OUR STORY
TOGETHER WE CAN FIND A CURE
Mission
Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) supports the best and brightest Israeli scientists conducting groundbreaking cancer research.
Vision
We envision a world where there is no longer any suffering caused by cancer.
VALUES
Innovation: We prioritise innovative projects involving creativity and originality while investing in those with the most potential.
Conviction: ICRF works with discipline and determination to actively seek and fund researchers who passionately pursue our shared goal of curing cancer. We invest in the most promising Israeli scientists to advance ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.
Research-First: The bulk of the work that ICRF supports is in basic research; that is, research to uncover the molecular biological events that lead to cancer in order to prevent or reverse the process. Virtually every drug, therapy and diagnostic test that is used in the clinic today originated from basic research. We cannot cure cancer if we don’t understand what causes it; and although basic, fundamental research may not result in an immediate cure, expanding our knowledge of the underlying processes is what will eventually lead to that “eureka” moment.
Funding: For close to 50-years, our team has worked tirelessly toward one goal, raising money to fund research to defeat cancer.
History
Since its inception in 1975, ICRF has raised over $98 million USD to support groundbreaking Israeli cancer research and funded over 2,885 cancer research grants. The results of these research projects have a significant impact in Montreal, across Canada and throughout the world.
Our rigorous grantmaking process is overseen by our volunteer Scientific Review Panel (SRP), a group of leading physicians and scientists from major research institutions throughout North America. These prominent, internationally renowned, professionals collectively donate thousands of hours to review each grant application in an intensive peer-review process.
Today, ICRF is the largest nongovernmental source of cancer research funding in Israel. ICRF-funded scientists have been instrumental in the development of breakthrough FDA-approved drugs Gleevec©, Doxil© and Velcade© and include the first two Israeli Nobel Prize Laureates in Chemistry. ICRF grantees continue to make major cancer research breakthroughs and are at the forefront of discoveries in nano-medicine, immunotherapy, stem cell research and targeted therapies.
OUR IMPACT
In Montreal, through our local fellowship program, we successfully created over 30 fellowship positions in Montreal hospitals, in areas such as paediatric blood cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer and other cancer therapies.
In 2024, we funded seven (7) post-doctoral fellows in Montreal. These Israeli experts are conducting groundbreaking cancer research in local laboratories under the guidance of our Scientific Advisory Board and supervising physicians at:
The Jewish General Hospital
McGill University Health Centre Glen Campus
Montreal General Hospital
Montreal Children’s Hospital
CHU Sainte-Justine
Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital
In Israel, ICRF funds scientists at Israel's top biomedical research centres, including the Weizmann Institute of Science and Tel Aviv University. The areas of research focus are: Ovarian, Endometrial, Prostate, Thoracic & Upper GI, Orthopaedic, Pediatric Hematology, BRCA1 and BRCA2 Liver, Melanoma and Immunotherapy.
Currently, ICRF Montreal is directly funding two Israel grant award recipients: Prof. Yosef Buganim at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Prof. Shahar Frankel at Hadassah Medical Center.
ICRF CHAPTERS
Our collaboration-entered approach has led to other chapters in Toronto, Connecticut, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Israel; all dedicated to finding a cure to Cancer.
““I have a naïve faith that the answer to cancer will come from Israel, because Israel has given to humanity a concept of celebrating life.””
ICRF discoveries
ICRF is proud of the many grantees that have been and continue to be involved in major cancer research breakthroughs. Selected achievements made possible by ICRF funding include:
Velcade®
A drug used to treat multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow, was developed based on the research of ICRF Research Professorship Grant Recipients and Nobel Laureates Drs. Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover of The Technion Israel Institute of Technology.Prior to this, there were no effective treatment options. Today, this drug, along with more efficacious second- and third-generation drugs based on the same research, are the standard of care used worldwide, while the median survival for patients of this once fatal disease has nearly quadrupled.
Gleevec®
The first drug to directly target cancer cells was developed based on the research of ICRF grantee Dr. Eli Canaani of the Weizmann Institute of Science.Gleevec® was the first drug on the market to directly target the cancer-causing cells in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) while leaving healthy cells alone. Gleevec® changed the course of this once-fatal disease, turning it into a manageable condition. Time magazine put the drug on its cover and dubbed it a “bullet” against this devastating form of cancer.
Doxil®
The first drug encapsulated in a liposome (or microscopic fat bubble) for direct delivery to a tumor site was developed by ICRF grantee Dr. Alberto Gabizon of Shaare Zedek Medical Center.Doxil® has a prolonged duration of circulation compared to other liposomes and dramatically decreased toxicities compared to native drugs. Doxil was the first liposomal cytotoxic agent approved to treat a solid tumor and currently has a role in the treatment of ovarian cancer, AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma and several other forms of cancer.
The p53 Gene
Originally thought to cause cancer, after additional research it was discovered that the p53 gene, in an unmutated form, was actually a tumor suppressor. Its role in the majority of human cancers was further clarified by ICRF grantees Drs. Moshe Oren and Varda Rotter of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
This gene is often referred to as the “guardian of the genome” due to its role in regulating DNA repair and cell division. It suppresses tumors by either repairing damaged DNA or triggering the death of cells where the DNA is too damaged to be repaired.DNA Methylation
This is a molecular process that turns genes on and off and acts as a guide for reproducing cells by telling the cells which parts of the DNA should be used and which should not. Pioneering work in this area was conducted by ICRF Research Professorship grantee and Israel Prize winner, Dr. Howard Cedar of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School.The RAD51 Gene
The discovery that a minor mutation in this gene increases the risk of breast cancer in women with the BRCA2 gene mutation was made by ICRF grantee Dr. Ephrat Levy-Lahad of Shaare Zedek Medical Center.Novel Bone Marrow Transplant Technique
This technique, developed by ICRF grantee Dr. Yair Reisner of the Weizmann Institute of Science, greatly expanded the donor pool for leukemia treatment.