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Dalhousie scientist hopes for boost in local Movember-funded research

There's only one prostate cancer researcher in Nova Scotia funded by Movember and that's Graham Dellaire.

Dellaire, who is the Cameron Research Scientist in Cancer Biology, received $50,000 to study how prostate cancer spreads and responds to testosterone in zebrafish injected with human prostate cancer cells. This xenotransplanation was done for the first time in Canada at his lab.

That money came directly from Movember, the global charity event that encourages men to grow moustaches and raise money during the month of November. The moustache serves as the emblematic 'ribbon' and participants become fundraising ambassadors for men's health — specifically prostate cancer.

And Dellaire continues to be receive $50,000 a year under a Movember team grant, quarterbacked by a researcher in Vancouver.

"I'm one guy and I'm one guy that got a golden ticket. And that golden ticket, I'm trying to spread the wealth and bring in as many of my colleagues as possible," he said.

The director of research at Dalhousie University's pathology department would like to see prostate cancer research grow in Nova Scotia — and he thinks that could happen if the $500,000 raised in Nova Scotia last year was spent locally.

"We're not punching our weight for the amount of money raised locally and for the capacity that we do have for cancer research," said Dellaire.

But the director of Movember in Canada, Pete Bombaci, said geography isn't a factor when it comes to funding a project.

He says the charity strives to be agents of change and it does that by focusing on "allocating the money on the greatest research possible so we can drive the quickest outcomes so that we can save more men's lives tomorrow instead of five years, ten years, twenty years down the road."

Clinical trials at cancer centres in Toronto and Vancouver receive funding.

Movember's popular moustachioed appeal has been a boost for men. After establishing itself as charity for prostate cancer, it also supports testicular cancer and mental health and is the biggest global fundraiser for men's health.