Grant: Emerging Team Grant: From Genes to Proteins, Cells, Tissues and Patients - LOI

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Canada therefore several provinces are establishing population-based colon cancer screening programs. However, the current options for screening are limited by poor patient acceptance, low sensitivity, and high cost and new therapeutic targets for colon cancer are still needed. We propose to generate a new team to focus on understanding how the splicing program contributes to the development of colon adenocarcinoma and leads to the generation of tumor subtypes with differing phenotypes and responses to therapy. This new initiative represents a unique, genomic-scale multidisciplinary study with a direct impact on the health of Canadians, Canadian science and the Canadian economy. The biomarker discovery process has focused primarily on gene expression patterns while neglecting alternative splicing as a potentially rich source. In addition, most applied studies do not provide fundamental knowledge about the mechanism leading to the development of the cancer phenotype. The proposed project represents a unique mix of fundamental and clinical expertise. A successful outcome will revolutionize biomarker discovery strategies and reveal the vast extent to which alternative splicing modulates gene function. This project is a showcase of the CIHR emerging team initiative where a complete discovery pipeline spanning from academic research to the clinic will be built with equal contributions from academia and medicine. We believe that the impact of this project should not only be measured by the numbers of the biomarkers it produces, but by its capacity to change the way academics and clinical researchers work together to benefit the ultimate owner of all scientific research, the citizens of Canada.