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Funded Grants

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Using targeted ultrasound to get immunotherapy drugs past the blood-brain barrier

Project Overview

Stephanie Borlase is investigating ways to improve immunotherapies to treat people whose lung cancer has spread to the brain, improving outcomes. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Canada, but immunotherapies which trigger the immune system to attack cancers have shown promise. However, when cancers spread to the brain, these immunotherapies are often ineffective as they cannot cross from the bloodstream into the brain due to the blood-brain barrier. With Canadian Cancer Society funding, Stephanie is working with a team to investigate whether focused ultrasound waves can be used to disrupt this barrier, allowing immunotherapies to reach tumours that have spread to the brain. The researchers will develop a radioactive tagged immunotherapy drug, that they can track using scans, to determine how much of the drug is in the tumour after ultrasound treatment. The team will test the safety of this tagged drug in preclinical models, before applying to use the drug in an existing clinical trial. If successful, this project could lead to a new treatment option for people who have had cancer spread to their brain, improving their chances of survival.

Principal Investigator

Stephanie Borlase , University of Toronto

Partners and Donors

Canadian Cancer Society

Project Ongoing

Using targeted ultrasound to get immunotherapy drugs past the blood-brain barrier

  • Grant Type

    Capacity building grants

  • Area of research

    Cancer

  • Disease Area

    Brain Cancer

  • Competition

    Canadian Cancer Society Training Grants

  • Province

    Ontario

  • Start Date

    2024

  • Total Grant Amount

    $135,000

  • Health Canada Contribution

    $67,500

Contact Us

1200 McGill College Avenue
Suite 1600, Montreal, Quebec
H3B 4G7

+1 (514) 989-2989 info@braincanada.ca

Please note all online donations will receive an electronic tax receipt, issued by Brain Canada Foundation.

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The offices of Brain Canada Foundation are located on the traditional, ancestral territory of the Kanien'kehá:ka Peoples, a place which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst nations. We honour and pay respect to elders past, present and emerging, and dedicate ourselves to moving forward in the spirit of partnership, collaboration, and reconciliation. In our work, we focus our efforts on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, particularly those that pertain to improving health for Indigenous Peoples and that focus on advancing our own learning on Indigenous issues.

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