Alberta's Tomorrow Project

What Alberta's Tomorrow Project does

Alberta's Tomorrow Project (ATP) is a nonprofit longitudinal health research study established in 2000 and hosted within Cancer Care Alberta, part of Alberta Health Services in Calgary, Canada. It tracks 55,000 Alberta adults aged 35-69 over a planned 50-year horizon, capturing how lifestyle, genetics, and environmental factors influence the development of cancer and chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. The platform's underlying technology centers on a longitudinal cohort study infrastructure that ingests survey responses, physical measurements, and biological samples (blood, urine, saliva), stored across more than 1.2 million cryovials in an associated biobank, and links these to provincial administrative databases including the Alberta Cancer Registry and Alberta Health records. ATP has accumulated over a billion data points and more than 950,000 completed surveys since inception.

The research surface is organized around a core observational study and a portfolio of specialized substudies. Recent and active substudies include HEAL (diet and physical activity, launched 2024), CHARM (diet and metabolic health, launched 2024/2026 timeline), the Lung Cancer Risk Factors Study, Know Your Exposure (KYE, including a 2024 smartphone app prototype), BioNuGUT (international microbiome consortium, Canadian arm recruited 2018), and the COVID-19 Antibody Testing (CAT) sub-study and COVID-19 survey launched during the 2020-2021 pandemic period. Participant engagement is managed through the ATP Participant Portal (myATPhub.ca) and a 29-member Participant Advisory Committee, while researcher access operates through a formal application process hosted at myatpresearch.ca, requiring scientific review, ethics approval, and a signed research agreement.

ATP operates as a government- and foundation-funded public-good research platform rather than a commercial enterprise. It is funded by Alberta Health, the Alberta Cancer Prevention Legacy Fund, the Alberta Cancer Foundation, and the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, with initial support tracing back to the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project (now CanPath), a pan-Canadian cohort of 300,000+ participants of which ATP is a founding regional member. There is no commercial pricing or paid data access; participation is free for eligible Albertans and data is provided to qualified research projects on a non-commercial basis. The organization has 11-50 employees and is led by Scientific Director Dr. Jennifer Vena (since 2017); it was founded by Dr. Heather Bryant, former Vice-President of the Alberta Cancer Board.

Name

Alberta's Tomorrow Project

Legal name

Alberta's Tomorrow Project

Website

https://myatp.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Alberta's Tomorrow Project is a nonprofit longitudinal health research study, hosted within Cancer Care Alberta, tracking 55,000 Alberta adults since 2000 to investigate how lifestyle, genetics, and environment drive cancer and chronic disease over a 50-year horizon, funded by government and foundation grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Population Health Research

NAICS

Testing Laboratories and Services (54138)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Data Linkage, Registries & Longitudinal Cohort Surveillance (HLAJANAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Population Health Surveillance & Epidemiologic Analytics (HLAJAJAB), Health Data, Vital Statistics & Population Health Informatics (BPAIAJAM), Healthcare Utilization, Claims & Administrative Data Analytics (HLAJAJAK)

Keywords

• Longitudinal health research
• Population cohort studies
• Cancer prevention research
• Biospecimen biobank services
• Chronic disease epidemiology

Headquarters

HQ city

Calgary

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Alberta's Tomorrow Project operates a longitudinal cohort study tracking the health of 55,000 Albertan adults aged 35-69 over a 50-year period. It collects lifestyle questionnaires, physical measurements, and biological samples (blood, urine, saliva), and provides approved researchers access to de-identified data and biospecimens for studies on cancer and chronic disease risk factors.

Product overview

Alberta's Tomorrow Project (ATP) is a research platform comprising a core longitudinal cohort study tracking 55,000 adults in Alberta since 2000, supplemented by multiple specialized research substudies and digital platforms. The main study investigates cancer and chronic disease risk factors over 50 years, supported by diet and metabolic health studies (HEAL, CHARM), environmental exposure research (Know Your Exposure), microbiome studies (BioNuGUT), and pandemic-related research (COVID-19 studies). Participant-facing tools include the ATP Participant Portal for engagement and the ATP Research Portal providing data access to qualified researchers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Alberta's Tomorrow Project (ATP) Longitudinal Cohort Study A 50-year longitudinal cohort study tracking the health of 55,000 Albertan adults aged 35-69 to investigate why some people develop cancer and chronic diseases while others do not, with the goal of informing prevention strategies.
• HEAL (HEALthy Eating & Supportive Environments) Study Diet and physical activity substudy examining the relationship between healthy eating patterns, supportive environments, and health outcomes among ATP participants.
• CHARM (diet and metabolic health) Study Extension of the HEAL substudy focusing on diet and metabolic health, investigating metabolic factors related to dietary patterns among ATP participants.
• Lung Cancer Risk Factors Study Substudy examining factors that influence lung cancer risk among ATP participants through telephone and online surveys.
• COVID-19 Antibody Testing (CAT) Study Serological substudy conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic to detect antibodies in blood samples, estimating COVID-19 exposure in the Alberta population over time. Achieved over 96% retention.
• COVID-19 Survey Substudy questionnaire capturing COVID-19 symptoms, testing, public health behaviours, risk factors, and mental, emotional, and economic impacts of the pandemic on ATP participants.
• Know Your Exposure (KYE) App Prototype smartphone application designed to track potential exposure to environmental and occupational carcinogens, providing users with personalized exposure snapshots and aiming to raise awareness about cancer risk factors.
• BioNuGUT International microbiome substudy examining gut bacteria collections and their links to health or illness, part of the Gut Metabotypes as Biomarkers for Nutrition and Health initiative, with 400 ATP participants in the Canadian arm.
• ATP Participant Portal Online portal for ATP participants to update contact information, manage SMS opt-in preferences, and access participation details.
• ATP Research Portal Online platform where researchers apply for access to ATP data and biosamples, view approved research projects, publications, data dictionaries, and summary tables.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 96% retention rate in COVID-19 Antibody Testing (CAT) sub-study
• +2 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow's Health (CanPath)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCanPath is the pan-Canadian cohort initiative of which ATP is a founding regional member. ATP data contributes to national research initiatives spanning over 300,000 participants across Canada, enabling large-scale population health research.
• Canadian Partnership Against CancercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational cancer control organization that provided initial funding and support for ATP's integration into the pan-Canadian cohort initiative (formerly Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project).
• Cancer Care AlbertacoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerHost organization for ATP, providing institutional infrastructure, staff, and operational support. ATP is based within Cancer Care Alberta at Alberta Health Services.
• Health Data Research Network Canada (HDRN Canada)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides financial and logistical support for data linkage projects, facilitating connection between ATP and administrative health databases for COVID-19 and other research studies.
• Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit (AbSPORU)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFacilitates data linkage to administrative health data for approved research projects within Alberta's Tomorrow Project.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Ontario Health Study: Ontario's CanPath-affiliated regional cohort of 225,000+ adults. Directly comparable as a Canadian provincial longitudinal study with questionnaire, physical measures, and biospecimen collection.
• Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow's Health (CanPath): Pan-Canadian longitudinal cohort network of which ATP is a founding regional member, pooling data from seven regional cohorts covering 300,000+ participants. Directly comparable in mission, design, and governance model to ATP at a national scale.
• BC Generations Project: Regional Canadian prospective cohort of approximately 30,000 British Columbians aged 35-69 recruited 2009-2015 as part of the CanPath network. Same age band, same recruitment era, and same CanPath integration as ATP, making it the closest regional comparator.
• CARTaGENE: Quebec's regional prospective cohort of approximately 43,000 adults aged 40-69, also part of CanPath. Comparable in size, design, biospecimen collection, and linkage to provincial administrative health data (RAMQ).
• UK Biobank: The world's flagship large-scale prospective cohort with ~500,000 participants aged 40-69 recruited 2006-2010, with deep phenotypic, genomic, and linkage to NHS health records. ATP follows the same architectural model at smaller scale.
• All of Us Research Program: NIH-funded U.S. longitudinal cohort aiming for 1 million+ participants with extensive biospecimen collection, electronic health record linkage, and emphasis on under-represented populations. Architecturally and mission-wise the closest U.S. parallel to ATP.
• Framingham Heart Study: The original multi-generational prospective cohort, following Framingham residents since 1948 across three generations. Demonstrates the long-horizon, multi-generational research design that ATP is emulating in Alberta.
• EPIC Study: European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, a multi-country cohort of 500,000+ participants with biospecimens and lifestyle data focused on cancer and chronic disease etiology. Closely mirrors ATP's cancer-focused longitudinal mandate.
• Nurses' Health Study: Long-running U.S. prospective cohort following 120,000+ female nurses since 1976 with biennial questionnaires and biospecimen substudies. Same longitudinal lifestyle-and-disease framework as ATP, though narrower demographically.
• Generation Scotland: Scottish family-based prospective cohort of 24,000+ participants across generations with linkage to NHS health records. Comparable in scale to ATP as a national/regional cohort with multi-generational design and genetic focus.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ATPResearch
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tomorrow-project
• Xx.com/atpresearch

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Alberta's Tomorrow Project