Dr. John Dick
Program Leader, Cancer Stem Cells Program
Program Description
Recent research has demonstrated that a subset of cancer cells called cancer stem cells survive treatment as they are resistant to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Cancer stem cells are responsible for the creation of new tumours and metastases even years after the initial diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Ontario scientists pioneered this new field of cancer research through the identification of cancer stem cells for leukemia, colon and brain cancer. The Cancer Stem Cell Project, headed by Dr. John Dick, aims to identify cancer stem cells for various types of cancer and develop therapies to target these cells to prevent recurrence and lessen the toxicity of cancer treatment.
Contact Information
Telephone
416-581-7466
Mailing Address 1 (Primary Lab)
MaRS Centre
Toronto Medical Discovery Tower
8th Floor Room 8-401
101 College Street
Toronto, Ontario,
Canada M5G 1L7
Mailing Address 2 (Primary Office)
MaRS Centre
Toronto Medical Discovery Tower
8th Floor Room 8-355
101 College Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5G 1L7
Project Manager
Melissa Cooper, M.Sc.
Program Manager
Cancer Stem Cell Research Program
Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
University Health Network
416-581-7730
Current
| 2007 - | Program Leader, Cancer Stem Cells Program, OICR. |
| 2007 - | Investigator, McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University Health Network. |
| 2002 - | Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Biology, Senior Scientist, Division of Cellular and Molecular Biology, University Health Network. |
| 1995 - | Professor, Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics, University of Toronto. |
Background
| 1991 - 2002 | Senior Scientist, Department of Genetics, Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children. |
| 1996 - 2001 | Medical Research Council of Canada Scientist. |
| 1989 - 1996 | Research Scientist of the National Cancer Institute of Canada. |
| 1984 - 1986 | Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. A. Bernstein, Ontario Cancer Institute and Mount Sinai Hospital, Research Institute, University of Toronto, Medical Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship. |
| 1984 | PhD Microbiology and Biochemistry, University of Manitoba. |
Selected Publications
- O’Brien CA, Pollett A, Gallinger S, Dick JE. A human colon cancer cell capable of initiating tumour growth in immunodeficient mice. Nature Jan 2007, 4;445(7123):106-102006. Epub 2006 Nov 19.
- McKenzie J, Gan OI, Doedens M, Wang JCY, Dick JE. Individual stem cells with highly variable proliferation and self-renewal properties comprise the human hematopoietic stem cell compartment. Nature Immunology. 2006, Nov; 7(11):1225-33.
- Pereira DS, Dorrell CS, Ito CY, Gan OI, Murdoch B, Rao VN, Zou JP, Reddy ESP, Dick JE. Retroviral transduction of TLS-ERG initiates a leukemogenic program in normal human hematopietic cells. Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci. USA. 1998; 95: 8239-8244.
- Lapidot T, Sirard C, Vormoor J, Pflumio F, Hoang T, Caceres-Cortes J, Minden M, Patterson B, Caligiuri M, Dick JE. A cell initiating human acute myeloid leukaemia after transplantation into SCID mice. Nature. 1994;367:645-648.
- Kamel-Reid, S and Dick, JE. Engraftment of immune-deficient mice with human hematopoietic stem cells. Science 1988;242:1706-1709.