June 14, 2023, TORONTO — Funding announced today by the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) will help six Ontario-based research teams pursue their ultimate goal of improving the lives of people with cancer.
Funding comes through OICR’s Innovation to Implementation (I2I) program , which aims to help ensure new discoveries about preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer are adopted into healthcare policy and clinical practice.
“Every cancer researcher wants their work to have an impact on patients, but there are a lot of challenges that must be overcome before a promising idea in the lab can have a meaningful impact in the clinic,” says Dr. Christine Williams, OICR’s Executive Vice President and Head of Implementation Science. “That’s why OICR is proud to support these talented Ontario researchers bring potentially life-changing innovations to the people who need them.”
“It’s very exciting to see OICR fund these projects,” says Carol Gordon, a member of OICR’s Patient and Family Advisory Council who helped review I2I applications. “They all address important topics from a patient’s perspective, including personalized medicine, accessible genetic testing, quality of life and patient engagement.”
First launched in 2022, I2I awards support the uptake of new cancer tools and knowledge for the benefit of cancer patients. The awards are part of OICR’s Implementation Science program , which emphasizes ways to assess, test and implement research discoveries into Ontario’s healthcare system.
“The Ontario government is committed to advancing new discoveries in cancer research by supporting entrepreneurs who have developed innovative technologies, treatments and tools to help cancer patients,” said Jill Dunlop, Minister of Colleges and Universities. “These six projects all have the potential to improve cancer patients’ lives, by providing personalized care and treatments, and by making genetic testing faster and more accessible to all Ontarians.”
The six research projects funded as part of the 2023 I2I awards will receive up to a total of $200,000 each over the next two years. They include investigations into new tools to diagnose cancer, new approaches to evaluate emerging cancer technologies and ways to ensure all communities have access to new discoveries.
These projects will build on and inform many other OICR initiatives, including a made-in-Canada approach to CAR-T cell therapy , and a platform to track hereditary cancers in Ontario and unify genetic testing. Altogether, they underscore OICR’s commitment to developing powerful and cost-effective solutions that improve the lives of people affected by cancer.
OICR is a collaborative, not-for-profit research institute funded by the Government of Ontario. We conduct and enable high-impact translational cancer research to accelerate the development of discoveries for patients around the world while maximizing the economic benefit of this research for the people of Ontario. For more information visit http://www.oicr.on.ca .
The views expressed are those of OICR and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Province of Ontario.