Bally, Marcel

Portrait photo of Marcel Bally

Dr.

Bally, Marcel

BSc, MSc (Texas), PhD (Brit. Col.)

Basic Info
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Academic Rank:

Professor

Affiliation(s):

BC Cancer Agency, Centre for Drug Research and Development

Location:

BC Cancer Research Centre

Short Bio

The research conducted in Dr. Bally’s laboratory focuses on developing improved protocols for the treatment of cancer. Clinicians have an arsenal of very potent drugs available for treatment of cancer. These drugs, however, lack specificity and often produce severe, life threatening, toxicities. Further, optimal therapeutic effects of any anticancer drug appear to be dependent on their use in a combination setting. Multi-agent therapy is the standard by which cancer is treated. Based on this understanding, research in the laboratory is designing methods and strategies for capturing the benefits of drug combination effects that are often first measured using cell based screening assays. Although basic research interests include evaluation of novel targeted anticancer drugs, Dr. Bally’s group is also comprehensively pursuing combinations of existing, already approved, cytotoxic agents. The latter studies will provide the proof of concept data needed to demonstrate the value of pursuing anticancer drug combination products. These products will be of particular interest when used with emerging targeted agents, but will also demonstrate the potential to develop new products that may consist of two or more targeted agents.

Academic
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Academic Backgrounds

  • MRC Centennial Fellow, Biochemistry – U.B.C
  • MRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Terry Fox Laboratory – BC Cancer Agency
  • PhD (Biochemistry), UBC, 1984
  • MSc (Biol.), Texas A&M University, 1979
  • BSc (Biol.), Texas A&M University, 1977

Awards & Recognition


Selected Publications

  • Waterhouse DN, Sutherland S, Dos Santos N, Masin D, Osooly M, Strutt D, Ostlund C, Anantha M, Harasym N, Manisali I, Wehbe M, Bally MB and Webb M (2014) “Irinophore C™, a lipid nanoparticle formulation of irinotecan, abrogates the gastrointestinal effects of irinotecan in a rat model of clinical toxicities” (Accepted in June 2014, Investigation New Drugs).
  • Chittaranjan S, Bortnik S, Dragowska WH, Xu J, Abeysundara N, Leung A, Go NE, DeVorkin L, Weppler SA, Gelmon K, Yapp DT and Bally MB, Gorski SM (2014) “Autophagy Inhibition Augments the Anticancer Effects of Epirubicin Treatment in Anthracycline-Sensitive and -Resistant Triple-Negative Breast Cancer” Clin Cancer Res. 2014 Jun 15;20(12):3159-73. Epub 2014 Apr 10. PMID:24721646.
  • Leung AW, Kalra J, Dos Santos ND, Bally MB and Anglesio MS (2014) “Harnessing the potential of lipid-based nanomedicines for type-specific ovarian cancer treatments” Nanomedicine (Lond). 2014 Mar;9(3):501-22. doi: 10.2217/nnm.13.220. PMID:24746193.
  • Patankar NA, Waterhouse D, Strutt D, Anantha M, Bally MB (2013) “Topophore C: A liposomal nanoparticle formulation of topotecan for treatment of ovarian cancer” Investigational New Drugs. 2013;31(1):46-58. PMID: 22615060.
  • Ho EA, Osooly M, Strutt D, Masin D, Yang Y, Yan H, Bally MB (2013) “Characterization of Long-Circulating Cationic Nanoparticle Formulations Consisting of a Two-Stage PEGylation Step for the Delivery of siRNA in a Breast Cancer Tumor Model” Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2013;102(1):227-36. PMID: 23132529.
  • Patankar NA, Pritchard J, Van Grinsven MC, Osooly M, Bally MB (2013) “Topotecan and doxorubicin combination to treat recurrent ovarian cancer: The influence of drug exposure time and delivery systems to achieve optimum therapeutic activity” Clinical Cancer Research. 2013;19(4):865-77. PMID: 23303216.
  • Verreault M, Stegeman A, Warburton C, Strutt D, Masin D and Bally MB (2013) “Combined RNAi-mediated suppression of Rictor and EGFR resulted in complete tumor regression in an orthotopic glioblastoma tumor model” PLoS One. 2013;8(3):e59597. PMID: 23555046.
  • Kalra J, Dragowska WH, Bally MB (2013) “Kinetics of early signaling following ILK inhibition in an in vivo model of breast cancer using digital quantification of stained tissue microarrays” Journal of Cancer Science & Therapy; 2013; 5:1-13.
  • Ahn RW, Barrett SL, Raja MR, Jozefik JK, Sapho L, Chen H, Bally MB, Mazar AP, Avram MJ, Winter JN, Gordon LI, Shea LD, O’Halloran TV, Woodruff TK. “Nano-encapsulation of arsenic trioxide enhances efficacy in a murine lymphoma model while minimizing chemotherapeutic fertoxicity in vitro and in vivo” PLoS One. 2013;8(3):e58491. PMID: 23526987.
  • Hare JI, Neijzen RW, Anantha M, Dos Santos N, Harasym N, Webb MS, Allen TM, Bally MB, Waterhouse DN. Treatment of colorectal cancer using a combination of liposomal irinotecan (Irinophore CTM) and 5-fluorouracil. PLoS One. 2013;8(4):e62349. PMID: 23626804.
Research
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Current Openings & Opportunities


Current Projects In My Lab include


Research

The research conducted in my laboratory focuses on developing improved protocols for the treatment of cancer. Clinicians have an arsenal of very potent drugs available for treatment of cancer. These drugs, however, lack specificity and often produce severe, life threatening, toxicities. Further, optimal therapeutic effects of any anticancer drug appear to be dependent on their use in a combination setting. Multi-agent therapy is the standard by which cancer is treated. Based on this understanding, research in my laboratory is designing methods and strategies for capturing the benefits of drug combination effects that are often first measured using cell based screening assays. Although basic research interests include evaluation of novel targeted anticancer drugs, my group is also comprehensively pursuing combinations of existing, already approved, cytotoxic agents. The latter studies will provide the proof of concept data needed to demonstrate the value of pursuing anticancer drug combination products. These products will be of particular interest when used with emerging targeted agents, but will also demonstrate the potential to develop new products that may consist of two or more targeted agents.

In order to achieve this, my research group embraces two fundamental principles: (i) drug combination products will be dependent on use of drug carrier technologies and (ii) drug combination products should achieve optimal therapeutic effects using better tolerated drug doses. I have extensive expertise on the use of liposome drug carriers for improving the specificity of anti-cancer drugs as well as enabling the use of some exciting new biologically active agents, such as therapeutically active antibodies, nucleic acid drugs (antisense oligonucleotides and siRNA) and therapeutically active peptides. In general terms, liposomes are small microscopic bags prepared from natural and synthetic lipids (fats). The therapeutic activity of conventional anti-cancer drugs can be improved, sometimes dramatically, when given intravenously trapped inside these lipid bags. Mechanistically, it has been suggested that liposomal drugs deliver more drug to tumors then conventional drug and development of this technology has been based on achieving improvements in drug delivery to sites of cancer growth. It is believed that delivery of liposomal drug carriers from the blood to interstitial sites within the tumor is due to characteristics of tumor blood vessels. In addition, my research clearly establishes that drug release from liposomes, whether in the blood compartment or within the tumor, can increase tumor cell exposure to anticancer drugs. Based on this understanding, my lab is now using drug carriers, such as liposomes, to provide the format to deliver combinations of drugs that are shown, via high content cell screening assays, to interact to achieve better than expect (synergistic) therapeutic activity.

Teaching
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Teaching