TORONTO, June 16, 2009 --York University professor Michael Siu will lead a project using biomarkers that have been discovered and verified in head-and-neck cancers to develop an efficient and effective test for use in diagnosis and prognosis.

Siu, director of York’s Centre for Research in Mass Spectrometry and associate vice-president research, science & technology, will receive funding for the project from International Science and Technology Partnerships Canada Inc. (ISTPCanada). An initiative of ISTPCanada and the Department of Biotechnology-India (DBT) under the Canada-India Research and Development program, it is one of four such projects for which ISPTCanada announced a total of $6.7 million in funding recently.

A challenge for the healthcare system is to identify cancer early and to predict which pre-cancer cases will have high probability in turning malignant. Siu’s project entitled “Translating Head-and-Neck Cancer Markers into Diagnostic Assays” will determine efficient ways to identify cancers and prognosticate clinical outcomes. Through this project, Siu, his collaborators at the Mount Sinai Hospital and Xphase Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Toronto, along with their Indian partners, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Imgenex India Pvt. Ltd., will determine efficient ways of creating diagnostic methods and test kits for head-and-neck cancer diagnosis.  

“It is wonderful that ISTPCanada and DBT India see the importance of translating head-and-neck cancer biomarkers that we discovered in our fundamental research into a diagnostic / prognostic assay,” says Siu. “We hope that this project will improve healthcare delivery in both India and Canada for patients suffering from this dreadful disease."

The federal government has supported these initiatives as part of the Canada-India Science and Technology support. "Our government understands the critical role research plays in improving the lives of Canadians and people around the world,” said Stockwell Day, federal minister of international trade and minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway.  “We also understand the critical role of connecting pure research in laboratories with applied research in factories. Major advances occur when the two are hand in glove.”

"Today’s most complex healthcare challenges can find solutions through innovative, interdisciplinary R&D collaborations such as this one,” says Stan Shapson, vice-president, research & innovation at York. “We are tremendously proud of Professor Siu’s research in breakthrough technologies for head-and-neck cancer markers, for its potential benefits to global healthcare, and strong R&D linkages between Canada and India."

A complete list of projects funding through this initiative is available on the ISTPCanada website.

International Science and Technology Partnerships Canada Inc. (ISTPCanada) was incorporated with the primary objective of strengthening Canada’s science and technology (S&T), business to business relations and ultimately overall economic, trade and political relations.  ISTPCanada fosters and supports the development of research partnerships for Canadian companies and research organizations with international counterparts, with an emphasis on research and development projects with commercial relevance and potential products and services.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is the apex body within the federal Ministry of Science & Technology that is responsible for policy, funding and promotion of biotechnology in India. Established in 1986, the department has been supporting research & development, a network of key infrastructure areas and creation of human resource. The National Biotechnology Development Strategy (www.dbtindia.gov.in ) was approved by the Government of India in 2007. DBT is also building a strong and strategic programme of international collaboration with a few carefully chosen countries. 

York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 11 faculties and 24 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.

For more information, contact:

Sana Mulji Dutt, Research Communications, York University: 416 736 2100 x21069 / mulji@yorku.ca