It’s been a whirlwind 12 months for McGill’s Goodman Cancer Research Centre. The GCRC spearheaded the launch of two consortiums that promise to improve patient care in Montreal and across Quebec. And those initiatives helped lay the groundwork for last month’s announcement by the Government of Canada that it will invest $150 million over five years to create the nation-wide Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres network.
The Marathon of Hope network, led by the Terry Fox Research Institute, will unite cancer centres across the country, accelerating implementation of precision medicine so that patients can access the right treatment at the right time for their particular cancer.
Precision medicine is a promising framework for cancer research and care that factors in the genetic characteristics of each patient and their cancers to personalize treatments, making them more effective and reducing negative side-effects associated with current therapies.
Because the $150 million of federal funding will be matched by the network’s partners, the project represents a $300 million boost for cancer research across the country.
“It’s a game-changer,” says GCRC director Morag Park. “This initiative creates a tremendous opportunity to position Canada as a world leader in patient-centric cancer research. We are proud to play an important part in this venture that will ultimately lead to better outcomes for patients.”
The pan-Canadian network will bring together top centres and their researchers to share data and apply new technologies such as genomics, advanced imaging, big data and artificial intelligence for the benefit of patients.
“I think the most important thing here is we’re building a cohort of patients across Canada,” Prof. Park says. That will help researchers puzzle out which subsets of patients respond to which treatments, for any given type of cancer. Because Canadian patients are treated through public healthcare systems with common standards across the country, she adds, this provides a powerful basis for developing precision medicine.
The Marathon of Hope builds on a series of initiatives in which the GCRC has played a key role, and which are also fostering unprecedented collaboration among leading Montreal institutions:
On top of all those developments, GCRC researchers recently received support from the CQDM biopharma research consortium, the Canadian Cancer Society, and other funders for two ambitious projects:
The Goodman Cancer Research Gala has also underpinned the GCRC’s recent achievements, Prof. Park notes. The biennial fundraising event, which has raised more than $10 million since its inception a decade ago, helps the Centre purchase sophisticated laboratory equipment and recruit leading scientists. Without that extra funding, she says, “there’s no way you can support this level of innovation and technology.” The next Gala is set for June 4, 2020.
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Article courtesy of The McGill Reporter
Article courtesy of The McGill Reporter