Creative ideas may hold the key to changing cancer’s future – but projects like these often struggle to secure funding. That’s because disruptive research often breaks new ground. Without initial data to back up their ideas, scientists often can’t apply for traditional grants.
That’s why the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) and the Lotte & John Hecht Memorial Foundation have teamed up to support bold new ideas. The CCS/Hecht Foundation Disruptive Innovation in Cancer Research Grants are funding innovative research that aims to transform the lives of people with cancer.
Thanks to the generosity of donors and partners, the program is providing $3.6 million to support 15 high-risk, high-reward research projects. Here, we explore 5 of those projects.
A new type of immunotherapy
Immunotherapy helps the body’s immune system fight cancer using its own cells. Usually, this involves a type of cell called a T cell – but what if other immune cells could join the assault?
This out-of-the-box thinking is why Dr Anthony Rullo and his team at McMaster University are working on a treatment that uses special immune cells called macrophages against cancer. They believe calling on these cells could improve outcomes for people with many types of cancer.
Without programs that fund imaginative research, they might never have explored their idea. “Funding through mechanisms like the Disruptive Innovation grants provide the critical fuel needed to advance more unconventional thinking,” Dr Rullo says.
Glowing cells and cancer-killing viruses
Bright researchers are always needed – but what about bright cells?
Researchers at Ottawa Hospital Research Institute have come up with an exciting new way to find better cancer drugs.
Dr Jean-Simon Diallo and his colleagues will study new drugs using a lab test that lights up when certain cancer-driving proteins interact. If a drug can stop those interactions, the light dims – signalling that it might work as a cancer treatment.
The team will also study whether these drugs can work with viruses that help the immune system spot and target cancer.
Dr Diallo dreams of reaching a point where a cancer diagnosis no longer means living in fear. “A key motivation for me as a cancer researcher is providing hope through new treatment options,” he says.
Gene-targeting treatment
Not everyone with leukemia responds well to treatment – and we need new approaches for those who don’t. Luckily, researchers are tackling the problem.
When cells reproduce, their DNA splits into two segments – but not always perfectly. Sometimes, pieces of DNA stick together, creating “fusion genes.” Those genes can lead to leukemia, but they can also be promising targets for therapy.
Dr Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker at Sunnybrook Research Institute is leading a team to genetically engineer special immune cells that can spot and target leukemia fusion genes.
“This unique funding opportunity has been critical for us to explore a novel treatment for leukemia,” says Dr Zúñiga-Pflücker. Eventually, he hopes their work will help treat other diseases as well.
A blood test for young women
Imagine using laser technology to find breast cancer earlier in younger people.
That’s what Dr Saima Hassan’s team at Centre de recherche du CHUM is working on – a new blood test that can detect breast cancer, or the risk of it, in young women. The researchers will shine a special laser light on blood samples to find cancer, study immune cells and compare cells from young women with and without breast cancer.
“This approach could improve screening for young women, ensuring faster, more accessible and more accurate cancer detection,” says Dr Hassan.
AI on the hunt for new drugs
Finding new drugs that boost the immune system’s cancer-fighting abilities could let more people benefit from life-saving treatments. Discovering new drugs is often a slow and costly process – but AI can help.
Dr Ali Bashashati at the University of British Columbia and Dr Taha Azad at the Université de Sherbrooke are working on a better way to find immune-boosting cancer treatments. Their method, which combines AI with a special lab test, can study thousands of potential new drugs faster than ever.
Bashashati says, “Investing in innovative AI approaches like this accelerates life-saving breakthroughs, ensuring that better, faster treatments reach the patients who need them most.”
To learn more about these and other innovative projects, read the results of the CCS/Hecht Foundation Disruptive Innovation in Cancer Research Grants.