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

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.

​Dr. Jessica McAlpine, surgeon-scientist, BC Cancer and Vancouver General Hospital and professor and Dr. Chew Wei Chair in Gynaecologic Oncology at UBC

Using artificial intelligence (AI) to spot patterns across thousands of cancer cell images, the researchers have pinpointed a distinct subset of endometrial cancer that puts patients at much greater risk of recurrence and death, but would otherwise go unrecognized by traditional pathology and molecular diagnostics.

BC Cancer – Prince George celebrated a significant milestone in early 2024 with the opening of a new clinical trial called CIRCULATE-NORTH-AMERICA, or CRC10, which marked the first time a systemic therapy clinical trial has been offered in northern B.C. to people with cancer. Since opening CRC10 in January 2024, the team in Prince George has enrolled two patients in this study.

Dr. Robert Olson, executive medical director at BC Cancer – Prince George, and Dr. Bernie Eigl, deputy head, department of clinical research at BC Cancer, have been honoured with 2024 Clinical Trials BC Awards for their outstanding contributions to the clinical trials community in British Columbia and beyond. 

Clinical Trials BC, part of Michael Smith Health Research BC, recognizes individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to strengthening BC’s clinical trials ecosystem through these annual awards.