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the laboratory to the clinic

Find more information on all of these discoveries and

social media events at

www.thepmcf.ca

Dr. Robert Bristow and his team have published

important research confirming that the genetics

of the prostate cancers not only vary from man

to man – despite the same pathology under the

microscope – but the cancer also varies within one

man. A patient can have multiple tumor types in

his prostate.

In April 2016, Dr. Gang Zheng, a Senior Scientist and

expert in nanoparticles connected with over 3,200

interested participants on the discussion website

Reddit. His science forum on the site’s ‘Ask me

Anything’ page ranked 14th that day for ‘most talked

about things on the Internet’. His lab has discovered

how to get colourful porphyrins (used by plants in

photosynthesis) to self-assemble into biodegradable

nanoparticles called ‘porphysomes’which target

cancer. Once they invade the cancer, the now-

coloured tumors can absorb laser light, heating and

killing the tumor, and sparing healthy cells.

The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation  

17

In May 2016, Dr. Geoffrey Liu and his team of cancer researchers made a

discovery in the treatment of colorectal cancer. They identified a marker,

found in blood tests, that determines which patients would benefit

from receiving a drug called cetuximab. The research solved an ongoing

mystery of why receiving cetuximab was ineffective for up to half of

incurable colorectal cancer patients who did not respond to treatment.