Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Few treatment options exist for patients with cancers that spread to the brain (known as brain metastases), and these patients often die within months. Despite that brain metastases occur in up to 17% of cancer patients at an incidence of about 20,000 Canadians per year, little is known about how cancers spread to the brain. We are beginning a 'basket' clinical trial for brain metastasis patients in which we identify genetic mutations in cancer samples from the patients. The mutations identified in each patient are used to inform the choice of FDA-approved, targeted drugs so that the right drug is used on the right patient when standard treatments have failed. This project will further develop bioinformatic methods to use the data from this trial to understand key mutations that cause cancers to spread. Using this knowledge, we will guide precision medicine for current patients and facilitate the development of new drugs for future patients.