Cancer is not made up of identical cells. Tumors are complex ecosystems where some cells are far more dangerous than others. Identifying these high-risk cells has been a major challenge, because existing technologies either capture detailed information from a small number of cells or broader data from many patients, but not both.

The new AI tool, called SIDISH, bridges this gap by combining these two types of data. It learns from large patient datasets while also zooming in on individual cells, allowing researchers to identify which cells are linked to poor outcomes and disease progression.

Using this approach, the team was able to detect small populations of high-risk cancer cells across multiple cancer types, link these cells to worse patient survival, identify key genes and pathways driving aggressive disease, and simulate potential treatments in silico (virtually) to find targets that could reduce these harmful cells

Importantly, the tool doesn’t just describe the disease, but it can help predict how a patient’s cancer might behave and suggest more personalized treatment strategies.

By revealing the hidden drivers of cancer at the cellular level, this research moves us closer to precision medicine, where therapies are tailored not just to the patient, but to the most dangerous cells within their tumor.

Read the Article

SIDISH integrates single-cell and bulk transcriptomics to identify high-risk cells and guide precision therapeutics through in silico perturbation. Jolasun Y, Song K, Zheng Y, Wang J, Fonseca GJ, Eidelman DH, Ding J.
Nat Commun. 2025 Dec 10;16(1):11271.

Read More

AI tool pinpoints cells driving aggressive cancers. New approach opens door to better-targeted treatments and faster drug discovery for complex diseases. McGill Newsroom. April 15, 2026.

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At McGill and the Meakins-Christie Laboratories, Darcy Wagner’s team is developing bioengineered human lung tissue that could one day replace damaged air sacs (alveoli) responsible for gas exchange. Using state-of-the-art biomanufacturing methods pioneered in her lab, they aim to create transplantable alveolar tissue units that can be delivered minimally invasively via bronchoscope. Her project focuses on producing clinical-grade biomaterials, generating alveolar cells from stem cells, and assessing tissue functionality using light sheet fluorescence microscopy, advanced 3D imaging, and RNA sequencing.

About the CFI

Bioengineering and monitoring the development of transplantable human lung alveoli using microfluidic-based approaches
Professor Darcy Wagner, Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine
$800,000

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McGill researchers awarded $9.7 million in CFI funding. 32 projects funded through the CFI’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund, matched by Quebec, set to create solutions for global challenges, from innovations in quantum science and technology to biomedical engineering. McGill News. by Robin Koning. October 10, 2025.

CFI investments will equip researchers to advance national priorities and build prosperity. $134 million in research infrastructure support will strengthen Canada’s innovation capacity. CFI News. October 10, 2025.

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While many young people view cigarettes as a social or aesthetic choice, medical experts stress the dangers are real and addiction sets in quickly.

Dr. Carolyn Baglole warns that “there is no such thing as a safe cigarette.” She also notes that while vaping may feel like the unknown alternative, her research shows it is far from harmless: “Just because we don’t know what it’s doing doesn’t mean you should use something that is knowingly bad for your health.”

Bottom line: whether it’s smoking or vaping, neither is safe, and prevention is still the most powerful tool.

Read More

Just a drunk cigarette? The nouveau smoking epidemic. What doesn’t kill you makes you cooler. by Ellie Garry-Jones, The Dalhousie Gazette, September 18, 2025.

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The study was conducted in collaboration with Nunavik community representatives, suggests that chronic underfunding and lack of resources in Nunavik’s healthcare services are key factors contributing to these outcomes, rather than a genetic predisposition among Inuit populations. Dr. Khan emphasizes the need for improved access to healthcare and Inuit representation in healthcare services to address these disparities.

Recommendations from the study include implementing Inuit-specific smoking cessation programs, making lung cancer screening more accessible and culturally sensitive, enhancing local lung health services, and developing a lung cancer care plan tailored to the needs of the Nunavik Inuit. Additionally, it suggests training Inuit health navigators to support patients in Montreal and calls for increased funding to bolster healthcare services in Nunavik. Dr. Khan also points out that these findings should support efforts towards greater self-governance for the Nunavik Inuit, allowing for more control over healthcare policies and funding to better meet their needs.

This study reinforces the need for targeted interventions to improve lung cancer survival rates among Nunavik residents and highlights the broader context of health disparities faced by Inuit populations in Canada.

Read more about the Study

Health care inequities behind shorter life spans for Inuit from Nunavik with lung cancer. A new study shows that people living in the Inuit region of Nunavik in northern Quebec die earlier after a diagnosis of lung cancer than Montreal residents receiving treatment at the same cancer centre. MUHC News. February 20, 2024.

Moins de services, plus grande mortalité. Étude sur le cancer du poumon au Nunavik. par Ariane Lacoursière. La Presse. 20 février, 2024

Read the publication

Chen Y, MacIsaac S, Young M, Ahodakin M, Jeagal LW, Boucher M, Agulnik J, Boulanger N, Camilleri-Broët S, Ezer N, Gonzalez AV, Owen S, Pepe C, Spicer J, Wang H, White-Dupuis S, Watt L, Grey M, Benedetti A, Ahmad Khan F. Nunavimmi puvakkut kaggutimik aanniaqarniq: Qanuilirqitaa? Lung cancer in Nunavik: How are we doing? A retrospective matched cohort study. CMAJ 2024 February 20;196:E177-86. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.230682.

Read more in the news

Her mom’s lung cancer was caught too late. It’s part of a pattern in Nunavik. New study points to pattern of high mortality among Inuit patients, by Rachel Watts, CBC News, February 27, 2024

Lung Cancer Survival Worse Among Canadian Inuit in Nunavik Territory of Quebec. Residents of an Inuit territory in Canada have worse survival following a diagnosis of lung cancer than similar patients living in Montreal, according to a new study. By Gwendolyn Rak, Medscape, February 26, 2024.

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Jonathon Campbell, PhD, for his Proposal Measuring the Economic Burden of Illness: Patient Costs Associated with Four Respiratory Conditions.

Maziar Divangahi, PhD, for his Proposal Promoting disease tolerance against pulmonary SARS-CoV2 infection.

Nicole Ezer, MD, and Simon Rousseau, PhD, for their Proposal Improving a lung cancer screening program via detailed proteomic signature of participants to the Quebec lung cancer screening program.

Sushmita Pamidi, MD, for her Proposal Defining gut microbiome dynamics across the lifespan during treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.

Salman Qureshi, MD, for his Proposal Neutrophil regulation of adaptive immunity against fungal pneumonia.

Bryan Ross, MD, for his Proposal Urolithin A supplementation during pulmonary rehabilitation participation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a randomized pilot and feasibility study.

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(Time on podcast: 29:20). Everglad Mugutso is completing her Master’s degree at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Nicole Ezer. She was awarded the prestigious Dr. Margaret Becklake Fellowship in respiratory research. Her project focuses on improving the long term survival and quality of life of patients with lung cancer all the while having a more personalized approach to their care. Her project will use data and artificial intelligence to analyze existing data to come up with better predictive models – to stratify patients according to their risk, or their treatments, to better improve outcomes. The concept of prehabilitation in lung cancer patients before they go for surgery is also a focus of the project. If patients go into their surgery more fit, they can then recover faster. Biomarkers will also be examined to identify which biomarkers predict outcomes in these patients.

Listen to the Podcast

Join us on World Cancer Day. The MUHC Foundation’s Health Matters. February 5, 2023.

Web: https://bit.ly/3CvxdMb
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/32HFxrc
Apple: https://apple.co/35NvItS

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It is with great pleasure that we announce Everglad Mugutso, MD as the recipient of the 2022-2023 Dr. Margaret Becklake Fellowship in Respiratory Research.

Dr. Everglad Mugutso moved to Canada from Zimbabwe a year ago. A physician by training, she is pursuing a Master’s degree at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Nicole Ezer, while seeking recertification to practice medicine in Canada. During her medical program at the University of Zimbabwe, she took a year off from the mainstream to pursue basic sciences research in cardiovascular physiology. For the remainder of her medical degree, she involved herself in community research with a particular interest in improving healthcare access and preventive strategies.

After her internship, she worked in pediatric oncology at a tertiary hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe. She noticed how most of the patients she used to see presented to the hospital with advanced cancer and how lack of resources impacted the quality of care they were able to provide. This aroused a desire in her to pursue ways to improve patient outcomes and healthcare utilization, hence her proposed research. 

During her year as a Becklake Fellow, Dr. Everglad Mugutso will study ways to provide better quality of care and quality of life for patients with lung cancer. Using existing real-world data and artificial intelligence, she aims to determine which patients will benefit the most from specific treatments. This will help ensure the best treatment is chosen for each individual.

Dr. Everglad Mugutso applied to do a Master’s program at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Nicole Ezer. Her research will focus on the concept of prehabilitation. Most of us are familiar with rehabilitation, the process of recovery after surgery. Prehabilitation flips this idea on its head, helping patients improve their health status before they have surgery to remove cancer to ensure they have an easier recovery. This technique has the potential to improve or even save the lives of patients. Dr. Everglad Mugutso’s long term goal is to become a clinician-scientist so that she may help people in Zimbabwe and other countries in that region.

About the Dr. Margaret Becklake Fellowship:

The Montreal Chest Institute Foundation and the MUHC Respiratory Division are proud to support the Dr. Margaret Becklake Fellowship. Over the course of her career, Dr. Becklake had a major interest in respiratory health in lower-income countries, including in childhood asthma and occupational lung disease. She conducted research in this area for many years. She also trained and hosted students in respiratory research from lower-income countries, who then became leaders in research and care in those countries. Beginning with the inaugural award for 2020-21, the Dr. Margaret Becklake Fellowship will be awarded to at least one trainee in respiratory research every year as they conduct research under the supervision of scientists at the Montreal Chest Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. Recipients are chosen from low- and middle-income countries as well as from Canadian Indigenous communities. This fellowship will help us train the next generation of respiratory researchers and specialists in areas of the world where the need is greatest.

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Nicole Ezer, MD is a respirologist and researcher in the RESP Program of the RI-MUHC.

Listen to the Podcast

Arsenic levels in this Quebec town are 10 times the acceptable levels, podcast with Elias Makos of CJAD 800 / iHeart radio, July 7, 2022.

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Congrats to the the Montreal Chest Hospital Team!

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Les gens qui ont l’âge de Mike Bossy et Guy Lafleur [récemment décédés d’un cancer du poumon] sont exactement dans la catégorie d’âge de gens qu’on dépiste, car c’est avec le temps qu’on développe un cancer.

Dre Ezer

Already over 2,300 Quebecers have taken part in the program with 92 referrals to oncologists for follow-up and 13 lung cancer surgeries. A key screening tool used by physicians for early diagnosis is the CT scanner, which can detect smaller cancer tumors, is more effective than x-rays, and gives the physicians and their patients a head start on treating the disease.

Doctors are hopeful that this screening program will evolve into becoming an integral part of annual exams of at-risk individuals. At present the project has a budget of $9 million over four years.

Nicole Ezer, MD, is a researcher and member of the RESP Program at the Research Institute of the MUHC.

Hugo Duchaine is a journalist with the Journal de Montréal.

Read the article

Cancer du poumon: Dépister plus tôt pour sauver les malades, Hugo Duchaine, Le Journal de Montréal, May 7, 2022

For information on the screening the program

Lung Cancer Screening Program / Programme de Dépistage du Cancer du Poumon

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