Carleton’s Kyle Biggar Receives Banting Discovery Award
Carleton University’s Kyle Biggar, professor in the Department of Biology, has received the Banting Discovery Award for his cancer research.
“The Banting Foundation Discovery Award is a highly competitive and prestigious award for new investigators,” said Chuck Macdonald, dean of the Faculty of Science. “Biggar’s award underlines the outstanding quality of his record and his ground-breaking research into the potential causes of cancer. We are very proud of his success and anticipate even greater achievements in the future.”
Biggar conducts research on identifying of new substrates of the histone methyltransferase enzyme, SMYD3, and their implication in lung cancer development.
“We know that a single gene mutation does not initiate the development of disease, but rather the dysregulation of a system of proteins initiates the process and drives progression,” said Biggar. “By studying how a protein function changes in diseased cells, our research explores how a family of proteins called lysine methyltransferases (KMT) influence tumour growth and chemotherapy resistance. This provides critical information on how changes in the protein system drives disease progression, and how best to target these proteins for therapy.”
Lysine methylation plays a critical role in the development of many human diseases. These small chemical protein modifications allow cells to exert greater control over protein function. Importantly, proteins that control this lysine methylation modification are often major drivers of cancer.
About the Discovery Award
The Discovery Award is a one-year grant of up to $25,000 for innovative health and biomedical research projects by outstanding new investigators at universities and research institutes in Canada who are within the first three years of their first academic appointment. The intent is to provide seed funding so that applicants are able to gather pilot data to enhance their competitiveness for other sources of funding. We are usually able to fund about six projects per year.
Media Contact
Steven Reid
Media Relations Officer
Carleton University
613-520-2600, ext. 8718
613-265-6613
Steven_Reid3@Carleton.ca
Carleton Flipboard account: https://flipboard.com/@carletonstories/carleton-stories-0gbu905my
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Cunewsroom
Need an expert? Go to: www.carleton.ca/newsroom/experts
Related News
Carleton Celebrates 2026 Spring Convocation Medal Winners
From June 8 to 12, Carleton University celebrates Spring Convocation as more than 6900 graduates cross the stage to receive their degrees. Among them are ...
Carleton-Led Hub Expands Support for Black Entrepreneurs
Carleton University welcomes the renewed federal support for the Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (BEKH) through March 2028, reinforcing the university’s leadership role in advancing research, ...
Carleton Experts Available – Federal Spring Economic Update
The federal Liberals will table their spring economic update today, and Carleton experts are available to comment. If you are interested in speaking with the ...