A private foundation is raising $3 million as seed money for researchers who work on cancer.
So far the Cole Foundation of Montreal, along with the Canadian Cancer Society Research Foundation Program have convinced private donors to give $1 million for the project.
The goal is to bring researchers with different specialties and at different institutions together to share their work and benefit society.
Though Montreal is a hub for pediatric cancer research, The Cole Foundation said researchers often work in isolation.
“Here we have three different universities, we have hospitals, we have research institutes that are working independent of universities and so we said, ‘We must bring the silos together,” explained Barry Cole, president and chairman of the foundation.
Dr. Jean-Sebastien Delisle of Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital said he believes the money will facilitate new research.
"It's money that will bring a culture change and I think Mr. Cole said it very clearly. He wants this money to serve as seed money so that researchers in Montreal can unite, synergize and get large amounts of money from governments or other agencies."
Delisle added that the funding will be used to unite researchers with those doing clinical work, which could give more patients the opportunity to be test subjects for potential therapies.
Fifty researchers in hematology and related fields gathered this past weekend for a learning and collaboration session at Mt. Gabriel, which several compared to speed-dating as they explained their work and research focus.
Research teams will be eligible for grants of up to $250,000 per year for three years, with the first grants awarded in 2017.
The Cole Foundation was created in 1980 to support cancer and blood cancer (leukemia) research in Montreal. To date it has donated $12 million to researchers in Greater Montreal.
