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Providing Vital Infrastructure for Immunotherapy Clinical Trials

October 21, 2015

Hello, my name is Siao Yong and I am the laboratory coordinator at the Deeley Research Centre. I’ve been with the DRC since 2005, beginning as a researcher and then moving to the administrative team in 2007.

I first became interested in cancer research while seeing coverage of an Ebola outbreak and knew that I wanted to work with infectious diseases. I was lucky enough to work in a company specializing in therapeutic vaccines to stimulate the immune system to respond to HPV-related diseases. This started my interest in working in the field of cancer immunology and immunotherapy.

Facilitating the Needs of the DRC

My role at the DRC is to ensure we have vital infrastructure (such as equipment, software, and training) in place to do our important work.

I also ensure we are in compliance with health and safety regulatory standards. Additionally, I work with vendors to purchase and maintain equipment and liaise with sales representatives to seek out supplies at best quality and value.

If you haven’t yet heard of immunotherapy I would encourage you to read my colleague’s previous posts – it’s very exciting! With the DRC now expanding to perform Immunotherapy Clinical Trials, my role is to facilitate the renovation of existing laboratory space to house new equipment and personnel. Once the program is underway, I will continue to work with our clinical trials researchers to ensure infrastructure is in place.

Research forms the basis of how cancer can be detected and treated, thus I’m excited to work in a facility where cancer research is possible. It would be remiss of me not to mention that our work would not be possible without the support of the BC Cancer Foundation and generosity of the donors. Thank you so much for the time you take in reading these blogs and supporting our work!

Siao