Canadian provider to receive $650K for breast cancer research

The Canada Foundation for Innovation has granted CAD $737,000 ($650,000, U.S.) to Barry McLellan, MD, president and CEO of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, to develop the Integrated Breast Cancer Research Biomatrix--a data warehouse to integrate imaging, pathological, molecular and clinical data from breast cancer patients.

Led by Martin Yaffe, MD, senior scientist in imaging at Sunnybrook, the Integrated Breast Cancer Research Biomatrix will bring together basic and clinical scientists from various disciplines, including cancer biology and pathology, imaging, clinical trials and epidemiology, to work on projects dedicated to transforming cancer care. According to Sunnybrook, the Biomatrix will seek to advance research into breast cancer prevention, early detection and diagnosis, and will enable new, individualized treatments for breast cancer to be developed and tested.

Funding for this project is part of a major $666.13 million investment by the CFI to support 133 projects at 41 institutions across Canada.

The other awards include:

• CAD$247.66 million ($218.46 million, U.S.) to the Leading Edge Fund, designed to enable institutions to build on initiatives supported by past CFI investment;
• CAD$264.74 million ($233.5 million, U.S.) was awarded under the New Initiatives Fund, designed to enhance Canada's research and technology development; and
• CAD$153.72 million ($135.53 million, U.S.) was awarded under the Infrastructure Operating Fund, which assists institutions with the incremental operating and maintenance costs associated with the new infrastructure.