Biochemistry professor Ian Watson awarded Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network鈥檚 Data Sharing & Use Pilot program funding
Ian Watson, Member of the Goodman Cancer Institute and听Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry听has received funding from the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network鈥檚 (MOHCCN) , aimed at helping build Canada鈥檚 capacity for large-scale collaborative cancer research while paving the way for more personalised cancer care. 听
Since its inception in 2021, the MOHCCN has made significant progress towards building its , a cancer case resource that includes clinical and genomic data from 15,000 cancer patients treated in centres across Canada. The Data Sharing & Use Pilot program will enable researchers to demonstrate the feasibility and scientific value of sharing and using the Gold Cohort through pilot projects.听
Five projects were selected in the competition to receive up to $100,000 of funding from the MOHCCN and gain first access to its Gold Cohort data.听听
Cancer is caused by changes in our DNA that allow cells to grow uncontrollably. Some of these changes, called driver mutations, directly contribute to cancer development. Identifying these mutations is crucial for understanding how cancers form and grow, improving treatments, and developing new therapies. Large international projects like The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) have identified many common drivers, however less common but important ones remain undiscovered in many types of cancer, especially in those that have many DNA changes where it becomes harder to tell which mutations are important.听
Professor Watson aims to utilize the MOHCCN鈥檚 Gold Cohort with these global datasets to discover new cancer driver genes and mutations that could lead to better diagnostics or treatments. His team will analyze the complete DNA sequence of many tumors to identify genes that mutate more often than expected, including in non-coding regions of the genome that help regulate genes but are harder to study. By combining different data types and comparing their findings to large experimental datasets, they aim to pinpoint which mutations affect tumor growth.听听
The MOHCCN Gold Cohort will provide crucial data to strengthen these analyses. In the long run, Professor Watson鈥檚 research could help identify new targets for therapy, improve how cancers are diagnosed and classified, and contribute to more personalized care for cancer patients. It will also help build Canada鈥檚 capacity to do large-scale, collaborative cancer research that benefits patients nationwide.听