Congratulations to ICR’s Fall 2025 Early Career Researcher in Cancer Awardees!
The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR)’s Early Career Researcher Award in Cancer is awarded to early career researchers with the highest-ranked applications in the Project Grant competition that fall within ICR’s mandate. Recognizing scientific excellence at the early career level, the Institute is proud to be supporting six outstanding researchers in the Fall 2025 Project Grant competition. ICR extends a warm congratulations to the Fall 2025 cohort of our Early Career Researcher Award in Cancer:
Dr. Aereas Aung, University of Toronto
Dr. Aereas Aung is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Immunology at the University of Toronto. His laboratory focuses on fundamental and translational research in humoral immunity, integrating engineering and immunology. Dr. Aung’s research program is currently developing strategies to therapeutically mobilize B cells for cancer treatment as well as advancing personalized immunotherapies.
Project funded: B cell Immunotherapy for the treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Dr. Marie-Claude Bourgeois-Daigneault, Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal
Dr. Marie-Claude Bourgeois-Daigneault is an Associate Research Professor at the Department of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology at the Université de Montréal. Her lab, located at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) Research Center, focuses on designing improved oncolytic virus-based therapies for breast cancer as well as maximizing anti-tumour immunity post-treatment.
Project funded: Oncolytic virotherapy against triple-negative breast cancer: harnessing heterogeneous viral sensitivities to improve treatment efficacy
Dr. Arielle Elkrief, Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal
Dr. Arielle Elkrief, MD, FRCPC is a physician–scientist (FRQS J1), Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology at CHUM as well as the Co-Director of CHUM’s Microbiome Centre. Using clinical trials, preclinical models, and computational oncology, her translational research program aims to develop microbiome-based therapeutic strategies to enhance the efficacy of anticancer immunotherapy.
Project funded: Defining the Lung and Tumor Microbiomes as Drivers of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Development and Progression
Dr. Tanveer Sharif, University of Manitoba
Dr. Tanveer Sharif is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Manitoba. His current research is focused on developing new metabolism-based precision therapies for aggressive brain tumors by investigating mechanisms that mediate metabolic vulnerabilities and tumour heterogeneity in these cancers. Dr. Sharif’s research primarily focuses on medulloblastoma and glioblastoma, the two most common types of brain cancers in children and adults.
Project funded: For the Love of Lactate: Uncovering and Targeting a Novel Mutual Relationship Between Metabolism and Progenitor Cell Identity in Medulloblastoma
Dr. Kenji Sugioka, University of British Columbia
Dr. Kenji Sugioka is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology and the Life Sciences Institute at the University of British Columbia. He specializes in live imaging and quantitative analysis using C. elegans. His research focuses on understanding the fundamental mechanisms underlying symmetry-breaking of cell division, a process essential for asymmetric cell division and frequently dysregulated in cancer cells.
Project funded: Elucidating the Mechanism and Function of Cortical Flow in Wnt-dependent Asymmetric Cell Division
Dr. Michael Yan, University Health Network
Dr. Michael Yan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto and a radiation oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. He specializes in stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) and focuses on enhancing treatment for complex tumours using advanced radiotherapy techniques and multimodal therapies.
Project funded: A randomised controlled trial of Standard Of Care versus RadioAblaTion in Early Stage HCC (The SOCRATES HCC Study)
- Date modified: