In this edition of Honour Roll:
Princess Margaret scientists awarded Terry Fox New Investigator funding
Drs. Bowen Li and Farshad Nassiri have received funding through the Terry Fox New Investigator Awards from the Terry Fox Research Institute. The awards support innovative cancer research projects aimed at improving patient outcomes through precision medicine and advanced technologies.
Dr. Li, affiliate scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and the Canada Research Chair in RNA Vaccines and Therapeutics, received $525,000 to lead a project focused on developing a new form of cancer immunotherapy that will selectively target cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue.
Called programmable mRNA‑based treatment, the goal of this research is to make immunotherapy more precise, safer and effective for a broader range of cancers, particularly “cold” tumours, which evade the immune system and do not respond well to existing treatments.
Dr. Farshad Nassiri, neurosurgeon and scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, received $503,000 to lead research that will better predict recurrence and identify new treatment opportunities for patients with meningioma, the most common brain tumour in adults.
By using deep learning models to study the genetic differences between tumours, Dr. Nassiri’s team hopes to identify which tumours are most likely to return and why. A key focus of the work is to make molecular tumour analysis more widely accessible, allowing more patients to benefit from personalized, data‑driven care.
Dr. Arjun Balachandar receives prestigious grant to advance Parkinson’s disease research
Dr. Arjun Balachandar, a movement disorders neurology fellow at Toronto Western Hospital, has received the 2026 Next Generation Research Grant in Parkinson’s Disease from the American Brain Foundation.
The grant supports promising clinical neuroscientists at a pivotal stage in their careers and is intended to advance innovative research that can improve mobility for people living with Parkinson’s disease.
With this award, Dr. Balachandar will study how advanced brain‑computer interface technology, known as implanted electrode grids, can be used to better understand and treat gait difficulties in Parkinson’s disease. This includes freezing of gait, a sudden episode in which people are unable to move their feet forward despite intending to walk, significantly increases the risk of falls and loss of independence.
By identifying specific patterns of brain activity that occur just before freezing begins, Dr. Balachandar aims to develop targeted brain‑stimulation treatments that could stop these episodes before they happen.
His work contributes to a growing international effort to use neural interfaces and adaptive brain stimulation as next‑generation therapies for Parkinson’s disease, offering new hope to patients whose symptoms do not respond well to current treatments.
The grant is also funded in part by the Parkinson’s Foundation.
Dr. Steven Chan receives Scotiabank Research Chair to study chronic inflammation
Dr. Steven Chan has been appointed Scotiabank Research Chair, a prestigious role that supports innovative research into the role of inflammation in complex diseases, including cancer and arthritis.
Through this appointment, Dr. Chan, a senior scientist and staff physician at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, will lead a research program focused on understanding how chronic inflammation contributes to the earliest stages of blood cancer development.
His laboratory currently investigates how inflammatory signalling drives the evolution of clonal hematopoiesis — a common, age-related pre-malignant condition — into acute myeloid leukemia. By defining the biological mechanisms that fuel this transition, his work aims to uncover new opportunities for disease prevention, early intervention and targeted therapies.
In addition to advancing scientific knowledge, Dr. Chan and his team aim to support the training of the next generation of clinician‑scientists working at the intersection of inflammation biology, cancer research and patient care.
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