Why we need to expand personalized cancer treatment in British Columbia By Vincent on Feb 28, 2018 Personalized Onco-Genomics needs to grow if we’re to fully address the cancer problem here in British Columbia. Right now we have around 26,000 new cancer diagnoses in the province, and that figure is expected to increase as our populations continue to grow and age. Approximately 10,000 of those new cases will present themselves as metastatic disease, and that is a very big clinical... Continue Reading Genome Sciences Centre, Genomics
Experimental study revolutionizes cancer care across globe By Vincent on Feb 22, 2018 The origins of POG We chart the origins of the Personalized Onco-Genomics (POG) platform to an experience that occurred around 9 years ago. We had been building the capacity to sequence all 3+ billion letters of human cancer genomes. At the time there was a patient with a rare form of cancer that had been treated with surgery and radiation, but the cancer had come back... Continue Reading Genome Sciences Centre, Genomics
Clinical trials paving new path for breast cancer care in BC By Vincent on Oct 19, 2017 One of the most exciting areas of breast cancer research is the study of genomics. Genomics is about understanding the genetic makeup of different cancers, in turn enabling us to develop targeted treatments for them. Through this kind of research, we can dive deep in terms of what is driving a patient’s cancer, how it will behave and how it might respond to certain treatments. Genomic... Continue Reading Breast Cancer, Genomics
Cancer Research Turns Personal By Laura Matwichuk on Mar 17, 2017 My PhD was a veritable roller coaster of scares, successes, utter failures, exciting discoveries, disappointments, and a few seemingly insurmountable problems. The stakes are high in academic research, especially in hot areas such as cancer genomics. Early in my degree, I was lucky enough to be in a position to make some... Continue Reading Genome Sciences Centre, Genomics, Lymphoid cancers
My Path to a Career in Cancer Research (Part III) By Laura Matwichuk on Mar 13, 2017 The sequencers at the GSC were rapidly gaining improvements in read length and throughput. I spent my time working with the more interesting (and complex) types of data that could be generated, beginning with “transcriptomes” and then “exomes”. Despite knowing I wanted to do a PhD, I had not yet been convinced of a project that I would want to spend the next three to five years on and... Continue Reading BC Cancer Research Centre, Breast Cancer, Genome Sciences Centre, Genomics, Lymphoid cancers, Personalized Onco-Genomics (POG)
My Path to a Career in Cancer Research (Part II) By Laura Matwichuk on Mar 10, 2017 The GSC was a part of a large consortium that was producing resources and data to help better annotate the human genome. I started out with fairly blue-collar work that utilized my knowledge of molecular biology but didn’t initially require a lot of computational expertise. I eventually became involved in some work on piecing together reference genomes for some other organisms. In my... Continue Reading Bioinformatics, Genome Sciences Centre, Genomics
Dr. Ryan Morin: My Path to a Career in Cancer Research (Part I) By Laura Matwichuk on Mar 10, 2017 For my first post I have been asked to spare you the details of my research, which is a tough thing to ask of any scientist! So I will start by giving you some context on how I got here. As you will learn, I am a homegrown scientist. I was born and raised in Cumberland, a village on Vancouver Island that is too small to be officially referred to as a town. As many of us do in school, I... Continue Reading BC Cancer Research Centre, Brain cancer, Genomics
Reflecting on the Pace of Cancer Discovery By Laura Matwichuk on Jan 27, 2017 In his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of cancer, “The Emperor of All Maladies,” Siddhartha Mukherjee quotes the Red Queen from Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass” to describe perfectly how clinical cancer research must move: “It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.” I find myself reflecting on this quote very often. Cancer cells arise from us – they... Continue Reading Clinical Trials, Genomics, Ride to Conquer Cancer
Love what you do and it doesn't feel like work By Ken Donohue on Nov 03, 2016 My name is Intan Schrader and I am co-medical director of the Hereditary Cancer Program with Sophie Sun. I am a medical geneticist, specializing in cancer genetics. It was during medical school that I took a serious interest in cancer genetics. After receiving my medical degree from the University of Melbourne, I completed my residency in Medical Genetics at the University of... Continue Reading BC Cancer Vancouver Centre, Breast Cancer, Genomics, Hereditary Cancer
Come Together By bccf on Apr 26, 2016 Waiting for the elevators at the BC Cancer Agency Research Centre, I see the plaque commemorating the Jambor-McCarthy gift to the BC Cancer Foundation. It includes their family motto: work hard, live well, give back. I’ve adopted this for my own mission statement, and try to exemplify these in my work at the BC Cancer Agency. Every day, I work hard to provide... Continue Reading BC Cancer Vancouver Centre, Genomics