Grant: Doctoral: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

Imagine using special viruses that only attack cancer cells, leaving healthy cells unharmed. These are called oncolytic viruses (OVs), and they're showing great promise in cancer treatment. However, some concerns about their safety have held them back, especially when treating sensitive areas like the brain. Our goal is to make these viruses both safer and more powerful by using a genetic engineering approach. What We're Doing: We're working to create a new kind of virus that combines the best traits of two existing oncolytic viruses: Tian Tan (TT) and Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA). TT is good at destroying cancer cells but has safety issues, while MVA is safe but less effective against cancer. By combining them, we hope to get the best of both worlds. How We're Doing It: We're using a cutting-edge tool called CRISPR-Cas9 to mix the genetic material of TT and MVA in a way that makes our new virus safer and stronger. We'll test this new virus on brain cancer cells and normal cells to make sure it's powerful against cancer but won't harm healthy tissue. Our goal is to develop a virus that's both safer and more effective for treating brain cancer and, eventually, other types of cancer.