Tag: Alberta’s Tomorrow Project

Dr. John Lewis at #CCRC2023

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Dr. John Lewis is a Professor in the Department of Oncology at the University of Alberta and the Bird Dogs Chair in Translational Oncology. Dr. Lewis’ research interests include translational prostate cancer research, and the Lewis Lab utilizes real-time intravital imaging of the tumour microenvironment to learn about the critical steps of cancer progression, including the growth of new blood vessels and the gain of tumour cell motility that leads to metastasis. Using CanPath data, Dr. Lewis created predictive models for diseases using a standardized data analysis platform. These models offer insights into the factors that increase the risk of developing a particular disease. The platform, which has demonstrated superior accuracy in predicting prostate cancer compared to existing models, can now be applied efficiently to predict a range of diseases like cancer, heart conditions, lung diseases, diabetes, and neurological disorders using CanPath questionnaire data. Learn more about how the Lewis Lab uses CanPath data: https://canpath.ca/2022/10/webinar-november-2022/. Dr. Lewis will be presenting at the conference plenary on AI Across the Research Spectrum on Sunday, November 12, at 4:10 pm AST. Dr. Lewis will be speaking on the development and commercialization of machine learning models to predict disease.

Dr. Trevor Dummer and Mohadeseh Ahmadi at #CCRC2023

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Dr. Trevor Dummer will be attending the Canadian Cancer Research Conference. Dr. Dummer is the co-Scientific Director for CanPath, an Associate Professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, the Canadian Cancer Society Chair in Primary Prevention, and Affiliated Scientist, BC Cancer. Dr. Dummer’s research interests include how the environment, communities and neighbourhoods influence health outcomes, including cancer.  Dr. Dummer will be in attendance at the Canadian Cancer Research Conference along with his student, Mohadeseh Ahmadi. Mohadeseh is a MSc student in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. They will be presenting on the association between traffic-related air pollution and breast cancer risk in post-menopausal women in Alberta’s Tomorrow Project in a lightning session on Tuesday, November 14th at 10:40am AST.    

CanPath at #CCRC2023: Canada’s Largest Population Laboratory for Cancer Research

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Dr. Philip Awadalla, Scientific Director of CanPath, and Patient Partner/Atlantic PATH participant, Pauline McIntyre, will chair a panel at the Canadian Cancer Research Conference, “CanPath: Canada’s Largest Population Laboratory for Cancer Research” on Monday, November 13th at 11:40 AST. Presenters include Dr. Dylan O’Sullivan, Dr. Samina Abidi, Dr. Sara Nejatinamini, and Dr. Vikki Ho. Dr. Dylan O’Sullivan is a Research Scientist at Alberta Health Services and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. His research interests include reducing the cancer burden across the full cancer control continuum (prevention, screening, and outcomes) with the use of existing methods and the development of novel data analytics. Dr. O’Sullivan will be presenting on the risk factors for early-onset colorectal cancer using CanPath data. Dr. Samina Abidi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University and is cross appointed in the Faculty of Computer Science. Dr. Abidi has a unique skill set where she is a clinician with an expertise in health informatics. Her research interests include health knowledge integration, modelling and computerization, patient-centred care, chronic disease self-management and behaviour modification, clinical guidelines based clinical decision support and care planning, ambient assistant living, data visualizations, health IT evaluation. Dr. Abidi will be presenting on a digital health and artificial based public health platform for cancer risk prediction using data from Atlantic PATH.   Dr. Sara Nejatinamini is a Research Associate at Alberta’s Tomorrow Project. She received her PhD degree in Nutrition and Metabolism from the University of Alberta. Prior to joining the ATP, she undertook postdoctoral training at the University of Calgary with a focus on health inequities. Dr. Nejatinamini’s research interests include public health, nutrition and cancer. Her research focuses on the role of modifiable lifestyle factors on cancer and other chronic disease risk. She applies epidemiological and implementation science methods and principles in her research to identify factors to prevent cancer and other chronic diseases and inform health interventions. Dr. Nejatinamini will be presenting on changes in breast and cervical cancer screening during the COVID-19 pandemic using data from Alberta’s Tomorrow Project.  Dr. Vikki Ho is the co-Scientific Director of CARTaGENE and holds the Chair in Sex and Gender Sciences in Cancer Research from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine in the School of Public Health (ESPUM) at the University of Montreal and a Researcher at the affiliated Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM). Dr. Ho’s research interests focus on the intersection of environmental, lifestyle, occupational, and individual susceptibility factors in cancer etiology. Dr. Ho will be presenting on CARTaGENE’s research platform and the wide array of data sources for cancer prevention research, including environmental factors and biomarkers. She will specifically focus on occupational exposures and lung cancer biomarkers, and occupational exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals and colorectal cancer risk. Dr. Ho will also present a poster on the CARTaGENE cohort. Posters will be up for the duration of the conference and during viewing sessions on Sunday, November 12th from 12-1:30pm AST and Monday, November 13th from 1:10-2:40pm AST. 

Most CanPath study participants had infection-acquired antibodies but few suspected COVID-19

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Dr. Victoria Kirsh presented at a CanPath webinar this week to present results from the SUPPORT-Canada study, funded by the federal COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF). Data and blood spot samples were used from 22,300 participants from Atlantic PATH, CARTaGENE, the Ontario Health Study, Manitoba Tomorrow Project, Alberta’s Tomorrow Project, and BC Generations. Key findings include: 62% of participants had a COVID-19 infection based on anti-N measured antibody levels. Among those, 86% did not suspect they had ever had COVID-19. 95% of the COVID-19 infections were observed during the Omicron period. Risk of infection was increased among younger individuals, males, essential workers, and those who travelled. Participants with a reported COVID-19 infection reported symptoms from mild to severe, but few required hospitalization. The effectiveness of full or booster vaccination in preventing COVID-19 Omicron infection is short-term, only lasting 4 months. Time since last dose is a more important determinant of protection against infection than the number of doses. Antibody levels are correlates of vaccine-induced protection. Prior COVID-19 infection protects against reinfection for 8 months. The CanPath SUPPORT-Canada study has provided important findings related to the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines and infections. With only 4 months of protection, these findings suggest that booster campaigns could be strategically used to rapidly boost immunity before upcoming waves of infection. Further, the longitudinal nature of CanPath participants ensures that we have a nationally representative population that can be followed for years to come (e.g., impact of Long COVID, future vaccinations, etc.). Link to recorded webinar: To come Link to webinar slide deck: https://www.covid19immunitytaskforce.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/canpath-webinar-may-2023.pdf Link to CITF’s post: https://www.covid19immunitytaskforce.ca/most-canpath-study-participants-had-infection-acquired-antibodies-but-few-suspected-covid-19/

New Microbiome Publication

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Congratulations to our colleagues, Dr. Jacob Nearing, Dr. Vanessa DeClercq and Dr. Morgan Langille on their new microbiome publication!! “Investigating the Oral Microbiome in Retrospective and Prospective Cases of Prostate, Colon and Breast Cancer” utilizes saliva samples from Atlantic PATH and Alberta’s Tomorrow Project to consider potential biomarkers for cancer. Link to article in Nature Biofilms and Microbiomes: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41522-023-00391-7