ICR Newsletter – March 2011

Table of Contents

  1. ICR New Principal Investigators Meeting - November 2011
  2. Funding Opportunities
    2.1. ICR Travel Awards
    2.2. ICR Publication Prizes
    2.3. Terry Fox Foundation Funding Opportunities
    2.4. Collaborative Health Research Projects (CHRP) Program
    2.5. Meetings, Planning and Dissemination Grant (Revised)
    2.6. Call for Québec-Canada-Europe Integrated Research on Genomics and Pathophysiology of the Metabolic Syndrome and the Diseases Arising from it
  3. Funding Decisions
    3.1. ICR Travel Awards
    3.2. ICR Publication Prizes
    3.3. Meetings, Planning and Dissemination Grant - Cancer Research
  4. Upcoming ICR Workshops
    4.1. Personalized Medicine workshop
    4.2. Immunomodulation of Cancer workshop
    4.3. Imaging workshop (London, UK)
    4.4. Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences into Health Research workshop
  5. New Assistant Director at ICR
  6. Café Scientifique
  7. Meetings of Interest to the Cancer Community

1. ICR New Principal Investigators Meeting - November 2011

The CIHR Institute of Cancer Research is hosting a New Principal Investigators Meeting that will occur in conjunction with the first Canadian Cancer Research Conference, organized by the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance. The meeting will take place at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel on November 27-30, 2011. This event is targeted towards new faculty research members (within their first five years of appointment) at Canadian Universities. Please visit our meeting website for more information.


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2. Funding Opportunities

2.1. ICR Travel Awards

Next Application deadline: April 15, 2011

In 2010, the CIHR Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) launched the ICR Travel Awards Program for graduate students and postdoctoral trainees undergoing cancer research training. Research trainees may apply for a $1,000 travel award to cover the cost of presenting their own research at a national or international conference related to cancer. There will be three competitions in the fiscal year 2011-2012 (April 15, 2011, September 15, 2011 and January 15, 2012) for a total budget of $38,000 or $12-13,000 per competition. Please note that the fall and winter competitions will be administered through ResearchNet. This funding opportunity is offered through the Institute Community Support (ICS) Program. The full description of the program, instructions on how to apply, and application forms are available on the ICR web site.

2.2. ICR Publication Prizes

Next Application deadline: June 30, 2011

In 2010, the CIHR Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) launched the ICR Publication Prizes to recognize the excellence of cancer research done in Canada by graduate students and postdoctoral trainees. ICR awards 12 publication prizes per year of a value of $1,000 each. Trainees who have published research articles as first authors within 12 months of the application deadline that describe work done in Canada that is relevant to the mandate of ICR may enter their paper into the competition. There are two submission deadlines per year, June 30 and December 31.  This funding opportunity is offered through the Institute Community Support (ICS) Program. The full description of the program, instructions on how to apply, and application forms are available on the ICR web site.

2.3. Terry Fox Foundation Funding Opportunities

The Terry Fox New Frontiers Program in Cancer at CIHR

This is to announce that the 2011 competition for the Terry Fox New Frontiers Program in Cancer will be launched in April. The objective of the Terry Fox New Frontiers Program Project Grant funding opportunity is to support Canadian research programs in cancer that explore new frontiers in cure-oriented research (i.e. breakthrough and transformative biomedical/translational research providing information which may form the basis for innovative cancer diagnosis and/or treatment). The deadline for submitting a letter of intent (LOI) will be July 1, 2011. Invitations to submit a full application by January 6, 2012 will be sent to successful applicants by September 30, 2011. Funding of grants from the 2011 competition will start July 1, 2012. The full description of the funding opportunity and instructions on how to apply will be posted on the CIHR website, under Find Funding. Please visit the CIHR website regularly to find out about the latest funding opportunities.

The Terry Fox New Investigators Award (2011)

The Terry Fox Research Institute has a new competition for Terry Fox New Investigators.  The purpose of this award is to provide outstanding young researchers with support as they develop their career as independent research scientists or clinician scientists and to undertake high-quality research into cancer in close collaboration with established Terry Fox research teams.  The full RFA is available online. The deadline for application summaries is Friday April 1st, 2011, and the deadline for full applications on Wednesday June 1st, 2011.  Funding starts October 1st, 2011.

2.4. The Collaborative Health Research Projects (CHRP) Program
Letter of Intent deadline: May 1, 2011

This program supports focused interdisciplinary collaborative research projects involving any field of the natural sciences or engineering and any field of the health sciences. Proposed research projects should be innovative and lead to health benefits for Canadians, more effective health services, and/or economic development in health-related areas. The CHRP program is jointly funded by CIHR and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). For ICR, proposals may include but are not limited to: development of tools and diagnostics for personalized cancer medicine; development of point of care devices for cancer; development of tools and diagnostics for cancer imaging; development of new research tools or techniques for cancer research. Further information on the CHRP program is available on the CIHR website

2.5. Meetings, Planning and Dissemination (MPD) Grant (Revised)

Application deadline: June 15, 2011

The CIHR Institute of Cancer Research will support planning grants and dissemination events through the revised MPD program. The specific objective of the planning grant is to provide support for planning activities, partnership development and/or increasing the team's understanding of the health research landscape that will contribute to the advancement of research consistent with the mandate of CIHR and relevant to the CIHR Institute of Cancer Research. The specific objective of the dissemination event award is to support events/activities that contribute to the dissemination, exchange and uptake of research evidence. The total amount available for this funding opportunity is $25,000 for planning grants and $25,000 for dissemination events. Further details about this program will be available on the CIHR web site.

2.6. Call For Québec-Canada-Europe Integrated Research On Genomics And Pathophysiology Of The Metabolic Syndrome And The Diseases Arising From It

Each project must be presented by a team of researchers from at least three of the countries taking part in the call (Canada, Germany, Spain and France). The deadline for the Letter of Intent is April 7, 2011. Please consult the website for further information on this call for projects. The FRSQ website also has some Information for researchers in Québec. Contacts: Viviane Poupon, Assistant Director, Scientific Affairs, Program Management or Nathalie Champagne, Program Manager.


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3. Funding Decisions

3.1. ICR Travel Awards

ICR is pleased to announce the results of the last two competitions of its ICR Travel Awards Program for students and post-doctoral fellows.  A total of 27 cancer research trainees were granted a travel award of a maximum value of $1,000 in the October 1, 2010 and January 15, 2011 competitions. ICR received 23 applications in the October competition and 32 applications in the January competition. The list of recipients for each competition can be viewed on the ICR web site.

3.2. ICR Publication Prizes

ICR is pleased to announce the results from its very first ICR Publication Prizes competition for students and post-doctoral fellows.  Six cancer research trainees were granted a $1,000 prize for their publications. A total of 15 applications were received by ICR.  The list of recipients for this competition can be viewed on the ICR web site.

3.3. Meetings, Planning and Dissemination Grant - Cancer Research

ICR is pleased to have supported a total of 19 meetings, planning and dissemination activities in 2010. Results of the MPD Program in cancer research for the three competitions that occurred in 2010 are available on the CIHR website:


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4. Upcoming ICR Workshops

4.1. Workshop on Personalized Medicine: Defining National Health Services and Policy Research Agenda

The CIHR Institute of Cancer Research, together with the Institute of Genetics and the Institute of Health Services and Policy Research, are co-leading a Personalized Medicine Strategic Initiative. As part of this initiative, a preliminary workshop is scheduled for May 2-3 in Montreal, Quebec. The goal of this workshop is to engage provincial funders and to develop a national framework for personalized medicine. The objectives of this workshop are:

  1. to determine how the process of setting priorities for personalized medicine research, implementation, evaluation and funding should be established;
  2. to determine what evaluation framework and guidelines are needed to assess cost-effectiveness of personalized medicine tools; and
  3. to determine what legal/ ethical and social issues need to be addressed for effective implementation of a personalized medicine approach.

4.2. Immunomodulation of Cancer Workshop

ICR is holding a workshop on the topic of immunomodulation of cancer in Vancouver on March 10-11, 2011. This will be attended by a number of key Canadian scientists with expertise in the areas of cancer and inflammation, microbiome and/or anti-tumour immunity research. This workshop is in advance of a large CIHR multi-Institute workshop on Inflammation in Chronic Disease in May 2011. The goals of the Immunomodulation of Cancer workshop is to formulate a strategy to ensure that the cancer research community is prepared to participate in the workshop on Inflammation in Chronic Disease and to help shape the recommendations emerging from this Inflammation initiative. In addition, the workshop will help determine whether there are research areas within the immunomodulation of cancer field that are not currently being adequately addressed through existing funding sources and mechanisms and whether there is a need for ICR strategic investment in these areas.

4.3. Imaging workshop (London, UK)

CIHR-ICR, Cancer Research UK and the NCI (USA) are planning an imaging workshop to be held on June 30th and July 1st 2011 at the Canadian High Commission Offices in London (UK). This workshop will explore the role of imaging technologies for clinical decision making in cancer prediction, detection, diagnosis and treatment. The specific goals are to address the barriers to the translation of imaging technologies in personalized medicine approaches, and to explore leveraging of resources by each agency to translate and disseminate these technologies and devices more effectively.

4.4. Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences into Health Research workshop

The CIHR Institute of Genetics, in partnership with the CIHR Institute of Cancer Research, is organizing the fourth Integrating the Physical and Applied Sciences into Health Research Workshop. The workshop will take place on June 9-11, 2011 in Ottawa, Ontario. The aim of this workshop is to bring together leading researchers from the physical, applied and biomedical sciences to discuss topics of current research interest. This workshop will also provide a forum to develop strategies to further develop the interface between the physical & applied sciences and biomedical sciences.


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5. New Assistant Director at ICR

Dr. Stéphane Pion is the new Assistant Director at the CIHR Institute of Cancer Research since February 2011. Over the last decade, as a biotechnology venture capital investor, Dr. Pion has been highly involved in technology transfer and commercialization of research emanating from universities, research centers and industry across Canada. From proof of concept early stage private companies up to clinical stage public biotechs, Dr. Pion's responsibilities have spanned the areas of corporate, financial and legal negotiations in multiple transactions as well as scientific analysis, business development and senior management in the life science sector. Dr. Pion received his doctorate in biomedical sciences from the University of Montreal in 1999. His research at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal under the mentorship of Dr. Claude PerreaultMD, FRCP, was focused on the mechanism of minor histocompatibility antigen immunodominance in cancer immunotherapy.


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6. Café Scientifique

The CIHR Institute of Cancer Research hosted a café scientifique on "Personalized cancer medicine: one size does not fit all" at the Café des Beaux-Arts on February 15, 2011 in Montreal.
More than 65 participants, including cancer patients and cancer survivors, gathered inside the  Café to discuss the future of personalized cancer medicine. The lively discussion lasted more than two hours! The participants heard how personalized medicine is affecting cancer patients today and how it’s expected to affect them in the future. The experts prompted some interesting questions from the attendees, for instance, how research has made an impact in our understanding of cancer, how clinical trials work, and how diet and the environment can be risk factors for cancer. The Institute would like to send a special thanks to all the speakers for lending their expertise during the evening: Dr. Nicole Beauchemin (PhD, McGill University) gave a warm welcome to the audience and shared her story as a cancer survivor/researcher. Dr. Beauchemin also acted as a moderator and was joined by local experts Dr. Anne-Marie Mes-Masson (PhD, Université de Montréal), Dr. Gerald Batist (MD, McGill University) and Dr. Fred Saad (MD, Université de Montréal).


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7. Meetings of Interest to the Cancer Community