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The Terry Fox Research Institute

Expanding our research portfolio

Since its inception, the TFRI has invested in groundbreaking scientific projects that accelerate discoveries for the benefit of cancer patients. Today, this investment expands beyond our flagship basic science and translational research programs. With support from partners across the country, including the Government of Canada, we now lead two innovative projects that embody Terry Fox's spirit and unite our country to improve the lives of cancer patients through precision medicine: the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network and the Digital Health and Discovery Platform.

Learn more about our Mission and Vision.

Digital Health and Discovery Platform (DHDP) Logo

Digital Health and Discovery Platform (DHDP)

The DHDP is a pan-Canadian initiative co-led by the TFRI and supported by the Government of Canada. The DHDP provides the cutting-edge technological and policy infrastructure needed to share and analyze large amounts of health data generated through the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network, allowing us to improve health outcomes for Canadians through the advancement of precision medicine for cancer and other diseases.

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Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network Logo

Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network

The MOHCCN is an unprecedented collaboration led by the TFRI and supported by the Government of Canada that unites the country’s top cancer hospitals and research centres to create the Team Canada of Cancer Research. Just like Terry’s Marathon of Hope united Canadians under a single vision, the Network unites our cancer research community, empowering them to work together to make precision medicine for cancer a reality for all Canadians.

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Newly funded research projects

Understanding the cellular mechanisms of age associated clonal hematopoiesis

As we age, cells in the blood-forming system of our bodies begin to accumulate mutations. These mutations aren’t all dangerous, but researchers have found that around 10 per cent of people aged 65 and over have cells in this system with known cancer-causing mutations that increase their risk of developing leukemia. Exactly how these mutations lead to leukemia – and why leukemia develop...

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Developing novel oncolytic viruses as therapeutic tools for pediatric brain tumours

Malignant brain tumours are the leading cause of cancer death in children. Amongst these, pediatric high-grade gliomas (HGGs) – a group of cancers that include glioblastoma multiforme, anaplastic astrocytoma, and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma – are the most aggressive. Treatments for HGGs are both ineffective and highly toxic, meaning that sadly, most children diagnosed with these c...

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Combining diet and short chain fatty acids to modulate the gut microbiota and increase cancer immunotherapy response

  • Bertrand Routy / Centre de recherche de Centre hospitalier de L’Université de Montréal

“When immunotherapy emerged a decade ago, we thought it would revolutionize lung cancer treatment,” recalls Dr. Bertrand Routy, a Montreal-based immuno-oncologist whose work focuses on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). “But while some of my patients really benefit from it, many don’t—and we still don’t understand why this happens or how to change it.” Fo...

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The contribution of metabolism to therapy resistance and relapse

Imagine you spot a weed growing in your favourite flower bed. Annoyed, you take a pair of sheers and chop it off. For days, you feel great. The weed seems to be gone and your flower bed looks amazing. But a week later, when you return to tend to it, reality hits: not only has the weed grown back but your flower bed is overrun by dozens of similar growths. Cancer can act in a similar way. In many c...

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Radiotherapy-induced dynamic heterogeneity in the tumour microenvironment is a therapeutic target

Radiotherapy has been a main pillar of cancer treatment for over a century. Even today, half of all people diagnosed with cancer receive radiation therapy at some point of their cancer journey. But despite its prevalence – and its high success rates – many questions remain as to why radiation therapy works for some patients, but not others, and how it can be more effective for more pat...

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Ultrasound and MRI for Cancer Therapy - III

A team of pioneering cancer researchers in Toronto is looking to harness the power of ultrasound technology to personalize and improve cancer treatments thanks to renewal funding from the Terry Fox Research Institute. The team, led by Dr. Gregory Czarnota, a radiation oncologist and senior scientist at the Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, will use $6-million over the next...

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Mammary OMICs: Intercepting Breast Cancer Early to Improve Outcomes

A new partnership between the Terry Fox Research Institute (TFRI) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) will enable a team of multidisciplinary researchers to cover much needed ground to detect high-risk breast cancer earlier and, at the same time, identify new treatments to address this currently incurable disease.  For the first time, CIHR’s Institute of Cancer Researc...

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Targeting Tumour Plasticity in Advanced Prostate Cancer

Nearly 20% of advanced prostate cancer patients relapse on potent androgen receptor (AR) targeted therapies with a highly aggressive disease called treatment induced neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC). In NEPC, cancer cells commit what Dr. Amina Zoubeidi, professor and Canada Research Chair in Cancer Therapy Resistance at the University of British Columbia, calls “an identity shift”...

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Modeling lymphoma evolution and clinical trajectory using multiomics

It’s their fifth cycle of funding for researchers at the BC Cancer Centre for Lymphoid Cancer who are part of the renewal of a coveted Terry Fox New Frontiers Program Projects Grant, following the 2022 competition.  “It’s a privilege and honour to have this PPG award. The grant is quite unique in the landscape of Canadian funding and six million dollars over six years is the...

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Precision Oncology for Endometrial Carcinoma Patients

Molecular testing has allowed researchers to understand that not all cancers are the same—even if they grow in the same part of the body or look similar under a microscope. This is the case with endometrial cancers, where molecular features can be used to identify four prognostic subgroups. Pragmatic molecular classification tools, assessing key mutations or the presence or absence of specif...

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  • Funding Programs

    The Terry Fox Research Institute functions as the research arm of The Terry Fox Foundation. In this capacity, the Institute invests and manages approximately $27 million in combined funding for discovery and translational research and training for future scientists and clinicians in cancer research.

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  • Our Research

    We know more about cancer today thanks to the biological, molecular and genomic discoveries, new technologies, tests and treatments made possible with research funding from The Terry Fox Foundation and through the translational work undertaken by TFRI. As a result, we have better ways to detect, diagnose and treat cancer today. This is helping cancer patients to live, to live longer and with a better quality of life.

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  • Terry Fox and the Terry Fox Foundation

    Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a community near Vancouver on Canada's west coast. An active teenager involved in many sports, Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977.

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  • Digital Health and Discovery Platform

    The Digital Health and Discovery Platform (DHDP) is a pan-Canadian initiative that seeks to improve health outcomes for Canadians by deploying cutting-edge technologies that advance precision medicine.

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  • Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres

    The Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network is a bold vision led by The Terry Fox Research Institute and The Terry Fox Foundation with support from dozens of research and funding partners across Canada.

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Updates

Updates

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    2018/19 Facts

    • 26.6 Million Dollars for Cancer Research and Training
      Million Dollars for Cancer Research and Training
    • 47 currently funded projects for team science and research
      Funded Projects for team science and research
    • 98 Partners in Funding and Research
      Partners in Funding and Research