Canary Foundation 2025 Program Highlights: Accelerating Early Detection

The Canary Foundation is leading groundbreaking research to detect and prevent some of the deadliest cancers at their earliest, most treatable stages. By advancing science and technology, we aim to save lives through earlier diagnosis and smarter prevention.

Ovarian

The Canary ovary team is developing innovative tools to stop high-grade serous ovarian cancer (SOC) at its earliest phase by focusing on prevention and early detection. Their research shows SOC often begins as a precancerous lesion in the fallopian tubes, and the team is using advanced technologies to identify biomarkers that flag disease early.

• Expand access to fallopian tube removal surgery as a preventive measure beyond high-risk women.
• Create a web-based platform with risk calculators and prevention strategies for personalized SOC management.
• Innovate imaging and blood test methods to detect precancerous lesions and early-stage SOC effectively.

Pancreatic

Led by Dr. Walter Park at the Stanford/Canary Center, the Pancreas Program targets earlier detection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) by identifying high-risk individuals, mining biomarkers, and deploying point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). The team maintains a growing high-risk patient database while collecting and studying fluids from pancreatic cysts, a key precursor of pancreatic cancer.

• Focus screening on high-risk groups, analyze pancreatic cyst fluids, and deploy bedside ultrasound screening (POCUS).
• Collaborate across the Canary Center on biomarker discovery, leveraging glycoproteomics with Dr. Sharon Pitteri.
• Publish proof-of-concept research showing POCUS can visualize the pancreas reliably at the bedside.

Parallel work at UC San Diego, led by Dr. Ahmed El Kaffas, is developing advanced ultrasound technologies—including contrast-enhanced POCUS with microbubbles and molecular imaging—to accelerate clinical adoption.

Prostate

The Canary Prostate team focuses on early detection of lethal prostate cancer while minimizing unnecessary treatment for low-risk cases through two multicenter clinical studies, Canary PASS and Canary PATROL. PASS monitors men with early-stage, low-risk prostate cancer choosing active surveillance, and PATROL studies individuals with genetic risk. With over 2,400 PASS participants at 11 sites, the team has developed a rich biobank and data set for research, leading to advancements in risk stratification using transcriptomic data and AI, as well as impactful publications and ongoing grant-supported projects.

• Collect 1,257 biopsy tissue specimens to build the largest transcriptomic database of active-surveillance patients.
• Digitize biopsy slides from 1,800 participants and co-develop AI algorithms to improve risk assessment.
• Publish 17+ peer-reviewed papers, including a JAMA study validating active surveillance as a safe strategy.

Ultrasound Imaging Innovation

Ultrasound is a highly portable, relatively affordable, non-ionizing, and widely available technology for non-invasive real-time bedside imaging. Canary Foundation supports Dr. Ahmed El Kaffas’s Translational Ultrasound Program at UC San Diego’s Moores Cancer Center, a unique hub that unites lab innovation and patient care to accelerate ultrasound research for early cancer detection.

The program bridges engineering and clinical practice to pioneer contrast-enhanced POCUS with microbubbles and targeted molecular imaging approaches that improve accuracy and access.

• Advance contrast-enhanced POCUS using microbubbles to lower costs and increase access for liver, pancreatic, and other cancers.
• Fund research into clinically translatable targeted microbubbles for non-invasive molecular ultrasound imaging.
• Invest in integrating engineering and clinical research to accelerate regulatory approvals and adoption.

Lung

Low-dose CT screening often reveals lung nodules that imaging alone cannot classify, leading to avoidable invasive procedures. Researchers at the Canary Center at Stanford, led by Dr. Utkan Demirci, are developing integrated diagnostic tests that combine biomarkers with imaging so clinicians can identify malignant nodules earlier.

Recent studies focus on exosomes—tiny extracellular vesicles isolated from plasma using the ExoTIC (exosome total isolation chip) method developed at the Canary Center—to capture molecular insights from lung tissue.

• Leverage exosomal DNA, RNA, and proteins as specific lung cancer biomarkers.
• Refine the ExoTIC method to isolate analyzable exosomes from patient plasma.
• Enable early intervention for high-risk nodules and non-invasive monitoring of low-risk cases.