Charles Couturier wins Marathon of Hope Clinician-Scientist Award for brain tumour research
2026 Marathon of Hope Clinician-Scientist Award will support research into overcoming immune resistance to brain tumour treatment
Charles Couturier, Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery and a neurosurgeon at The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital), has been named a recipient of the 2026 Clinician-Scientist Award from the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network (MOHCCN).
He received $262,500 from the MOHCNN matched by $262,500 from The Neuro for his project, “Decoding Myeloid Diversity to Enable Immunomodulatory Therapies Across Brain Tumours”.
The Clinician-Scientist Award supports outstanding young clinician-investigators pursuing high-quality precision oncology research in collaboration with, and under the mentorship of, established MOHCCN-funded teams.
Couturier is an associate member of the Department of Human Genetics and of the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre at The Neuro, and Principal Investigator at the Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics & Mental Health. His research addresses a major obstacle in brain cancer treatment. While immunotherapy has transformed care for many cancers, it has been far less effective for brain tumours. This is largely because of myeloid cells, a type of immune cell that suppresses the body’s ability to fight cancer and limits the effectiveness of treatment.
Couturier’s project aims to understand how myeloid cells create this immune suppression across different types of brain tumours, and to identify ways these cells could be targeted to make tumours more responsive to immunotherapy. The work builds on recent discoveries from his group in adult brain cancer and on a current Lindonlight-funded program focused on pediatric brain tumours.
Couturier’s team will first analyze data from existing studies to identify immune cell patterns shared across pediatric and adult brain tumours. They will then study 40 newly collected adult brain tumour samples to link these immune patterns to measurable features in tumour tissue. Once established, these features will help the team translate their findings to approximately 1,000 archived adult brain tumour samples to examine how immune features relate to treatments and patient outcomes. Finally, the team will use patient-derived tumour tissue organoids—miniature tumour models grown from patient tissue—to test whether targeting specific immune behaviours can reduce immune suppression in a practical, scalable way.
Patients whose tumour samples are used in the research are essential contributors to the study. All samples will be collected from The Neuro, which serves a geographically, socioeconomic, and ethnically diverse population spanning Montreal, surrounding suburban and rural regions, and remote northern communities including Nunavik.
Couturier’s team will also work with patient advocates at The Neuro and with brain tumour organizations to hold bi-annual patient and family engagement meetings, where patient partners can weigh in comment on research priorities and advise on how results are communicated in accessible language.
Ultimately, Couturier hopes the work will identify new immune-targeting treatment strategies that help brain tumours respond better to immunotherapy, laying the groundwork for future clinical trials.