NEWS >> INTERNATIONAL CANCER GENOME CONSORTIUM
Ontario Health Study encourages Ontarians to "be part of something big"

Starting this spring 150,000 Ontarians are being asked to be part of something big – a major population health study that will help scientists understand what causes cancer, cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases. Read more

NEWS >> INTERNATIONAL CANCER GENOME CONSORTIUM
Australia joins pancreatic project, Consortium prepares to disseminate first data

Australia announced in late March that it will commit $27 million to ICGC projects. In June the Consortium will make data available for several projects that are already up-and-running at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and the Sanger Institute in the U.K. Read more

Scientists and others involved in making the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research’s (OICR) ambitious Strategic Plan a reality came together in February for three days of meetings. Read more

Hamilton scientists will be the first in the world to test a new technology that might diagnose cancer more accurately. Read more

NEWS >> ONTARIO TUMOUR BANK
New Ontario Tumour Bank collection site opens at St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton

A new collection centre at St. Joseph’s Healthcare’s Charlton Campus in Hamilton will help the Ontario Tumour Bank (OTB) provide valuable tissue samples and data to researchers developing new diagnostic tools and drugs to fight cancer. Read more

Ontario faces serious economic challenges, but the way it responds to de-industrialization also presents a tremendous opportunity to re-focus the province’s economy on research, innovation and creativity.Read more

UPDATE >> RESEARCH SPACE
OICR and MaRS Phase II

The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) is in a good position to weather the economic downturn, although some of its plans for growth may need to be revised due to a pause in construction on the second phase of the MaRS Centre in Toronto. Read more

What does a peer-reviewed grant competition actually look like? Who are these peers, and where do they come from? Do the scientists actually compete with one another? How? Read more.

Researchers, health care professionals and leaders in cancer care programs met in February to plan strategies for improving the way we prevent, screen, diagnose and treat cancer in Ontario. Read more.

In March, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) Clinical Trials Program invited clinical trials professionals to discuss progress on major changes that are helping bring new treatments to patients sooner.
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OICR updates industry on plans to make Ontario world leader in clinical trials

OICR’s clinical trials experts sat down with industry representatives in mid-January to explain and seek feedback on the Institute’s plans for making Ontario a leading jurisdiction for clinical trials.
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Ontario is establishing itself as a world-leader in cancer genomics research, but the province needs to do more to ensure its health care system is ready to take full advantage of advances in molecular oncology. Read more.

There have been many changes in the short life of the laboratory on the eighth floor at MaRS, but there has also been one constant: the occupant of office 858. Read more.

PROFILE >> DR. PAUL BOUTROS
Using bioinformatics to help realize the promise of personalized medicine

What if doctors could get one step ahead of cancer? What if they could predict how large a tumour will grow, or determine whether or not the disease will metastasize? What if they could know the likelihood that a treatment will be effective – or toxic – before it is even administered?
Read more.

SCIENTIFIC DEBATE
Understanding the cancer stem cell hypothesis

The idea that cancer is caused by certain cells with properties similar to stem cells is being debated with renewed vigour, following the publication of several studies suggesting that early predictions about progenitor cells in some cancers need to be re-assessed in light of new evidence.
Read more.

HONOUR
Ontario matches $500,000 Kyoto Prize funding for renowned cell biologist Tony Pawson

Tthe Government of Ontario announced it would match the major international honour with an equal contribution of funding to support Dr. Pawson’s research.Read more.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Dr. Lou Siminovitch

Few people realize the tremendous economic and scientific benefits flowing from Toronto's medical research community - if they did, Lou Siminovitch would surely be a household name. Read more.