Some cancer cells are like octopuses. While many animals have a single, permanent home, octopuses are rather nomadic, travelling along the seafloor and adapting – changing their shape, size and colour – to hide and thrive in their new surroundings.
Glioblastoma (GBM) cells are one such cancer cell, which is partly why they’re one of the most aggressive and devastating forms of brain cancer, with patients surviving a median of 15 months after diagnosis. Because GBM cells spread quickly and adapt to survive in new environments, they are not only extremely difficult to track and treat but also have a high chance of recurrence.
Dr. Federico Gaiti, a scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (University Health Network) who is also passionate about scuba diving and marine biology, hopes to use his unique skillset to improve outcomes for patients with these life-threatening tumours.
With $525,000 from a 2025 Terry Fox New Investigator Award, Dr. Gaiti will lead a team applying cutting-edge techniques they’ve developed to understand exactly how glioblastoma cells make their way into healthy tissue and adapt to their surroundings. Their findings will inform new treatments that can interfere with this behaviour and stop the tumour’s spread and recurrence.
“By the end of the project, we hope to discover the key factors that allow glioblastoma cells to invade healthy brain tissue and come back after treatment,” says Dr. Gaiti. “Our goal is to find new weaknesses in these cancer cells that can be targeted with better treatments, reducing the chances of cancer returning and improving patient outcomes.”
To achieve this, the team will:
- study the molecular make-up of rare brain cancer cells at an extremely detailed level;
- test how the environment around the tumour affects the brain cancer cells using samples taken from various parts of GBM tumours; and
- examine how GBM cells interact with other brain cells, including neurons, to determine whether GBM cells are hijacking the brain’s normal neural circuits to aid in their invasion and progression.
The innovative tools and approaches being developed in this project hold the potential to benefit other invasive and hard-to-treat cancers, accelerating the discovery of new therapeutic targets and precision medicine strategies.
“This award not only supports our research on glioblastoma, but also enables us to contribute to the broader mission of improving outcomes and quality of life for patients and their families. It inspires us to work harder, collaborate more widely and stay deeply connected to the community as we strive to advance treatments and bring hope to those impacted by cancer,” says Dr. Gaiti.
“Receiving the Terry Fox New Investigator Award is an incredible honour and a deeply humbling moment in my career,” adds Gaiti. “Terry Fox’s legacy represents hope, perseverance and the belief that together we can make a difference in the fight against cancer – values that inspire both my work and my commitment to the cancer research community.”