News

A new BC Cancer project has been shown to expedite the triaging of breast cancers and accelerate the initiation of treatment. 

The CAN-TRI-NLP, or a “CANcer TRIage system to expedite care with Natural Language Processing” project, was funded through the Ministry of Health's Innovation Pathway Program to explore a new expedited breast cancer triage system for faster initiation of appropriate treatment, chemotherapy or surgery.

In a world-first clinical trial, a team of international researchers working with the Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCTG) have demonstrated that a structured exercise program significantly improves survival for colon cancer patients by reducing the risk of disease recurrence and new primary cancers.

The groundbreaking seventeen-year study involved researchers from UBC’s Faculty of Medicine as well as researchers at 55 sites across Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.

British Columbia’s first dedicated inpatient clinical trials unit for early-phase therapies in blood cancers has been launched by Vancouver Coastal Health in collaboration with BC Cancer physicians and scientists. Located at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), the new Hematology Research Unit will deliver revolutionary therapies — including first-in-human treatments such as advanced immunotherapies like CAR T-cell therapy — to patients with relapsed or treatment-resistant hematological diseases.

Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre at BC Cancer hosts the Canadian Node of the Federated EGA

In a major milestone for international biomedical research and the future of personalized medicine, the Canadian Genome-Phenome Archive (CGA), part of the Pan-Canadian Genome Library (PCGL) has joined the Federated European Genome-Phenome Archive (Federated EGA), marking the federation’s first significant expansion outside of Europe.

Dr. Marco Marra has been awarded the 2025 Killam Research Prize in health sciences, a prestigious award recognizing Canadian scholars who have made a significant impact in their respective fields through sustained research excellence.

Canadian researchers have developed an effective new technique for identifying aggressive medulloblastoma – the most common type of malignant brain tumour in children – and potentially sparing young patients from unnecessary treatments and their harmful long-term side effects.