Commercialization projects for cancer technologies receive $2.25M in funding

Toronto, ON – Five early-stage cancer technologies are receiving a total of $2.25 million in funding being provided by the provincially funded Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR). The recipients will use the funds to continue the early commercial development of their discoveries.

The recipients of the awards are:

– Princess Margaret Hospital Cancer Program, University Health Network, Toronto, for Dr Michael Sherar’s novel radio frequency ablation technology for treatment of solid tumours;

– Princess Margaret Hospital Cancer Program, University Health Network, Toronto, for the development of novel chemical proteasome inhibitors by Dr Aaron Schimmer;

– Princess Margaret Hospital Cancer Program, University Health Network, Toronto, for Dr Gang Zheng’s nanoparticles for targeted delivery of siRNA-based cancer therapeutics;

– Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, for the development of Glypican-3 as a novel marker for the early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma by Dr Jorge Filmus; and

– University of Toronto, for Drs Shana Kelley and Ted Sargent’s GenEplex platform for detection of cancer biomarkers.

OICR will actively participate in efforts to commercialize the selected projects by providing additional expertise and resources and working collaboratively with the recipients and their scientists.

“It is important that promising cancer research projects receive the funding they need to successfully move out of the lab and into the clinic,” said Tom Hudson, president and scientific director of the OICR. “We are happy to assist these researchers in developing these technologies further and eventually create new treatments to help people living with cancer.”