New cancer-fighting funds to help patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Ryan Morin is a graduate of the Marra lab at the Genome Sciences Centre. He has gone on to hold faculty positions at the GSC and the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University, where he is continuing his research into non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).
“Examples of aggressive NHLs are diffused large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), both addressed by my research,” says Morin. “These cancers require treatment as soon as they are diagnosed as the patient would likely very quickly succumb to the disease.” Ryan will receive 3 years of funding support from the Terry Fox Research Institute (TFRI). The Terry Fox Young Investigator Award is co-funded by the Terry Fox Foundation and the BC Cancer Foundation.
“Our first aim is to look at aggressive lymphomas and ask how they evolve over time,” says Dr. Morin. “Then determine where we might be able to target new drugs at tumour cells to kill them.” The team will also use “liquid biopsy” methods to detect genetic changes in tumours without using traditional, invasive biopsy procedures. Liquid biopsies use a simple blood test to determine the level of tumour DNA in a patient’s blood.
Read Carol Thorbes' interview with Ryan Morin published in the SFU News and the Georgia Straight.