A pan-Canadian team of researchers is collaborating on new tools to help better understand cancers, thanks to new funding from the Terry Fox Research Institute (TFRI) and the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network (MOHCCN).
The research consortium, funded through the TFRI-MOHCCN Technology Development Awards, will seek to standardize a cutting-edge approach using metabolomics to unlock new insights into cancer diagnosis, treatment and patient management.
“Metabolomics is the study of small molecules, known as metabolites, which are found in our blood and play essential roles in maintaining health,” explains Dr. Anne-Marie Mes-Masson, a world-renowned researcher from the Centre de recherche du CHUM (CRCHUM), who will lead the team. “While current medical practice measures only a few metabolites at a time – such as cholesterol, this project introduces a novel method capable of analyzing approximately 1,300 metabolites from a single blood sample, the largest of its kind. This vast amount of collected information has the potential to deepen our understanding of health status and disease development, paving the way for other biobanks to increase their omics AI-ready data.”
The project’s primary goal is to prove that a metabolomics panel pioneered by researchers at The Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC), an Alberta-based organization headed by Dr. David Wishart, is robust and yields consistent results across different laboratories. These tests will be performed by both TMIC and Linearis labs to establish a new standard in metabolomics assessment that can be used nationwide and worldwide.
To achieve this, the team will analyze blood samples from ovarian cancer patients, tracking how the disease affects specific metabolites at diagnosis and over time. This approach could reveal critical clues about early cancer detection, treatment response and disease progression. With a large dataset, the team also plans to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to deepen understanding of complex data.
This project will advance precision medicine in ovarian cancer while tackling critical unmet needs. By providing unprecedented and reliable patient metabolomic data sets, the researchers will integrate the information with genomic data also collected as part of the MOHCCN Gold Cohort.
“Combining metabolic and genetic data offers a powerful way to diagnose, track and predict cancer, ultimately leading to more personalized, effective treatments and improved ovarian cancer care,” says Dr. Mes-Masson. This metabolomics dataset will grow over time, potentially expanding to include additional patients with various cancer types and scientific questions, all to improve patient outcomes, cancer journey and quality of life.
“Developing new state-of-the-art methodologies, coupled with AI, that can be easily integrated into clinical practice is a vital step toward achieving the MOHCCN’s ultimate goal – impacting the lives of each cancer patient,” notes Dr. Mes-Masson.