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Dr. Paola Marignani knows how to make great pie crust. She learned by baking dozens of pies with Bosom Buddies—a volunteer crew that raises money for cancer research. When she “runs for the cure,” she sports a bright pink lab coat.
Marignani’s work is her passion. The Dalhousie University cancer researcher discovered that a certain tumour suppressor—a cellular protein that prevents tumours from forming—actually causes cancer when its DNA mutates. Her goal now is to figure out how to turn it back into a full-time cancer fighter.
Hardly a week goes by without scary headlines appearing about the disease. But we hear less about the cost of cancer. We in Atlantic Canada should pay close attention, because our cancer rates are the highest in the country. We all know someone who has the disease. We also know that the population is aging, putting pressure on the workforce. As cancer rates continue to rise, employers will feel a one-two punch. When the economy suffers, society bears an even greater burden.
Progress in cancer research is the subject of our annual innovation issue. In this field, the region is a powerhouse. In a special report Melanie Jollymore explains that when it comes to cancer research, we have real advantages. For researchers, a small and stable population is easier to study. Scientists can more easily collaborate across departments, faculties, and provincial institutions. Databases can be quickly linked. And research investment can be focused on regional strengths that show special promise, such as early detection, cancer-killing viruses, tumour suppressors, and anti-cancer drugs, to name just a few.
The hub for much of this activity is Dalhousie University. A generous bequest of $13 million eight years ago enabled the medical school to focus its vision of a cancer research program,
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build partnerships, and, most importantly, recruit star-studded research talent. The university this fall was named by The Scientist magazine as the top research workplace outside of the U.S.
Basic research is a social good that deserves more public support. This region’s cancer cluster is a success story that proves stable funding can have an exponential effect, with funding attracting more funding, and talent attracting talent. And we all benefit when viable products move from the lab to the market.
A fascinating part of this story is ImmunoVaccine Technologies (IVT), a Dal spinoff. Founder Warwick Kimmins’s original innovation and financing model set a new standard for the Atlantic biotech industry, giving birth to an organized angel network. Now biotech has progressed to the stage where companies such as IVT will compete internationally for follow-on investment, a sign of maturity and commercial potential.
(Tragically and ironically, Kimmins succumbed last summer to cancer, the very disease his company aims to prevent and eradicate. His death came just as the company is poised to begin the clinical trials for testing the safety of its vaccine-delivery platform, one that showed promising results destroying and preventing the recurrence of tumours in mice.)
Economic pundit Allan Gregg, in a recent op-ed, talked about the keys to unlocking prosperity, competitiveness, and innovation. He said Canada must build on its research cornerstones for success in the 21st century. “The best and the brightest will gravitate to centres of excellence to collaborate and be stimulated by peers,” Gregg said. He challenges media, business, and political leaders to support researchers like Paola Marignani—researchers who learn, and dream, and strive to make a difference.
Yes, he’s talking to you. |
