Projects

Active Projects

	Personalized Oncogenomics The BC Cancer Agency’s Personalized Oncogenomics program is a clinical research initiative that is embedding genomic sequencing into real-time treatment planning for BC patients with incurable cancers.
	A Terry Fox New Frontiers Program Project Grant: Exploiting Pathogenic Mechanisms in Acute Leukemia for Clinical Translation The overall long-term goal of this program is to better understand the difference between normal blood-forming cells and leukemic cells, and thereby to identify and exploit vulnerable disease-causing pathways that may be shared across different types of acute leukemias that can then be translated into useful biomarkers and treatments that are more effective and less toxic.		Autophagy and Apoptosis Crosstalk Exploring the regulatory relationships between autophagy and apoptosis utilizing genetic, genomic, molecular and proteomic approaches in Drosophila and mammalian model systems.
	Centre for Epigenome Mapping Technologies (CEMT) Generating reference epigenomes for normal and malignant human cells		Colorectal Cancer Screening This program's focus is to develop novel easy-to-administer tests that identify individuals at the earliest, most curable stages of the disease
	Development of Highly Active Anti-Leukemia Stem Cell Therapy (HALT) Using massively parallel DNA sequencing to identify leukemia stem cell specific expression signatures, predictive of drug treatment response		Discovery of new drug candidates for the clinical management of prostate cancer Our aim is to identify small molecules that may prevent or delay the progression of prostate cancer towards androgen-independent disease.
	Genetic Analyses of Lymphoid Neoplasms We are applying our Illumina sequencing and bioinformatics pipelines to the genome-wide analysis of lymphomas. This will allow the identification of all of the genes being expressed by the lymphoid cells, the presence of mutated genes and chromosome rearrangements, as well as enabling the recognition of proteins which could be targetted by anti-cancer treatments.		Genetics of Aortic Valve Stenosis Aortic valve stenosis is the third leading cause of adult heart disease and the most common form of acquired heart valve disease in developed countries. Although some risk factors are known, the true interactions are complex and involve age, lifestyle factors, and genetics.
	Genetics of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma The focus of this research is to discover the inherited genetic factors that influence susceptibility to Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and other related Lymphoid Cancers within families.		Healthy Aging Study We study genetic factors that underlie healthy aging and resistance to age-related diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, dementia and diabetes.
	High Resolution Analysis of Follicular Lymphoma Genomes High resolution analysis follicular lymphoma genomes to discover the genomic rearrangements contributing to development of follicular lymphoma and the additional rearrangements contributing to the progression from follicular lymphoma to diffuse large B cell lymphoma.		Investigating Autophagy Proteins as Molecular Targets for Cancer Treatment This team project aims to enhance the translation of promising autophagy-related discoveries and therapeutic strategies to treatments that are beneficial for patients with late stage and recurrent / treatment insensitive cancers.
	Lymphoid Cancer Families Study The focus of this research is to discover the inherited genetic factors that influence susceptibility to Lymphoid Cancers (lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, multiple myeloma, and the lymphocytic leukemias) within families.		Lymphoma Transcriptome Sequencing and Analysis This project involves identifying and characterizing the range of mutations found in lymphoma tumours. Once identified, specific mutations may be shown to effect or be associated with response to treatment, patient outcome and survival, or be useful as a target for anti-cancer drug development.
	MAGIC - Medulloblastoma Advanced Genomics International Consortium Stratifying and Targeting Pediatric Medulloblastoma through Genomics		Mammalian Organogenesis (MORGEN) Using the mouse as our model organism, we are identifying transcriptional networks of genes necessary for the development of the heart, lung, and pancreas.
	Massively Parallel Sequencing of the human T-cell Receptor Repertoire This is a comparative approach to understanding the individual variation in the human T-cell repertoires at the sequence level.		Mutation Specific Inhibitors in Breast Cancer Cell Lines To use next generation sequencing technology to derive the complete genomic sequence of breast cancer cell lines.
	Potential Therapy for Prostate Cancer Our aim is to design targeted therapies which will recognize and disable the androgen receptor when it is activated in the absence androgen.		Roles of macroautophagy in Drosophila development The fruit fly is used as a model organism in which we study the process of autophagy at a cellular and whole organism level.
	Single Cell Genomics Integration of multilayer soft lithography with next-generation sequencing in order to achieve transcriptome analysis of single cells.		The Canadian Pediatric Cancer Genome Consortium (CPCGC) Characterizing pediatric cancers through comprehensive genome review. Using the genetic information to find new therapies.
	The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Cancer transcriptome characterization using massively parallel DNA sequencing		Tumor infiltrating T cells in Ovarian Cancer How does the immune system evolve during initial stages of ovarian cancer versus later recurrence of the disease? Our aim is to identify tumor antigens as unique targets for immuno-therapy in advanced ovarian cancer.