Data Sharing and Use Pilot program captures national media attention

Since its announcement in September, our Data Sharing and Use Pilot program has captured the attention of news outlets nationwide, underscoring just how exciting and essential the Gold Cohort and these collaborative data-sharing projects truly are.  

The Data Sharing and Use Pilot program and its projects have been featured in national and local media, highlighting the momentum behind this initiative, its potential for cancer researchers, and the new hope its bringing to cancer patients across Canada.  

Here is a list of some of the outlets that covered the launch: 

• “This is the point where we’ve been trying to get for decades”: CTV National News spoke to Sherri Christian, Atlantic Cancer Consortium leader and cancer researcher, about what having access to Gold Cohort data could do for researchers like her across Canada. 

• New hope for glioblastoma patients: A beautiful article published by the Telegraph Journal in Fredericton, NB showcases how an MOHCCN Data Sharing and Use Pilot project is bringing new hope to family members of patients diagnosed with deadly brain cancers. 

• Coast to Coast Gold Standard Care: A story published in The Telegram, showcases how a research team at Memorial University will analyze part of the 15,000-patient Gold Cohort database, work that could shape future cancer treatments for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. 

• Data Sharing in Action: A feature in the Calgary Herald highlighting Drs. Jennifer Chan and Paul Gordon’s Data Sharing and Use Pilot project at the University of Calgary, explored the incredible opportunities afforded to researchers through data sharing. 

• A Once-in-a-Generation Breakthrough: A sponsor content feature in the Globe and Mail published ahead of Giving Tuesday celebrates the growth of the Gold Cohort and its life-changing potential for patients like Dan Murphy, a Gold Cohort contributor who is now receiving targeted therapy for pancreatic cancer and enjoying a remarkable quality of life.  

Data Sharing and Use Pilot program 

Data Sharing and Use Pilot program research teams will have access to aggregated data from the MOHCCN Gold Cohort, unlocking its potential for the first time ever. Through this program, the team will not only show how shared national data can accelerate discoveries that benefit patients across Canada but will also help validate the data access and sharing processes created by the Network, helping to ensure the process can be scaled in the near future.  

Learn more about these trailblazing projects: 

• Drs. Marco Marra (BC Cancer and University of British Columbia), Sherri Christian (Memorial University of Newfoundland), Anthony Reiman (University of New Brunswick), and Jennifer Chan and Sorana Morrissy (University of Calgary) for Computational synthetic lethal analysis of MOHCCN genomic data to expand precision cancer genomic medicine options for glioblastoma multiforme patients 

• Dr. Aly Karsan (BC Cancer) for Detection of Clonal Hematopoiesis Driven by Structural Variants 

• Dr. Ian Watson (McGill University and the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute) for Combined analysis of MOHCCN Gold Cohort and TCGA/ICGC data to improve detection of low-frequency cancer driver genes 

• Dr. Dave Cescon and Dr. Mitchell Elliott (Princess Margaret Cancer Centre) for Precision targeting of ecDNA-driven tumours through bioinformatic identification of synthetic lethal vulnerabilities 

• Dr. Jennifer Chan (University of Calgary) for Improving assessment of immune cell infiltration in solid tumours