IRIC - Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer

From the cancer vaccine to the COVID-19 vaccine

IRIC recently announced that Dr. Claude Perreault and his team had won the Discovery of the Year Award by Québec Science. A promising project involving the eventual development of a cancer vaccine, the result of the work of an entire team. Tariq Daouda was still a member of that team not so long ago. Today, the young investigator is flying solo and is currently a Research fellow at Harvard Medical School. He, in turn, is now leading a promising research project that uses artificial intelligence to help develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

Veil gets lifted on the cell cycle

The cell cycle has not delivered its whole secret yet. The team of Philippe Roux, in collaboration with the teams of Sébastien Carréno and Michel Bouvier from IRIC, have recently published a study revealing a new mechanism for the regulation of this process. Indeed, to pursue its progression into the phase called “mitosis”, the cell cycle needs a green light. This one is given by the RNA-binding proteins, NF45 and NF90, that allow mRNA expression of genes that are essential for mitosis.

Telomeres: More than just chromosomes caps!

Telomeres are particular DNA sequences at the end of chromosomes that serve as caps to protect against degradation, fraying, and fusion with other chromosomes. Long, intact telomeres are maintained by an enzyme called telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) and are essential for cell viability. As TERT expression and activity levels decrease with age, telomere erosion eventually leads to chromosome loss, rearrangements, and cell death or arrest.

Major donation of $500,000 for a cancer vaccine

The Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Université de Montréal would like to highlight the extraordinary donation made by the Fondation Famille Diane et Léon Gosselin. As a result of their generosity, the substantial amount of $500,000 will be donated to the Fonds vaccin thérapeutique contre le cancer and will allow the research teams headed by Dr. Claude Perreault, Sébastien Lemieux and Pierre Thibault to complete the crucial final steps that will lead to the clinical trials of a cancer vaccine. Mr. and Mrs. Gosselin have been supporting IRIC’s activities for over 10 years.

A disruptive method for developing cancer vaccines, put forward by the team headed by IRIC’s Dr. Claude Perreault, is voted 2019 Scientific Discovery of the Year by Québec Science!

IRIC announces that the project carried out by the teams led by Dr. Claude Perreault, Sébastien Lemieux and Pierre Thibault has been named 2019 Scientific Discovery of the Year by the readers of Québec Science. Choosing from the 10 most impressive Quebec discoveries of the past year, the public voted for the potential therapeutic cancer vaccine, which garnered 40% of the votes cast.

Support our Emergency Fund

The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has created upheaval in our lives and has impacted our activities as well as those of the entire country.

Our Institute is not immune to the situation. We too are deeply affected by the forced stoppage of part of our activities. Many of our laboratories are on hold and the future of our young investigators, along with the completion of several promising projects, are therefore greatly jeopardized.

COVID-19: The IRIC community comes together thanks to IVADO’s support

IRIC proudly announces the commitment of several of its team in this health crisis, as a result of a spontaneous call for proposals initiated by IVADO, aimed at supporting digital intelligence data science initiatives. The projects retained will be able to rely on funding, scientific support and access to various resources.

Michael Tyers’ team and collaborators contribute to COVID-19 research

We are excited to underscore the commitment made by the team headed by Michael Tyers, Principal Investigator in IRIC’s Systems Biology and Synthetic Biology Research Unit. In collaboration with the teams led by Gerard Wright and Matthew Miller, both of whom are Principal Investigators at McMaster University, the mandate of Michael Tyers’ lab is to identify new therapeutic targets in order to provide better treatment for patients suffering from COVID-19.

Context COVID-19: IRIC puts its research expertise to good use

In this context of an exceptional crisis, IRIC wishes to advise its community that we are carefully monitoring the latest developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic and complying with all of the policies that our governments have implemented to stop the virus from spreading. Because our priority is the health of our students, employees and of course our partners and collaborators, we are systematically applying each one of the measures indicated for the good of our entire society.