The GI Site Group at Princess Margaret is an international leader in translational and clinical research that brings findings from bench to bedside, and investigates how to improve cancer outcomes for our patients (including organ preservation, survival, and quality of life). With funding from provincial, national and international agencies, collaborative researchers from the GI Site Group have been collecting blood and tissue samples and building a clinical database to facilitate cutting-edge research in pharmacogenomic epidemiology.
Clinical trials research is a major focus of our group. We have open Phase I, II, and III trials involving many GI specialties, for example, the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group Phase III trial of preoperative chemoradiotherapy vs. preoperative chemotherapy for resectable gastric cancer (TOP GEAR) and SBRT for liver cancer.
Our clinician researchers are also leading the investigation of molecular targeted therapies in GI cancers, including pancreatic, liver and esophageal malignancies.
Our frontline research in developing a xenograft model of hepatobiliary tumours will allow rapid testing of novel agents in these cancers and exploration of novel targets and drug combinations, with the goal of designing better clinical trials for our patients.
