Research summary
Despite many advances in cancer treatment in recent years, the disease continues to present itself in humans and animals. As Canada Research Chair in Translational Health and Clinical Research, Dr. Jim Petrik is leading an innovative research program to identify, test and develop new treatments for advanced cancers.
He and his research team have found a way to dramatically boost the uptake of anti-cancer drugs by restoring adequate blood supply to tumours. Petrik has also identified a new cancer cell metabolic pathway (that is, a series of chain reactions through which cancer cells grow and divide) and a strategy to target it. Working together with researchers and clinicians for human cancers, he and his team plan to use a multi-step approach to test these and other discoveries, including in companion animals—an approach that can substantially increase the speed of drug development versus traditional methods.