On November 16 OICR and the Ontario Molecular Pathology Research Network (OMPRN) joined other organizations around the world celebrating International Pathology Day.

A special Café Scientifique was held entitled, “Beyond the crime scene: You don’t have to be dead to need a pathologist”. This session helped attendees learn what pathologists really do and how advancements in the field are changing medicine and, in particular, cancer diagnosis and treatment. OICR’s Dr. John Bartlett and Dr. Michelle Downes of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre tackled a few interesting topics and took questions from the audience.

Drs. Michelle Downes and John Bartlett at the Café Scientifique.

A participant uses instrumentation as part of the DNA fingerprinting workshop.

The following day, members of the public were given an opportunity to get some hands-on experience with techniques used by pathologists. OMPRN and DIYBio Toronto held a workshop in which participants worked together to identify the culprit of a fictional crime, “the mystery of the split banana”, by using DNA fingerprinting techniques on various fruits.

Thank you to Drs. Bartlett and Downes, the great team at DIYBio and all the participants who joined us for helping to make OICR and OMPRN’s International Pathology Day activities a success.