OICR teams up with Structural Genomics Consortium to open new research space at MaRS
Dr. Tom Hudson and Dr. Aled Edwards at the opening ceremony.
(S.Durant for OICR)
The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) have opened two new floors of state-of-the-art research space at the MaRS Centre in Toronto.
Dr. Tom Hudson, President and Scientific Director of OICR, and Dr. Aled Edwards opened the new laboratory space at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on September 17. They were joined at the celebration by researchers and support staff from both Institutes.
“To do great research, you need great ideas, great people, great partners – and you need some money. Today we are celebrating one ingredient that’s related to all the others: great space for the Structural Genomics Consortium and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. And we’re also celebrating the great partnership that will come from sharing this space,” said Dr. Hudson at the ceremony.
OICR moved into the MaRS Centre when it opened in 2005, but quickly outgrew its space in the Heritage Building. In April 2006, OICR moved to one floor in the South Tower and offices were created in the north portion of this space. During 2007 labs and offices were created in the south portion of this space and by late 2007 the single floor was not enough. One year ago, OICR acquired the three floors above the fifth floor, which had previously been occupied by a pharmaceutical company. Some of the space was usable in its original form while other spaces required renovation.
“Having some extra space led us to start thinking about opportunities to think about sub-letting to tenants that have similar mandates and values. It became clear the Structural Genomics Consortium could make excellent use of the space and upon further discussion we also realized we could share some large equipment,” explains Jane van Alphen, Vice-President, Operations at OICR.
Edwards says the Toronto SGC group is excited about moving into the MaRS Centre because it will brings them closer to other scientists working at different stages of the research process.
The OICR portion of the space consists of new laboratories for medicinal chemistry on the sixth floor and genomics and informatics researchers on the eighth floor. SGC will occupy portions of the sixth and eigth floors and all of the seventh floor. Construction has been underway over the past six months in order to modify the space for the incoming researchers. OICR has also created a new data centre on the sixth floor to support its cancer genomics platform and other research efforts that require large-scale storage solutions and high-performance computing.
The SGC portion of the space will house research equipment currently located at the Best Institute, an aging building at the University of Toronto. Several rooms and pieces of equipment will be shared between OICR and SGC.
To learn more about the SGC and its mandate, please see our next story or visit its website.
