IRIC - Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer

Published on March 3, 2025

IRIC is proud to announce the arrival of Carino Gurjao as a new Principal Investigator in the Genomic and Integrative Medicine Research Unit. He will hold the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Université de Montréal (UdeM), affiliated with IVADO.

Promising Work

Professor Gurjao’s team will focus on the development and application of computational methods for DNA analysis, with the aim of unravelling the complexities of cancer evolution and progression. His research goals will include understanding how and where DNA mutations occur and exploiting mutational landscapes to inform clinical decisions.

“In recent years, technological advances in genomics have revolutionized cancer treatment. In particular, immune-based therapies have shown clinical benefit across a wide range of cancers. Unfortunately, great variability in patient response to treatment is currently observed. This variability can be better understood and anticipated thanks to mutational landscape analysis, enabling therapies to be personalized.”

– Carino Gurjao

A young researcher of exceptional scientific talent

Carino Gurjao’s educational background is impressive: from Lyon to Paris, via Boston, he studied at the Institut Curie, MIT and Harvard (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Broad Institute). At Paris University, his doctoral thesis demonstrated, for the first time in humans, the mutagenic effect of red meat consumption on colorectal cancer. As a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University in New York, he led the DNA analysis of the largest cohort of African-American colorectal cancer patients to date. His publication record already includes more than twelve articles in leading journals. In 2022, he was named by Forbes as one of the 30 most influential people under 30 in healthcare.

“We are delighted to welcome Carino Gurjao to IRIC and the Université de Montréal. His research interests align perfectly with our Institute’s interdisciplinary model. Professor Gurjao is distinguished by his use of machine learning techniques to analyze DNA patterns in tumour genomes, providing deeper insights into the mutational dynamics of tumours and their impact on clinical decisions. It is a remarkable addition to our research institute and we wish him great success as a principal investigator at IRIC.”

– Marc Therrien, Chief Executive Officer, IRIC

“We are delighted to welcome Carino Gurjao to the Faculty of Medicine. A prolific and talented researcher, he stands out for his work in oncogenomics, which aims to better understand the mechanisms of DNA breakage in order to advance preventive and precision medicine. His research program is fully in line with the objectives of IAR3 and the priorities of the Faculty of Medicine: to develop innovative tools for disease prevention, early diagnosis and optimized clinical decision-making using artificial intelligence.

– Ekat Kritikou, Vice-Dean, Research and Development, UdeM Faculty of Medicine

Meet Carino Gurjao