SickKids scientist Michael Taylor receives prestigious European cancer research prize
Summary:
Dr. Michael Taylor, along with Dr. Stefan Pfister of Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg, is a co-recipient of the 2021 Léopold Griffuel Award from Fondation ARC, recognizing their contributions to childhood cancer research.
A clinician-scientist from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Dr. Michael Taylor, is one of the recipients of the 2021 Léopold Griffuel Award from Fondation ARC, one of the most prestigious prizes for cancer research in Europe.
Dr. Taylor shared the award with Dr. Stefan Pfister, a director of the Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), a department head at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and a paediatric oncologist at University Hospital Heidelberg (UKHD), in recognition of their research on the causes of childhood brain tumours and potential new diagnostic and treatment approaches. Drs. Taylor and Pfister were co-laureates in the ‘Basic Research’ category.
Dr. Taylor is a Neurosurgeon, Senior Scientist in the Developmental and Stem Cell Biology program at SickKids Research Institute, and Principal Investigator in the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre. His research centres on the molecular genetics of medulloblastoma and ependymoma, two of the most common malignant paediatric brain tumours. Some of his recent previous research has explored a novel approach using CAR T cell therapy to treat childhood brain tumours as well as the discovery of a cancer-driving mutation in the ‘dark matter’ of the cancer genome.
Go to 3:59 in the YouTube video to see an interview with Drs. Taylor and Pfister.
Dr. Taylor is also the Garron Family Chair for Childhood Cancer Research at SickKids and Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. He has published more than 330 peer-reviewed publications, in high-impact journals such as Nature, Science, and Lancet Oncology.
Established in 1970, the Fondation ARC Léopold Griffuel Award, with awards of €150,000, recognizes internationally renowned researchers in the cancer field.
Congratulations to Drs. Taylor and Pfister on this recognition! Learn more about the award on the Foundation ARC website.