IRIC - Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer

Published on September 19, 2011

The IRIC Principal Investigator receives the 2011 Distinguished Scientist Award

Last September 14, Katherine Borden was honored by the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation (CSCI) with the 2011 Distinguished Scientist Award for her exceptional contributions to the field of cancer research. The distinguished scientist is a Principal Investigator at IRIC and is a Full Professor at the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Medicine.
Since 1987, the honor has been awarded to a Canadian MD or PhD medical scientist who has made significant contributions to new knowledge and is generally recognized in her/his field as expert, innovative, and in the forefront of research endeavor.
Katherine Borden joined the ranks of IRIC as a Principal Investigator in 2004. She focuses her research efforts on understanding the molecular basis of cancer to help answer one of the fundamental questions in cancer biology: How do normal cells become cancerous?
Her work has recently led to the development of a novel therapy. Specifically, with the collaboration of her team, she led a ground-breaking Canada-wide clinical trial that showed the efficacy of a common anti-viral drug, ribavirin, in the treatment of cancer patients. The study demonstrated that ribavirin suppresses the activities of the eIF4E gene in patients. This gene is dysregulated in 30 percent of cancers including breast, prostate, head and neck, colon and stomach cancer. Additionally, results showed that ribavirin not only blocks eIF4E, it also has virtually no side effect on patients.
Katherine Borden has established an impressive research career. She holds the Canada Research Chair in the Molecular Biology of the Cell Nucleus. She was named Stohlman Scholar by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in 2005. She has published more than 90 articles, the majority of which are in high impact journals.