Department of Molecular Oncology at BC Cancer
Dr. Poul Sorensen Receives the 2019 Bloom Burton Award
[Press Release]
Poul Sorensen, a UBC professor in the department of pathology and laboratory medicine, has been awarded the 2019 Bloom Burton Award, recently presented at a gala in Toronto. This is an annual award that recognizes the most significant contributor to Canada’s innovative healthcare industry. Dr.Sorensen, a molecular pathologist and cancer biologist specializing in the genetics and biology of pediatric cancers, also received a $25,000 prize for being named a finalist for the award.
This award nomination is related to the work carried out 20 years ago by Dr. Sorensen’s group that led to the discovery of NTRK fusions as a recurrent driver in human tumors, and the development of drugs (now approved in the USA and expected to be approved in Canada this year) targeting these fusion proteins. This is explained in this UBC web article: https://www.med.ubc.ca/in-1998-poul-sorensens-lab-discovered-a-cancer-mutation-twenty-years-later-theres-a-drug-for-it/
Dr. Poul Sorensen named Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Distinguished Achievement Award
Dr. Poul Sorensen is recipient of one of the 2019 UBC Faculty of Medicine Distinguished Achievement Awards.
These awards recognize individuals whose performance during the current review year was exceptionally meritorious. Dr. Sorensen’s award is one of two in the category of Overall Excellence – Senior Faculty. This award is evidence of the very high regard in which Dr. Sorensen is held, and recognizes his very significant contributions to the Faculty.Dr. Roth MSFHR Award
Dr. Haifeng Zhang – Two awards
- CIHR Fellowship for his project, “Identification of IL1RAP as an oncoprotein and candidate immunotherapeutic target in Ewing Sarcoma”
- Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research/Lotte & John Hecht Memorial Foundation Research Trainee Award for his project, “Identification of IL1RAP as a novel oncoprotein and therapeutic target in Ewing sarcoma”
Short bio:
I was born and raised in Henan Province, the birthplace of Chinese civilization, with over 3,000 years of recorded history. I studied bioengineering and obtained my Bachelor's degree in China in 2008. The same year after graduation, I moved to Shantou University Medical College, China, to study molecular biology and biochemistry as a Master’s student. That was when I started my research career in cancer biology, specializing in esophageal cancer, one of the leading causes of cancer mortality in China. In 2010, two years into my Master’s program, I was awarded a full PhD scholarship from the Li Ka Shing Foundation to pursue a PhD degree at the University of Alberta, Canada. I continued my research in the pathobiology of esophageal cancer, and obtained my PhD degree in the summer of 2015. At the 2015 American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Philadelphia, just a few months before getting my PhD, I interviewed with Dr. Poul Sorensen, and was offered a postdoctoral position at UBC (BC Cancer). During my postdoc training, we used cutting-edge proteome and translatome analyses to identify IL1RAP as a promising immunotherapy target in Ewing sarcoma, a type of pediatric tumor that occurs on bone and soft tissues. Currently, we are collaborating with the "Pediatric Cancer Immunotherapy Dream Team” (which includes some of the world's most renowned pediatric oncology immunotherapy researchers) to develop immunotherapy strategies to target IL1RAP, such as antibody-drug conjugates and CAR-T cell therapy. I feel extremely honored to be awarded with both the 2019 CIHR (Canadian Institutes of Health Research) fellowship and 2019 MSFHR (Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research) fellowship co-funded by the Lotte and John Hecht Memorial Foundation.Dr. Alberto Delaidelli - CIHR Fellowship Awarded
Short bio:
I grew up playing soccer in Milano (Italy), where I was also born. As I never made it to the FIFA World Cup, I soon decided to study human medicine. I obtained my MD cum laude from the University of Milan, during which I developed a fond interest in science from investigating how surgery for intrinsic brain tumors affected patients’ language and memory. After a brain tumor fellowship at the University of Frankfurt (Germany), I was fortunate enough to be recruited to the BCCRC, working with Dr. Poul Sorensen, one of the world’s leading experts in pediatric cancer pathology. Thanks to a collaborative research environment, our work elucidated some of the molecular mechanisms exploited by brain tumors to adapt to their microenvironment (PMID: 28574509, PMID: 30739199, PMID: 31000598). Understanding these phenomena is crucial in potentially leading to the discovery of more targeted therapies for cancer. In addition, we are contributing to an integrative international effort to develop novel cell-based immunotherapy strategies for the treatment of aggressive pediatric cancers (PMID: 30655315).
Thanks to an interdisciplinary research group and Dr. Sorensen’s mentorship, I have been honoured to receive several awards during my PhD, including a Killam Doctoral Fellowship and more recently a CIHR Fellowship. My long-term professional goal is to become a clinical neuro-oncologist and scientist leading an independent research group. Achieving my goal will allow me to research and directly apply innovative therapeutic strategies to patients, thereby helping children whose lives, and whose families’ lives, have been devastated by brain cancer.
Sometimes I am also not in the lab. When this happens, I enjoy all the outdoor summer activities that Vancouver has to offer. I am still working on the Canadian winters, which so far I have been able to overcome by cooking tasty dishes, of course accompanied by Italian wine.