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OICR’s Dr. Ann Meyer receives Community Engagement Fellowship from AAAS to advance Canada’s bioinformatics community

Dr. Ann Meyer

On January 3, 23 community engagement professionals – including OICR’s Dr. Ann Meyer – were named AAAS Community Engagement fellows for 2019.

The Community Engagement Fellowship Program (CEFP) brings together professionals from a diverse range of scientific communities to share insights and develop strategies to strengthen their respective communities. CEFP aims to improve collaboration and community building in science – and that’s exactly what Meyer will continue to do in Canada’s bioinformatics space.

“Over the last few years, we’ve been working on filling the educational needs of Canada’s bioinformatics community,” says Meyer, Knowledge and Research Exchange Manager at OICR and Manager of Bioinformatics Education at bioinformatics.ca. “This fellowship will help us expand our efforts to foster and strengthen ongoing collaboration amongst research groups in Canada with similar interests.”

Meyer is the only individual from a Canadian institute who has been selected to participate in the CEFP since its inception. The 2019 cohort includes community leaders from the Chan Zuckerberg Science Initiative, the National Geographic Society and the Data Commons Pilot Phase Consortium.

“Alongside these talented community managers, I hope to bring back new techniques to better engage the bioinformatics community,” says Meyer. “Further developing our community will facilitate ongoing learning collaborations and strengthen this research network across our geographically disperse nation.”

An inside look at OICR’s Tissue Portal

In this video, Cheryl and Ilinca from OICR’s Diagnostic Development program take you inside OICR’s Tissue Portal, which processes tissue samples to ensure that researchers get the most out of these finite resources. To access this service please contact tissue.portal@oicr.on.ca.

FACIT makes follow-on investment in AI-based genomics company, DNAstack

Capital leverages Ontario’s strengths in genomics and informatics, deepens FACIT’s tech portfolio

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Statement on the recent air accident in Iran

A message from Dr. Laszlo Radvanyi, OICR’s President and Scientific Director:

“On behalf of OICR I would like to express our sincere condolences to all those affected by the flight PS752 tragedy in Iran. Many of those who were lost were students and researchers at Canadian universities, making great contributions to cancer research and other fields by passionately applying their talents to tackle society’s greatest challenges. Our thoughts are with our university partners and their communities during this difficult time.”

When it comes to finding cancer risk, there’s power in numbers

Dr. Syed Hassan Zaidi, Scientist at OICR and co-author of the study.

Large-scale genomic study discovers 40 new genetic variants associated with colorectal cancer risk

The most comprehensive genome-wide association study of colorectal cancer risk to date has discovered 40 new genetic variants and validated 55 previously identified variants that signal an increased risk of colon cancer. The study, recently published in Nature Genetics, is a product of the world’s largest molecular genetic consortium for colorectal cancer – the Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium (GECCO) – which was established nearly 10 years ago.

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Pan-Canadian radiotherapy group advancing care by reducing barriers to conducting clinical trials

Stereotactic radiation for treatment of a lung cancer: This precise technique delivers high doses of very conformal radiation in only a few sessions and is being tested in a CAPRI trial. Areas receiving high doses of radiation are shown in red, and lower doses of radiation are shown in blue.

As a radiation oncologist at the London Health Sciences Centre, Dr. David Palma is on the front lines of treating cancer patients with radiotherapy. Despite huge advances in radiation technology over the past few decades, Palma and his colleagues have noticed that clinical trials proving the benefits of these new technologies are not keeping pace – meaning these advances are not always reaching patients. To overcome these challenges and advance treatment, Palma formed the Canadian Pulmonary Radiotherapy Investigators Group (CAPRI) to support radiotherapy clinical trials and get them up and running as quickly as possible.

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What can we gain from looking at the outliers?: An investigation into long and short-term ovarian cancer survivors

Kayla Marsh, a Research Technician, wiorks at a bench in the OICR-PM Translational Genomics Laboratory.

Researchers investigate the clinical, molecular and microenvironment factors that contribute to extreme therapy response and resistance in ovarian cancer patients

Some patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) respond exceptionally well to therapy, while others experience rapid disease relapse. The mechanisms behind these disparate outcomes are poorly understood, but a group of researchers based at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PM) supported by OICR’s Ovarian Cancer Translational Research Initiative (TRI) are working to change that.

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Using living avatars to predict the severity of oral cancers

Dr. Laurie Ailles poses for a photo in her laboratory.

Animal models are often used to study how a cancer evolves or how effective a treatment could be, but Dr. Laurie Ailles, Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and OICR Investigator, has recently found that certain animal models could be used to predict the aggressiveness of a patient’s oral cancer and help inform treatment decisions in the clinic.

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Research examines healthcare experience for cancer patients who also have diabetes

Hospital waiting room

Dr. Lorraine Lipscombe investigates why the 20 per cent of cancer patients with diabetes often experience worse outcomes

Several studies show that health outcomes – such as overall survival and preventable hospitalizations – are worse for cancer patients who also have diabetes. However, the reasoning behind this disparity is unclear. Dr. Lorraine Lipscombe, an endocrinologist at Women’s College Hospital and Diabetes Canada Investigator Award holder, is investigating why these differences exist and what we can do to avoid preventable complications.

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The buzz about Beacon: A look into the Global Alliance’s newest standards for the Beacon API

 

Beacon logo resembling a lighthouse

GA4GH releases its latest standards for genomics search engines, a project co-led by OICR Associate, Dr. Marc Fiume

While we are generating genomic data at an unprecedented rate, it is collected and studied in academic and clinical settings around the world with different data privacy requirements, making it difficult to share this knowledge. Researchers must undergo a lengthy process to request access to data and until now there has been no way to know if a data set contains information that is relevant to the research being conducted.

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