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.

BC Cancer’s 2024 Cancer Emerging Multidisciplinary Research Programs supports research teams to initiate novel multidisciplinary research projects that aim to tackle well-defined issues or problems that affect patients living with cancer or at risk of developing cancer. Funding for the programs is provided through the BC Ministry of Health in collaboration with the BC Cancer Foundation.

2024 Emerging Multidisciplinary Research Programs Recipients: 

We are excited to announce the recipients of round two of the inaugural BC Cancer Clinician Researcher Start Up Competition. 

BC Cancer Clinician Researcher Start Up Competition 2024 recipients – Round 2

Alan Nichol (BC Cancer – Vancouver): Predicting upgrades from non-invasive core biopsy specimens to invasive ductal carcinoma in surgical specimens using histology-based DNA organization analysis

Alison Weppler (BC Cancer – Vancouver): The utility of ctDNA to detect and monitor minimal residual disease in resected stage IIB-IV melanoma

Five BC Cancer researchers are 2024 recipients of the Michael Smith Health Research BC’s Scholar and Health Professional-Investigator competition, receiving new funding to conduct critical research, develop innovative treatments, and translate their findings into practices that benefit people across BC.

Scholar award recipients 

Scholar awards support early career health researchers, allowing them to form their own research teams and research programs. Recipients dedicate 75 per cent of their time to health research activities.