Canadians have grown their moustaches into $200,000 in funding for a Hamilton researcher looking for a new way to diagnose prostate cancer.

McMaster University medical biologist Khalid Al-Nedawi is one of 40 scientists to share $8 million raised during Movember and given out Wednesday by advocacy group Prostate Cancer Canada to fund research into the most common cancer in Canadian men.

"It means a lot," he said. "Funding is difficult to get. This funding will keep our research going. That's how important it is."

Al-Nedawi had promising initial results on a blood test to replace the controversial prostate-specific antigen test, which measures a protein produced by the prostate gland to determine the likelihood of cancer. However, the test's accuracy has been questioned because there are a number of other reasons for having an elevated PSA level and some men with cancer don't have raised levels.

"It's not a great biomarker," he said. "This test suffers from false positives and false negatives. There is a great need for a new biomarker."

Al-Nedawi believes he may have found it. Initial tests of 35 cancer patients and eight healthy subjects found a different protein called Mv-PTEN could be a more reliable indicator.

He is teaming up with the Ontario Tumour Bank at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research to broaden the study to at least 700 patient samples.

"So far, it's much better than PSA."

The prostate is a walnut-sized gland just below the bladder that is part of a man's reproductive system. When cancer starts in the cells of the prostate, it's usually slow-growing and can often be cured.

It's one of a number of men's health issues that benefits from the charity event Movember, which encourages men to raise funds and awareness each November by growing moustaches.