IRIC - Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer

Blocking a key node in cancer signalling unlocks therapeutic potential.

Lavoie H, Therrien M
Nature 2025-05-07 ;

14-3-3ζ allows for adipogenesis by modulating chromatin accessibility during the early stages of adipocyte differentiation.

Rial SA, You Z, Vivoli A, Paré F, Sean D, AlKhoury A, Lavoie G, Civelek M, Martinez-Sanchez A, Roux PP, Durcan TM, Lim GE
Mol Metab 2025-04-28 ;97:102159

DDB1 engagement defines the selectivity of S656 analogs for cyclin K degradation over CDK inhibition.

Moison C, Mendoza-Sanchez R, Gracias D, Schuetz DA, Spinella JF, Girard S, Thavonekham B, Chagraoui J, Durand A, Fortier S, MacRae T, Bonneil E, Rose Y, Mayotte N, Boivin I, Thibault P, Hébert J, Ruel R, Marinier A, Sauvageau G
EMBO Rep 2025-04-28 ;

$3.7M in funding for a research project on cellular rejuvenation

A collaborative research project between the teams of Guy Sauvageau, director of the IRIC Molecular Genetics of Stem Cells Research Unit, and Anne Marinier, CEO of biotech company RejuvenRx, recently received $3,697,199 in funding. The grant was made possible by investments from the Quebec Consortium for Drug Discovery (CQDM), the Quebec government, RejuvenRx, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Université de Montréal Partenariat fund.

$21M in funding to tackle antimicrobial drug resistance

The Canadian Biomedical Research Fund (CBRF) and the Biosciences Research Infrastructure Fund (BRIF) are investing $21 million in a research project aimed at accelerating the discovery of new antibiotics to counter drug-resistant bacteria. Led by Yves Brun, professor in the Department of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology and researcher at the UdeM Faculty of Medicine’s Centre for Biomedical Innovation, the project will involve various IRIC teams.

A new strategy based on copper overdose to treat AML

Despite the therapeutic advances of recent years in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), this pathology remains associated with a poor prognosis. In a new study, the Leucegene group led by Guy Sauvageau, Director of IRIC’s Molecular Genetics of Stem Cells Research Unit, Anne Marinier, Director of IRIC’s Drug Discovery Unit, and Josée Hébert (Banque de cellules leucémiques du Québec (BCLQ), Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital Research Center) proposes a therapeutic strategy based on copper overdose as a treatment for a genetic subgroup of AML particularly sensitive to this approach. Led by Céline Moison and Deanne Gracias (biology), and Julie Schmitt and Réjean Ruel (chemistry), in collaboration with the BCLQ genetics laboratory team, this project has been published in the prestigious journal Science Advances.

Identification of an enzymatic activity required for the completion of cell division

Cell division, a process required for the survival of all species, enables the genetic material of a mother cell to be separated and shared between its two daughter cells. As many aspects of cell division remain poorly understood, the team led by Jean-Claude Labbé, Director of the Cell Division and Differentiation Research Unit, focused on one of its final stages, cytokinesis. The team identified a new protein, OSGN-1, as being required for the correct completion of cell division. The study, published in the journal PNAS, was led by research associate Eugénie Goupil and doctoral student Léa Lacroix.

The Canadian Cancer Society awards a grant to Geneviève Deblois

Geneviève Deblois, Director of IRIC’s Metabolic and Epigenetic Alterations in Cancer Research Unit, is the recipient of a Emerging Scholar Research Grant from the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS). Sixteen of these grants were awarded across the country in the 2023 competition to advance cancer research programs. Geneviève Deblois, the only researcher to be funded in Quebec, has been awarded $550,000 for her project “Finding better ways to treat triple-negative breast cancer”.

Expansion of hematopoietic stem cells: the mechanism of action of the UM171 molecule involves MYC regulation

The ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), an important advance for cell-based therapies, can lead to replicative and metabolic stresses; much as aging does. In their efforts to identify the best strategies for HSC expansion, the team led by Guy Sauvageau, Director of IRIC’s Molecular Genetics of Stem Cells Research Unit, has been investigating the molecular mechanisms induced by the UM171 molecule, which was jointly discovered in 2014 by his laboratory and the team led by Anne Marinier, Director of IRIC’s Drug Discovery Unit, and enables the ex vivo expansion of HSC derived from umbilical cord blood. Their most recent study, led by researcher Jalila Chagraoui and published in the journal Blood, reports that the UM171 molecule preserves HSCs from cell culture-induced stress by modulating the activity of the MYC protein.

Scientific Seminars - Winter 2024

Conferences

A scientific symposium with an anniversary flavour!

IRIC will be holding an international scientific symposium on October 19 and 20, bringing together members of the Institute’s large community, past and present, to discuss cancer research. The theme of the Symposium will be “Two decades of innovative science at IRIC”, and it will also be an opportunity for everyone to officially mark IRIC’s 20th anniversary at the Université de Montréal.

 

 

10th IRIC Scientific Day