Grant: Doctoral: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a common type of aggressive brain tumor for which treatment remains an incredible challenge. With the current treatment methods, patients survive on average only 15 months. Due to the invasive and variable nature of GBM tumors, treatment options are limited and surgery is impossible. In an effort to fully understand GBM, research from the University of Calgary has discovered a way to grow brain tumor cells from patients in the laboratory. Although, these laboratory cell samples have been tested with a variety of established and new drugs, no drug has successfully treated all samples. Interestingly, some drugs are shown to treat some cell samples while other drugs have success with others. Currently it is unclear what causes this variety in drug response. Using genome sequencing analysis, we hope to understand these different responses by identifying cancer-causing mutations in the cells. The most challenging aspect of the project is identifying which mutations are key to the drug resistance and which mutations have no effect on the cancer growth. Newer techniques are beginning to bring together existing knowledge about cancer-causing genes with newer biochemistry knowledge and artificial intelligence to predict which mutations are driving the cancer. The intersection of this set of drug response and mutation data and the development of new analysis techniques offers a unique opportunity for a greater understanding of the genes and the gene interactions which drive cancer. Our ability to test new drugs through collaborators at the University of Toronto means that this project realistically could offer a new direction in the treatment of glioblastoma.