Grant: CIHR - ICR / Cancer Research Society Partnership - Research Grants

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common type of primary brain cancer in adults and is characterized by its highly aggressive nature. The average survival rate for patients with GBM is approximately 15 months with treatment. Therefore, it is extremely important to find new therapies to improve the prognosis for GBM patients. It may be possible to treat GBM by starving the tumor of the nutrients and energy that it needs to grow by targeting cancer metabolism. In order to do so, we need to better understand the metabolic requirements of the different cancer cell populations which make up GBM tumors. This project aims to comprehensively characterize the metabolic pathways that are used by different types of GBM cell populations and understand how these cells change their energy metabolism in response to treatment with metabolic inhibitors. The findings from this project will aid in the development of new therapies for the treatment of GBM to help improve patient survival.