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Cancer Research: The Canadian Quest for a Cure
It's a dreaded disease that has afflicted humans for centuries. In recent decades, scientists around the world have been tirelessly searching for a cancer cure. Canadians are no exception. Amid constant fights for funding, concerns about "brain drain" and controversies over alternative therapies, Canada has made some vital breakthroughs in cancer research — from the invention of the "cobalt bomb" in the 1950s to the more recent innovations of cancer research icon Tak Mak.

	What is cancer?		Looking inside the cobalt bomb		Saskatchewan, cancer research leader
	CBC Newsmagazine offers an illustrated, easy-to-understand explanation of how cancer works. (TV; runs 1:22)		CBC peers into the inner workings of the Canadian-designed cobalt beam therapy unit. (TV; runs 4:47)		Former Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas recalls the province's innovative cancer work between the 1930s and '50s. (Radio; runs 7:04)

	Brain drain?		The politics of getting grants		Tak Mak's breakthrough
	Important cancer research is being conducted across Canada. But unless there's more funding, we'll lose our best researchers. (TV; runs 3:39)		Canadian researchers must fight for funds in the highly competitive grant system. (Radio; runs 7:39)		A Canadian scientist's discovery promises to have a major impact on cancer research. (Radio; runs 6:42)

	Alternative therapy, or bunk?		An investment in the future
	Quebec's highly controversial Gaston Naessens is either a cancer saviour or a fraud. (TV; runs 6:25)		A pharmaceutical company from France and the Canadian government team up to invest in Canada-based cancer research. (TV; runs 2:30)

LINKS Topic from Les Archives de Radio-Canada on the same subject Les armes de la science contre le cancer Related Topics from CBC's Archives Banting, Best, Macleod, Collip: Chasing a Cure for Diabetes Polio: Combating the Crippler Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope Tuberculosis: Old Disease, Continuing Threat External sites Canadian Cancer Society National Cancer Institute of Canada Princess Margaret Hospital The CBC assumes no responsibility for the content of external links.

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