U of T Researchers ‘Reverse Engineer’ Brain Cancer Cells to Find New Targets for Treatment

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Researchers at the University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the University of Calgary have ‘reverse engineered’ glioblastoma stem cells to uncover potential targets to treat the devastating form of brain cancer.

Researchers at the University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the University of Calgary have ‘reverse engineered’ glioblastoma stem cells to uncover potential targets to treat the devastating form of brain cancer.

The findings were published today in the journal Cell Reports, making this the first published study to systematically profile a large panel of patient-derived brain tumour cells that have stem cell properties.

Glioblastoma is a difficult-to-treat form of cancer that is a leading cause of cancer-related death in children and young adults.

“We think that, in one big experiment, we have uncovered many new targets for glioblastoma, some of which were surprising,” said Dr. Peter Dirks, who is a co-principal investigator of the study and staff neurosurgeon and senior scientist at SickKids.

Read more at University of Toronto - Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Image: Graham MacLeod, post-doctoral fellow at University of Toronto's Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy used CRISPR-Cas9 screens to reverse engineer glioblastoma stem cells and uncovered potential new treatment targets. (Photo Credit: Steve Southon)