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by scientific co-founders Drs. Scott Bratman
(pictured) and Daniel De Carvalho, Adela’s
proprietary platform can detect tiny amounts
of tumour DNA circulating in the blood. The
technology involves analyzing chemical changes
to DNA known as methylation, and is paired
with machine learning algorithms. Adela’s goal
is to replace current approaches to diagnose
cancer, which often involve surgical biopsy, with
a simple blood test. With UHN’s unique in-
house de-risking approach and support from the
IN THE BLOOD Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Innovation
UHN precision medicine start-up Adela launched Acceleration Fund, Adela gained the confidence of
last spring with the intent to develop a simple five major investors, receiving the second-largest
blood test for cancer and other diseases as a new financing deal in UHN history at USD $60M.
way to diagnose patients. Built on research led
BROADER ACCESS TO CARE OUTSMARTING CANCER
In 2020, the UHN spin-off company TCRyption In November 2020, a collaboration between UHN
Inc. was launched. The company is advancing and Pfizer’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation
a technology—known as TCR-HLA multimer was initiated. The project will screen for, identify
staining—that enables precision cancer therapies and optimize anticancer drugs that work through
to work in a broader base of patient populations a recently discovered strategy known as viral
and ethnic groups compared to existing mimicry. The approach involves mimicking a viral
approaches. “In addition to helping more patients, infection in cancer cells so that the body’s immune
our technology also provides a way to target a system begins to recognize and target the cancer.
wider range of cancers,” says scientific co-founder Research led by Dr. De Carvalho (pictured) set
Dr. Naoto Hirano (pictured). The technology the stage for this new cancer treatment strategy,
widens the scope of a cancer immunotherapy and his team will work closely with Pfizer to
known as T-cell receptor-based adoptive cellular identify promising anticancer therapies.
therapy, which activates the body’s own immune
response to destroy cancer cells.
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