In the past few months, several investigators were successful in receiving competitive funding to support pancreatic cancer research.
- Dr. Shoukat Dedhar (BC Cancer Agency) received a Foundation Grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for his research program on the role of tumour microenvironment in cancer progression and development of novel therapies. One area of Dr. Dedhar’s research focuses on the development of an inhibitor for carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) for treatment in advanced pancreatic cancer.
- Dr. Janel Kopp (University of British Columbia) received funding from CIHR and Canada Foundation for Innovation for her projects and infrastructure focused on mechanisms involved in the development of pancreatic cancer.
- Dr. James Johnson (University of British Columbia) received a Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute Innovation grant to support his work on the role of hyperinsulinemia in pancreatic cancer. Drs. Dedhar, Kopp and Johnson have been awarded the Pancreas Centre BC IDEAS grants in the past three years and we are excited to see these high-caliber scientists expanding their pancreatic cancer research programs.
In addition, Drs. Dan Renouf (BC Cancer Agency) and David Schaeffer (Vancouver General Hospital) received pilot funds from the Terry Fox Research Institute to initiate the Enhanced Pancreatic Cancer Profiling for Individualized Care (EPPIC) project, which will focus on defining clinically relevant subtypes of metastatic pancreatic cancer. This project aims to investigate specific molecular signatures of individual tumours to enable more precise, personalized treatment strategies for patients.