Success Stories

Harnessing Nature In The Fight Against Cancer

Dr. Sabine Montaut and her team of researchers at Laurentian University are examining wild plants in the search for new antioxidants and cancer preventive compounds.

With cancer causing more than 25,000 deaths in Ontario and almost 60,000 new cases being reported every year, researchers at Sudbury’s Laurentian University are joining the race to discover natural products with cancer fighting properties.

Dr. Sabine Montaut and her team of researchers are examining the molecular components of wild plants that are native to North America. They hope to find and extract new antioxidants and cancer preventive compounds similar to those found in vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage.

“If we can find a native plant that can help prevent cancer, we can not only reduce the number of people who get cancer, we can also start to grow the plant commercially and diversify our agricultural industry,” said Dr. Montaut. “When you grow plants for medicine, the crop has a much higher value and generates more income for farmers.”

To accelerate her research, Dr. Montaut received $73,633 from the McGuinty government’s Ontario Research Fund, a program of the Ministry of Research and Innovation, to purchase a mass spectrometer, so that Dr. Montaut can continue her research – at the molecular level.

Laurentian researchers are studying a wide variety of plants and are looking for samples from the Polar region to ensure they analyze as wide a spectrum as possible. They are also collaborating with leading European researchers at the Institut de Chimie Organique et Analytique in Orleans, France, and at the Consiglio per la Ricerca e la Sperimentazione in Agricoltura in Bolgna, Italy.

“Our approach is to work in parallel using different methods to study some of the same plants,” Montaut said. “The comparison of our results may reveal additional information we did not know.”

Dr. Montaut’s research at Laurentian University is part of an intensive drive funded by the province to reduce the impact and incidence of cancer in our lives.

Ontario’s leadership in cancer treatment stretches back more than 50 years. In 1951, the world's first commercial cobalt-60 radiotherapy unit was installed at Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario. Today, Ontario is recognized internationally as a centre for leading-edge cancer research.

Two years ago, the Ontario Cancer Institute’s Ernest McCulloch and James Till won the prestigious Lasker Prize for their research done in the 1960s that set the stage for all current research on stem cells.

Last year, Anthony Pawson of the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute was named by Queen Elizabeth II as a member of the Order of Companions of Honour – the highest recognition a Canadian citizen can receive from the British government – for his international leadership in genetic sciences and cancer research.

No one knows where or when the next big breakthrough will come in the fight against cancer, but we do know it will happen through the continuing efforts of researchers like Dr. Montaut’s team at Laurentian University, their curiosity and their drive to discover nature’s secrets.