Funded Projects

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CLIC Program

Showing 21 Projects

Catalyst

Development of Reovirus-Based, Orally Administered, Colon Cancer Vaccines

Project Lead

Dr. Tommy Alain, CHEO Research Institute, University of Ottawa

Project Value

$1,518,550

BioCanRx Investment

$350,000

Eligible Cancers

Colorectal cancer

Keywords

Cancer vaccines, cancer epitopes, oral-mucosal immunity, oncolytic viral therapy, biomanufacturing, colorectal cancer, reovirus

Catalyst

Optimization of Epitope-Flanking Regions in an Off-The- Shelf Ovarian Cancer RNA Vaccine

Project Lead

Dr. Claude Perreault, Université de Montréal

Project Value

$2,164,352

BioCanRx Investment

$320,000

Eligible Cancers

Ovarian cancer

Keywords

RNA vaccine, MHC, tumor-specific antigen, mass spectrometry, immunogenicity, T-cell repertoire, CD8 T cells

Catalyst

EV-STIM to Prevent Postoperative Immunosuppression and Metastases

Project Lead

Dr. Rebecca Auer, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Project Value

$945,000

BioCanRx Investment

$445,000

Eligible Cancers

Solid tumors

Keywords

Extracellular vesicles, postoperative immune suppression, natural killer cells, T cells, myeloid-derived suppressor cells, surgical oncology, perioperative care

Catalyst

Improving adoptive cell transfer immunotherapy with clinical-grade cell sorting of tumor-reactive T cells infiltrating solid tumors

Project Lead

Dr. Simon Turcotte, Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM)

Project Value

$404,500

BioCanRx Investment

$200,000

Eligible Cancers

Melanoma and colorectal cancer

Keywords

adoptive cell transfer immunotherapy, PD1-expressing tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes, cell sorting

Catalyst

Ground-breaking immunotherapy to prevent acute lymphoblastic leukemia relapse: dosage and therapeutic settings of plasmacytoid dendritic cell infusions

Project Lead

Dr. Michel Duval, CHU St-Justine

Project Value

$544,875

BioCanRx Investment

$214,875

Eligible Cancers

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)

Keywords

plasmacytoid dendritic cells, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), pDC adoptive transfers, NK cell enhancement

Catalyst

Anti-DEC205 priming in heterologous prime-boost with OVs for sarcoma

Project Lead

Dr. Jean-Simon Diallo, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital

Project Value

$200,000

BioCanRx Investment

$100,000

Eligible Cancers

Sarcoma

Keywords

anti-DEC205 priming, oncolytic viruses, combination therapy

Catalyst

In vivo genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screen to identify genes that limit curative checkpoint blockade immunotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer

Project Lead

Dr. Karen Mossman, McMaster University

Project Value

$198,650

BioCanRx Investment

$98,650

Eligible Cancers

Triple negative breast cancer

Keywords

CRISPR, checkpoint blockades

Catalyst

Targeting the relaxin autocrine loop in high-grade serous ovarian cancer using rln2 neutralizing monoclonal antibodies as a therapeutic strategy

Project Lead

Dr. Robert Rottapel, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network

Project Value

$424,500

BioCanRx Investment

$199,500

Eligible Cancers

Ovarian cancer

Keywords

monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), RNL2 neturalizing antibodies, Relaxin Receptor

Catalyst

Evaluation of FGL2 as a therapeutic target in ovarian cancer

Project Lead

Dr. Barbara Vanderhyden, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa

Project Value

$157,996

BioCanRx Investment

$78,996

Eligible Cancers

Ovarian cancer (high-grade serous ovarian cancer)

Keywords

Fibrinogen-like 2 (FGL2), combination, immunotherapeutic, regulatory Tcells (Tregs), antibodies, Maraba MG1.

Catalyst

Scalable vector manufacturing enhancement using viral sensitizers

Project Lead

Dr. Jean-Simon Diallo, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa

Project Value

$474,800

BioCanRx Investment

$200,000

Eligible Cancers

oncolytic viruses & gene therapy vectors

Keywords

Measles virus (MV), Maraba MG-1, Lentivirus (LV) oncolytic virus, adoptive cell therapy, CAR T, manufacturing gene therapy vectors, viral sensitizer

Catalyst

Pre-clinical validation of anti-SIRPα antibodies anti-tumor efficacy through immuno-modulation of macrophages

Project Lead

Dr. Sachdev Sidhu, University Health Network, University of Toronto

Project Value

$304,681

BioCanRx Investment

$200,000

Eligible Cancers

all cancers

Keywords

Therapeutic Antibodies, T cells, CD47-SIRPα

Catalyst

Targeted radioligand (tRL) and checkpoint blockade for metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer

Project Lead

Dr. Julian J. Lum, BC Cancer Agency, University of Victoria

Project Value

$399,996

BioCanRx Investment

$199,996

Eligible Cancers

metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC)

Keywords

Check-point blockades, local radiation, mCPC10

Catalyst

New generation chimeric antigen receptors for improved adoptive T cell therapy for cancer

Project Lead

Dr. Naoto Hirano, The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Project Value

$475,001

BioCanRx Investment

$200,001

Eligible Cancers

all cancers with tumours

Keywords

adoptive T cell therapy, anti-CD19 CAR-T

Catalyst

Validation and manufacturing of anti-BCMA-TACT cells for the treatment of multiple myeloma

Project Lead

Dr. Jean-Sebastien Delisle, Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, Université de Montreal

Project Value

$448,478

BioCanRx Investment

$200,000

Eligible Cancers

multiple myeloma (MM)

Keywords

engineered T cells, TACT, BCMA TAC lentivirus

Catalyst

Recombinant TCRs and peptide-MHC antibodies to target KRAS hotspot mutations in pancreatic cancer

Project Lead

Dr. Simon Turcotte, Université de Montréal

Project Value

$266,968

BioCanRx Investment

$133,111

Eligible Cancers

pancreatic cancer

Keywords

adoptive cell transfer, KRASG12x peptide-MHC, engineered T cell

Catalyst

Bispecific T-cell engager antibodies targeting CD133+ brain tumor-initiating cells: A Novel Immunotherapy for Recurrent Glioblastoma

Project Lead

Dr. Sheila Singh, McMaster University

Project Value

$465,000

BioCanRx Investment

$200,000

Eligible Cancers

brain cancer (recurrent glioblastoma)

Keywords

bispecific T cell engager antibodies (BiTEs), CD133/CD3

Catalyst

Infected Cell Vaccines in the Treatment of Acute Leukemia: Laying the Groundwork for a Clinical Trial

Project Lead

Dr. Natasha Kekre, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa

Project Value

$275,860

BioCanRx Investment

$155,888

Eligible Cancers

acute leukemia

Keywords

Maraba MG1, oncolytic vaccine

Catalyst

Optimizing a personalized infected cell vaccine (ICV) for peritoneal carcinomatosis

Project Lead

Dr. Auer, Rebecca, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa

Project Value

$406,730

BioCanRx Investment

$220,230

Eligible Cancers

abdominal cancers (peritoneal carcinomatosis)

Keywords

oncolytic virus, Maraba oncolytic virus, interleukin 12, infected cell vaccine (ICV)

Catalyst

Creating t-cell receptors that react to specific tumour antigens for improved adoptive t-cell therapy

Project Lead

Dr. Naoto Hirano, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network

Project Value

$475,001

BioCanRx Investment

$200,001

Eligible Cancers

anal, bladder, breast, cervical, colon, esophageal, kidney, liver, lung, melanoma, mouth, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, stomach, testicular, uterine

Keywords

Adoptive T-cell therapy, T Cell receptors, TCR, MAGE-A3, NY-ESO-1

Catalyst

Development of a bioreactor system to automate t-cell manufacturing

Project Lead

Drs. Jonathan Bramson and Raja Ghosh, McMaster University

Project Value

$364,726

BioCanRx Investment

$107,500

Eligible Cancers

greatly increase the number of clinical sites able to perform cancer cell therapies; dramatically reduce the cost of manufacturing therapeutic cells for cancer treatment

Keywords

T-cell, cell therapy, GMP, bioreactor, cell manufacturing, biotechnology

Catalyst

Development of an oncolytic vaccine for brain cancer

Project Lead

Dr. David Stojdl, CHEO Research Institute, uOttawa

Project Value

$401,878

BioCanRx Investment

$200,239