Brain Cancer Canada is pleased to award a $100,000 pediatric research grant to Dr. Carl Ernst, professor and scientist at McGill University, and his team. The work explores a gene therapy treatment for pediatric high-grade gliomas (pHGG). PHGG are an aggressive and often fatal group of brain cancers with a median survival time of less than 18 months after diagnosis. With few treatment options available, this research is one of many important steps toward advancing new and potentially life-saving therapies. 

Given the aggressive nature of this type of cancer, the project “Advancing a Gene Therapy Treatment for MYCN-Amplified Pediatric High-Grade Glioma” aims to address tumours that are currently considered untreatable. These tumours are characterized by inactivating mutations in critical genes, known as tumour suppressors, which play a key role in regulating cell growth. The research team is evaluating an innovative multigene therapy approach designed to target several major cancer pathways simultaneously, with the goal of efficiently eliminating cancer cells by reactivating anti-tumour mechanisms. 

Dr. Ernst shared, “This work simply cannot proceed without philanthropic support.  While governments are well-intentioned and provide important research support in Canada, granting agencies do not fund research that is high risk, high reward and so will not invest in new technologies that could be hugely beneficial for brain cancer patients. My group has the tools, the team, and the critical infrastructure in place to deliver a new therapeutic for people with glioblastoma.  I am extremely grateful to the TI Group & Segal GCSE LLP corporate sponsors, and the Tomasz Kutasienski Memorial Pack Walk and the Andrea Villamere Memorial community fundraisers.  Tomasz and Andrea are inspirations to us as we work diligently on this project to develop a novel therapy to treat deadly brain cancers.”