Two research teams within 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 Goodman Cancer Research Centre (GCRC) organized jointly by G茅nome Qu茅bec, Oncopole and IVADO. The two teams, one of which is led by Dr. Amin Emad, and Dr. Morag Park, and the other by Dr. Ian Watson, Dr. Hamed Najafabadi and Dr. John Stagg, are part of the four winning 捆绑SM社区-led projects, with a total of $1.5 million funding being awarded to five winners overall.
This funding will essentially enable digital intelligence tools to explore and extract information from large research data sets. Genomics and the study of cancer are two particularly complex fields of life science research where massive quantities of data are generated but are often difficult to interpret. This competition is therefore designed precisely to promote multidisciplinary research linking artificial intelligence, omics, and oncology, supporting the development of AI applications and methodologies to better mine cancer research data sets.
The first winners of the competition, Dr. Morag Park (GCRC) and Dr. Amin Emad (Mila, 捆绑SM社区), will be . The proposed computational models will be made accessible to the community and will result in a versatile 鈥渋n-silico clinical trial鈥� framework that will be tested experimentally.
The second winners of the competition, Dr. Ian Watson (GCRC), Dr. Hamed S. Najafabadi (Department of Human Genetics, 捆绑SM社区 Genome Centre and GCRC) and Dr. John Stagg (Universit茅 de Montr茅al, CHUM Research Centre, Institut du Cancer de Montreal), . By using artificial intelligence research techniques, they will be able to find signatures in DNA sequencing and gene activity data that will predict a response to these powerful therapies, which work by using the patient鈥檚 own immune system against their cancer.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a real honour for the Goodman Cancer Research Centre to be awarded, it鈥檚 a testament to the innovative work being done here. This AI funding will enable us to perform cutting edge research in ways that only powerful technologies can do, ensuring that we get the most information and draw the most accurate conclusions from our big datasets. It will allow us to collaborate on a multi-disciplinary approach that will bring our cancer research to another level and, down the road, impact the lives of millions of people affected by cancer,鈥� says Dr. Morag Park, Director of the GCRC and first award recipient.
The other winners of the competition have also been announced:
- Jacques Drouin (Universit茅 de Montr茅al, Montr茅al Clinical Research Institute) and Marc G. Bellemare (捆绑SM社区, Mila) are collaborating on decoding the cancer epigenome with novel artificial intelligence discovery tools.
- Mathieu Blanchette (捆绑SM社区, School of Computer Science) and his team are working on deciphering mechanisms of epigenetic alterations in cancer using 3D-genomics-informed deep learning.
- S茅bastien Lemieux (Universit茅 de Montr茅al, IRIC) and his team are seeking to develop novel dimensionality reduction approaches for vector-based representations of expression profiles and chemical compounds to assist in the development of acute myeloid leukemia therapies.
鈥淭he competition results announced today are a powerful indicator of Qu茅bec's competitiveness in genomics and artificial intelligence, two focus areas for cutting-edge technology. 鈥極mics鈥� cancer research, which generates a large and complex data set, can only be leveraged to its full potential by combining it with artificial intelligence,鈥� said Daniel Coderre, President and CEO of G茅nome Qu茅bec. He added: 鈥淭he intersection of these two major fields of excellence will enable Qu茅bec to position itself uniquely internationally and, above all, will help accelerate advances in cancer research.
Renaldo Battista, Executive Director, Oncopole, stated: 鈥淭he ODAC program represents a unique opportunity to bring together multidisciplinary expertise in artificial intelligence, omics science and cancer to advance cancer research. I want to acknowledge the outstanding collaboration between Oncopole, IVADO and G茅nome Qu茅bec behind this initiative.鈥�
And IVADO Chief Executive Officer Gilles Savard said: 鈥淒igital intelligence tools and their resulting data-mining methods represent a tremendous opportunity to accelerate research, particularly in the health sector. We are convinced that a better understanding of cancer pathologies can emerge from these collaborations and with it, innovative solutions to better confront them.鈥�
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Contact information
Marie Moucarry, Communications Advisor at the Goodman Cancer Research Centre, 捆绑SM社区, marie.moucarry2 [at] mcgill.ca, 438-993-6127
Jason Clement, Communications Manager, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, 捆绑SM社区, Jason.clement [at] mcgill.ca
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