Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Over the last decade oncolytic viruses (OV) have been shown to be very effective anti-cancer agents - they are able to target tumor cells while leaving normal cells intact. Oncolytic viruses are able to control tumor growth and disease progression in many ways including by mounting an immune response to directly target the cancer. One of the ways that we are able to amplify this immune response is by altering the genetic make-up of the virus to make it better able to stimulate the immune system. There are certain alterations to the genetic make up of the virus that makes it more immunogenic and more able to control tumor growth and we are trying identify the changes which are most immune stimulatory. Once we have identified these changes we can create an even more potent and effective oncolytic virus platform than the one that we already have. In a therapeutic setting, these changes would make the therapy more tumor specific and have fewer side effect for patients. Oncolytic viruses have already shown tremendous success as a cancer therapeutic and being able to improve them even more will put us that much closer to being able to create a therapy that is effective for everyone.