Dr. Alex Gregorieff听is the recipient of a听Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant for his research project,听"Defining tumor suppressive actions of Yap/Taz during metaplastic regeneration in the stomach". The CIHR Project Grant Award is a multi鈥憏ear grant, funded from April 2026 to March 2031, and will provide a total of $940,950 to support Dr.听Gregorieff鈥檚听innovative research.听听
Gastric cancer (GC) represents one of the leading causes of deaths caused by cancer worldwide.听Although all included under the umbrella of GC, several subtypes of the disease have been described that differ based on their appearance and genetic make-up. Diffuse-type GC (DGC) represents a particularly aggressive form of the disease that is found with increasing frequency in recent years. DGC cells are known for harboring specific mutations that prevent them from forming junctions with other epithelial cells. Consequently, these tumors are highly invasive and can spread to neighboring tissues.听
Despite this understanding many of the underlying causes of DGC remain largely unknown. In general, a major contributing factor driving GC is chronic inflammation that often arises from certain bacterial infections. It is believed that inflammation disrupts the barrier formed by epithelial cells of the stomach and causing these to proliferate uncontrollably and form precancerous lesions, which have been hypothesized to initiate GC. However, the mechanisms underlying these transforming events again remain poorly understood.听听
Dr.听Gregorieff's听proposal aims to address these key questions by investigating the roles of 2 important genes, Yap and Taz in regulating gastric regeneration, inflammation and DGC progression. The proposal will develop novel mouse models of gastric cancer and primary cell cultures of the gastric epithelium to dissect the biological functions regulated by these genes using a range of state of the art molecular techniques.听
The Department of Pathology extends its warmest听congratulations to Dr.听Gregorieff听on this outstanding achievement, and looks forward to the scientific听impact this research will bring.听听