamin; Ontario Cancer Institute/PMH; CCS Research Grant; Identification and characterization of ovarian cancer-initiating cells; $624,325 over five years.

Ohh, Michael; University of Toronto; CCS Research Grant; Novel role of VHL in JAK-STAT pathway; $690,000 over five years.

Overall, Christopher; University of British Columbia; CCS Research Grant; Cancer protease proteomics: metadegradomics; $552,000 over five years.

Pelletier, Jerry; McGill University; CCS Research Grant; Chemical dissection of translation initiation; $690,000 over five years.

Penn, Linda; Ontario Cancer Institute/PMH; CCS Research Grant; Exploiting Myc deregulation for the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer; $637,500 over five years.

Perrin, David; University of British Columbia; CCS Research Grant; Arylboron bioconjugates for one-step 18F-labeling of PET imaging agents for cancer; $373,892 over four years.

Poh, Catherine; University of British Columbia; CCS Research Grant; Characterization of clonal alterations within novel fluorescence visualization (FV) fields of hig
h-risk oral premalignant lesions; $309,461 over three years.

Prive, Gilbert; University Health Network; CCS Research Grant; BTB complexes in human cancers; $690,000 over five years.

Roberge, Danièle; Hopital Charles LeMoyne (Research Center); CCS Research Grant; Evaluation of the impact of interdisciplinarity in cancer care; $386,254 over three years.

Roy, Peter; University of Toronto; CCS Research Grant; Genetic analyses of guided cell migration in C. elegans; $690,000 over five years.

Shepherd, Trevor; University of Western Ontario; CCS Research Grant; Implications of activated BMP signalling and ID1/ID3 function in ovarian cancer pathogenesis; $380,848 over three years.

Sicheri, Frank; Mount Sinai Hospital; CCS Research Grant; Structural mechanisms governing KEOPS function; $690,000 over five years.

Sinnett, Daniel; CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre (U of Montreal)
CCS Research Grant; Regulatory polymorphisms in apoptosis genes and susceptibility to childhood leukemia; $195,828 over two years.

So, Alan; University of British Columbia; CCS Research Grant; The use of intravesical vesicular stomatitis virus for the treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer; $218,380 over two years.

Spaner, David; Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; CCS Research Grant; Metabolic regulation of toll-like receptor agonist leukemia immunotherapy; $ 338,004 over three years.

Squire, Jeremy; Queen’s University; CCS Research Grant; Integrative genomics and epigenomics of osteosarcoma: a model of chromosomal instability in human cancer; $668,680 over five years.

Tepass, Ulrich; University of Toronto; CCS Research Grant; Regulation of cadherin function; $637,500 over five years.

Therrien, Marc; Inst. de rech. en imm/cancer (IRIC)- U of Montreal;
CCS Research Grant; Characterization of the leukemia-inducing NUP98-HOXA9 oncogene using drosophilia and mouse models; $363,500 over five years.

Tinmouth, Jill; Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; CCS Research Grant; Assessing the quality of colonoscopy: validation of quality indicators; $165,863 over two years.

Tsao, Ming-Sound; University Health Network; CCS Research Grant; Prognostic and predictive markers in early stage non-small cell lung cancer; $690,000 over five years.

Waisman, David; Dalhousie University; CCS Research Grant; Regulation of cancer cell plasmin formation by S100A10; $382,500 over three years.

Wulff, Jeremy; University of Victoria; CCS Feasibility Grant; Assay for the evaluation of small-molecule inhibitors of the PD1/PDL1 interaction in pancreatic cancer; $35,000 over one year.

Yousef, George; St. Michael’s Hospital; CCS Research Grant; Differential protein expression in renal cell carcinoma: new biomarker discovery and clinical applications; $323,202 over three years.

Zeng, Haishan; BC Cancer Agency (Vancouver); CCS Research Grant; Improving early lung cancer detection by endoscopic laser Raman spectroscopy; $173,287 over three years.

Zhang, Li; University Health Network; CCS Research Grant; The role and mechanisms of MFAP4 in DNT cell-mediate inhibition of GVHD and Leukemia; $690,000 over five years.

Zimmermann, Camilla; Ontario Cancer Institute/PMH; CCS Research Grant; Early palliative care team intervention for patients with metastatic cancer: a cluster randomized trial; $409,496 over two years.

2. Results of the call for lung cancer research

Aubin, Michèle; Laval University; CCS (Ontario Division) Lung Cancer Research Grant; Evaluation of a multi-faceted intervention to improve continuity of care for patients with lung cancer; $480,239 over four years.

Bissonnette, Jean-Pierre; University Health Network; CCS (Ontario Division) Lung Cancer Research Grant; Prospective study of 4DCT and 4DPET imaging during a course of radical radiotherapy to monitor tumour response and predict treatment outcome for non-small cell lung cancer; $238,764 over two years.

Craig, Andrew; Queen’s University; CCS (Ontario Division) Lung Cancer Research Grant; F-BAR-containing adaptor proteins in EGFR signalling and lung cancer; $382,500 over three years.

Egan, Sean; Hospital for Sick Children; CCS (Ontario Division) Lung Cancer Research Grant; Lfng as lung tumour suppressor gene; $690,000 over five years.

Moorehead, Roger; University of Guelph; CCS (Ontario Division) Lung Cancer Research Grant; The importance of Akt, CREB and KLF5 in lung tumourigenesis; $491,228 over four years.

3. Results of new prevention initiative:

Cotterchio, Michelle; Cancer Care Ontario; CCS Prevention Initiative-Modifiable Risk Factors & Conditions; Dietary phytoestrogen intake and the risk of breast cancer according to estrogen- and progesterone-receptor (ERPR) subgroup; $157,546 over two years.

Goodwin, Pamela; Mount Sinai Hospital; CCS Prevention Initiative-Modifiable Risk Factors & Conditions; Vitamin D as a predictor of breast cancer risk and tamoxifen benefit in NSABP P1; $269,378 over two years.

Koushik, Anita; University of Montreal; CCS Prevention Initiative-Modifiable Risk Factors & Conditions; The risk of lung cancer related to occupational and recreation physical activity and to dietary intake of flavonoids; $208,317 over three years.

Parker, Louise; Dalhousie University; CCS Prevention Initiative-Modifiable Risk Factors & Conditions; Cancer risk and drinking water quality; $575,448 over three years.

Pollak, Michael; Lady Davis Institute; CCS Prevention Initiative-Modifiable Risk Factors & Conditions; Modifiable dietary determinants of levels of IGF-1, insulin, and risk of colorectal cancer and lethal prostate cancer; $538,768 over three years.

Prapavessis, Harry; University of Western Ontario; CCS Prevention Initiative-Modifiable Risk Factors & Conditions; Exercise and smoking cessation: preventing relapse; $407,010 over three years.