Dr. John McPherson
Genome Technologies Director

Platform Description
New sequencing technologies have made possible the systematic identification of genetic mutations and other genomic changes. The Genome Technologies Platform led by Dr. John McPherson will begin cataloguing genetic alterations that occur in different types of cancers to better classify tumours and refine and develop new targeted treatments and diagnostic tools.
Contact Information
Telephone
416-673-8504
Mailing Address
Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
MaRS Centre, South Tower
101 College Street, Suite 800
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5G 0A3
Project Manager
Dr. Kamran Shazand
416-673-6657
Current
| 2009 - | Chair: Technology Development Advisory Group (TDAG), International Barcode of Life (iBOL) Project. |
| 2009 - | Member: Scientific Advisory Board for the Medicago Hapmap Project, National Science Foundation. |
| 2007 - | Genome Technologies Director, OICR. |
Background
| 2003 - 2007 | Associate Professor: Baylor College of Medicine. Primary appointment: Department of Molecular and Human Genetics. Joint appointment: Human Genome Sequencing Center. |
| 2000 - 2003 | Associate Professor: Washington University School of Medicine. Primary appointment: Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Department of Genetics. Joint appointment: Genome Sequencing Center. |
| 1999 - 2003 | Co-Director, Genome Sequencing Center: Washington University School of Medicine. |
| 1993 - 1996 | Co-Director, National Human Genome Research Center at UCI: University of California at Irvine. |
| 1988 - 1990 | Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California at Irvine, Department of Pediatrics. |
| 1990 - 1992 | Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California at Irvine, Department of Biological Chemistry. |
| 1989 | PhD, Biochemistry, Queen’s University. |
Selected Publications
- Diamandis E, Voelkerding K, Drmanac R, Agus D, McPherson J. Next-Generation Sequencing: A New Revolution in Molecular Diagnostics? Clin. Chem. 2009;55: 1-5.
- McPherson JD. Next-Generation Gap. Nature Meth. Supplement, Next-generation sequencing data analysis. 2009; Volume 6, No.11s:S2-S5.
- Korshunova Y, Maloney RK, Lakey N, Citek RW, Bacher B, Budiman A, Ordway JM, McCombie WR, Leon J, Jeddeloh JA, McPherson JD. Massively parallel bisulphate pyrosequencing reveals the molecular complexity of breast cancer associated cytosine methylation patterns obtained from tissue and serum DNA. Genome Res. 2007. Genome Res. 2008; 18:19-29.
- Weir BA, Woo MS, Getz G, Perner S, Ding L, Beroukhim R, Lin WM, Province MA, Kraja A, Johnson LA, Shah K, Sato M, Thomas RK, Barletta JA, Borecki IB, Broderick S, Chang AC, Chiang DY, Chirieac LR, Cho J, Fujii Y, Gazdar AF, Giordano T, Greulich H, Hanna M, Johnson BE, Kris MG, Lash A, Lin L, Lindeman N, Mardis ER, McPherson JD, Minna JD, Morgan MB, Nadel M, Orringer MB, Osborne JR, Ozenberger B, Ramos AH, Robinson J, Roth JA, Rusch V, Sasaki H, Shepherd F, Sougnez C, Spitz MR, Tsao MS, Twomey D, Verhaak RG, Weinstock GM, Wheeler DA, Winckler W, Yoshizawa A, Yu S, Zakowski MF, Zhang Q, Beer DG, Wistuba II, Watson MA, Garraway LA, Ladanyi M, Travis WD, Pao W, Rubin MA, Gabriel SB, Gibbs RA, Varmus HE, Wilson RK, Lander ES, Meyerson M. Characterizing the cancer genome in lung adenocarcinoma. Nature Advance Online Publication. 2007 November 4;doi:10.1038/nature06358
- Ordway JM, Bedell JA, Citek RW, Nunberg A, Garrido A, Kendall R, Stevens JR, Cao D, Doerge RW, Korshunova Y, Holemon H, McPherson JD, Lakey N, Leon J, Martienssen RA, Jeddeloh JA. Comprehensive DNA methylation profiling in a human cancer genome identifies novel epigenetic targets. Carcinogenesis Epub. 2006 Sep 4;27:2409-2423.