GCI Researchers Receive Nearly $1 Million in CRS Funding

GCI Researchers Receive Nearly $1 Million in CRS Funding The Cancer Research Society (CRS) has announced the results of its 2025 Operating Grant competition, awarding nine McGill researchers competitive two-year grants to advance high-impact cancer research across the institution. Remarkably, seven of these nine awardees are members of the Rosalind & Morris Goodman Cancer Institute (GCI) — a testament to the Institute’s depth, excellence, and sustained leadership in Canadian cancer research.

CRS Operating Grants provide $135,000 over two years to support innovative, peer-reviewed research projects with strong potential to transform cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. This year’s results place GCI researchers at the forefront of McGill’s success.

GCI Recipients

Vincent Giguère, PhD

Project: Identifying how the chromatin-remodeling factor CHD4/NuRD drives prostate cancer progression, revealing potential new epigenetic targets. 

Lawrence Kazak, PhD

Project: Understanding how obesity-driven metabolic changes fuel aggressive breast cancers, uncovering links between metabolism and tumour biology. 

Peter Siegel, PhD

Project: Determining how PDLIM7 regulates autophagy to promote metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), with the goal of blocking tumour spread. 

Nahum Sonenberg, PhD

Project: Targeting dysregulated mRNA translation in TNBC using a combination of a translation inhibitor and a cell-cycle inhibitor to suppress tumour growth. 

John Stagg, PhD

Project: Testing whether blocking MFG-E8 can enhance anti-tumour immunity — a promising strategy to improve immunotherapy responses. Profile: https://www.mcgill.ca/gci/people/john-stagg

José Teodoro, PhD

Project: Investigating how lipid metabolites (FAHFAs) influence colorectal cancer development and assessing their therapeutic potential. 

Ian Watson, PhD

Project: Evaluating the use of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) as an oncolytic therapy for melanoma, leveraging viral infection to kill tumour cells and stimulate immunity. 

A Strong Showing for the GCI

With seven of McGill’s nine CRS-funded researchers affiliated with the GCI, this year’s results highlight GCI’s extraordinary concentration of scientific excellence and its ability to drive high-impact research across cancer biology, metabolism, epigenetics, immunology, and therapeutic innovation. These projects promise to generate the foundational discoveries and translational advances that ultimately improve outcomes for patients. The GCI congratulates all recipients and looks forward to the breakthroughs these grants will help make possible.