The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research

Dr. Laurie Ailles

OICR New Investigator

Research Description

A tumour is a mass of cells that grows uncontrollably and eventually spreads throughout the body. A small subset of cells in the tumour, called cancer stem cells, is responsible for tumor growth. The cancer stem cells act as a “seed”, so that even though they are vastly outnumbered by other cells within the tumour, they are the cells that initiate and maintain the disease. They are also resistant to standard therapies, and thus allow old tumours that have already been treated to return.

By identifying markers to differentiate cancer stem cells from other cells in the human body, Dr. Ailles' lab hopes to develop a greater understanding of how cancer stem cells work. With this understanding researchers will be able to eliminate cancer stem cells and create new therapies that can stop the development of tumours before they become fatal.

Dr. Ailles’ lab will focus primarily on the characterization of cancer stem cells from head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and ovarian cancer.

Contact Information

Telephone
416-581-7868

Mailing Address

Primary Lab
MaRS Centre
Toronto Medical Discovery Tower
Eighth floor 8-401
101 College Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5G 1L7

Primary Office
MaRS Centre
Toronto Medical Discovery Tower
Eighth floor 8-363
101 College Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5G 1L7

Current

2008 - OICR New Investigator.
2008 - Scientist, Division of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Ontario Cancer Institute.


Background        

2007 - 2008 Senior Research Scientist, Stanford University.
2005 - 2007 Research Associate, Stanford University.
2005 Postdoctoral fellow, Pathology, Stanford University.
2001 Postdoctoral fellow, Gene Therapy, Institute for Cancer Research, Candiolo, Italy.
1999 PhD, Genetics, University of British Columbia.

                                             

Selected Publications

  1. Ailles L, Weissman IL. Cancer stem cells in solid tumors. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 2007;18:460-6.
  2. Prince ME, Sivanandan R, Kaczorowski A, Wolf GT, Kaplan MJ, Dalerba P, Weissman IL, Clarke MF, Ailles LE. Identification of a subpopulation of cells with cancer stem cell properties in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2007;104:973-8.
  3. Tan BT, Park CY, Ailles LE, Weissman IL. The cancer stem cell hypothesis: a work in progress. Lab Invest. 2006;86:1203-7.
  4. Jamieson CHM, Ailles LE, Dylla SJ, Muijtjens M, Jones C, Zehnder JL, Gotlib J, Li K, Manz MG, Keating A, Sawyers CL, and Weissman IL. Granulocyte/macrophage progenitors in chronic myelogenous leukemia are candidate leukemia stem cells that activate the beta-catenin pathway. New England Journal of Medicine, 2004;351:657-67.
  5. Ailles LE, Naldini L. HIV-derived lentiviral vectors. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology 2002;261:31-52.

     

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