Quebec Discovery of the Year
Each year, a jury of researchers and science journalists selects Qu茅bec Science magazine鈥檚 top 10 discoveries of the year. Then readers vote on their single favourite鈥攁nd the 2008 top honour goes to Dr. Janusz Rak and his team for their discovery of a new way that tumour cells communicate. The researchers found that the cells release bubble-like structures called oncosomes that contain cancer-causing proteins, which affect neighbouring cells, a radical departure from the traditional view that a single 鈥渕utated鈥� cell will simply multiply uncontrollably to the point of forming a tumour. Rak is a professor in pediatric oncology at 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Faculty of Medicine and a researcher at the Research Institute of the Montreal Children鈥檚 Hospital of the MUHC; his Qu茅bec Science win was recognized with an afternoon party in the hospital鈥檚 lobby on April 30, 2009.
Dr. Rak鈥檚 research receives funding from the Canadian Cancer Society, the Cole Foundation, the Cancer Research Society, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Fonds de la recherche en sant茅 du Qu茅bec.