Investments will support high-profile work led by Dr. Rima Al-awar and Dr. Lincoln Stein.

Groundbreaking projects in OICR’s Drug Discovery and Adaptive Oncology research themes are receiving support to advance made-in-Ontario innovations thanks to investments from FACIT.

The investments announced on April 27 will support work led by OICR’s Head of Therapeutic Innovation and Drug Discovery Dr. Rima Al-awar and Head of Adaptive Oncology Dr. Lincoln Stein.

Dr. Al-awar’s Drug Discovery team is working on a therapeutic platform that targets members of the WD40 repeat domain family of proteins, research that has garnered a lot of attention for its potential to enable new drug discoveries and intellectual property.

Dr. Stein’s team is applying deep data analytics, network association and informatics to better understand the cancer genome. Funding from FACIT will help researchers validate and optimize proprietary technology that helps prioritize tumour targets.

“Congratulations to Dr. Al-awar and Dr. Stein on receiving critical seed capital from FACIT,” says Dr. Laszlo Radvanyi, President and Scientific Director of OICR. “Our world-leading Drug Discovery and Informatics teams are in a unique position to leverage an organic partnership and develop their integrated, competitive platform technologies.”

These new investments come through FACIT’s Prospects Oncology Fund, which provides seed-stage capital for Ontario-based innovations in oncology. FACIT’s review of Prospects Oncology Fund investments are complemented by third party expert reviews to support the best innovations in the province.

“The FACIT team is pleased to support these internationally renowned scientists and invest in product platforms with serious potential for the treatment of cancer,” FACIT President Dr. David O’Neill says.

FACIT and OICR are collaborators in translating cancer research discoveries to patients. Learn more about OICR and FACIT.