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Cancer research receives major funding boost from Ontario Institute for Cancer Research


September 23, 2014

The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) is providing $7 million in funding over four years to its Ontario Regional Biotherapeutics (ORBiT) Program led by Dr. John Bell. The program includes collaborators at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, McMaster University, NCIC Clinical Trials Group, and the University Health Network. The funds will be used to further promising research into oncolytic viruses, immunotherapies and oncolytic vaccine therapies, including a clinical trial evaluating the program’s Maraba oncolytic vaccine platform. This is the second round of funding for the ORBiT Program, which initially received $10 million from the Government of Ontario in 2009. Oncolytic viruses and vaccines take advantage of the fact that cancer cells grow quickly and as a result have a weaker structure than normal cells, which makes them more susceptible to viral attacks. This means that virus-based treatments can be designed and targeted to harm just cancer cells and leave healthy cells unaffected. In this video, Dr. Bell provides more information about the funding and how it will be used. Read the OICR new release.

About the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) is the research arm of The Ottawa Hospital and is an affiliated institute of the University of Ottawa, closely associated with the university’s Faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences. OHRI includes more than 1,700 scientists, clinical investigators, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staff conducting research to improve the understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

Media contact
Paddy Moore
Communications and Public Relations
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
613-737-8899 x73687
613-323-5680 (cell)