Improving Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

Research Themes  >  Improving Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

The goal of improving cancer treatment is to have the tools to properly identify the right treatment for the right patient at the right time. To do this, understanding cancer biology, how cancers arise, how they evolve and adapt to therapies, and how cancer cells interact with other cells and tissues in the patient is crucial. With these understandings, teams of researchers can work with clinicians to innovate and test new biologically informed interventions to improve and increase treatment options.

Nearly half of all Canadians will face a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, but for many, what would have been a death sentence only a decade ago is now a manageable condition with proven treatments, thanks to amazing advancements in cancer research and translation from the bench to the bedside. Now more than ever, innovative and adaptive thinking coupled with precise and proven tools are available to treat patients with cancer and give them not only longer lives, but also better long-term quality of life.

Some of the questions we are focusing on within this theme of research include:

• How do we leverage emerging technologies for more accurately monitoring molecules, cells, tissues, and patients to better predict how cancer will behave and respond to treatment?
• How do we best implement these tools considering the benefits, risks, costs, and evolving treatment paradigms?
• What are the molecular characteristics of cancers that drive disease and can inform treatment?
• How does tumour-host biology impact treatment efficacy and toxicity, and how can we use that information to develop more effective therapies?
• How do we effectively adopt new therapies or modify current approaches considering the benefits, risks, costs, and operational implications?