Canada augments global effort to unlock cancer's secrets

CANARIE provides Ontario Institute for Cancer Research with dedicated high-speed link to enable leading-edge research on cancer genome

OTTAWA, April 6 /CNW Telbec/ - Doctors and researchers working to understand how cancer develops and grows have access to a new tool in their arsenal: by using the power of the CANARIE network, they can now share their findings and access large, sophisticated data sets from other cancer research institutes around the world through the International Cancer Genome Consortium. The ability to quickly transmit these one terabyte data sets - equivalent to the contents of books made from 50,000 trees - enables Canadian cancer researchers to accelerate their research about a disease that will afflict 40% of women and 45% of men during their lifetimes.

Scientists at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) are creating a catalogue of genetic markers for pancreatic cancer, which, along with esophageal, lung and liver cancers, have the lowest survival ratios. By cataloguing these genetic markers, researchers are able to better classify tumours and develop new diagnostic tools and targeted treatments.

"The opportunity to study the DNA of cancer cells in a timely and efficient way, and share our findings with colleagues around the world, means greater understanding of cancer and faster discovery of potential new treatments," notes Dr. Lincoln Stein, Platform Leader, Informatics and Bio-computing at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.

The CANARIE network provides both the bandwidth and the connectivity to share these massive data sets across the country and across international borders. With their data traveling across the CANARIE network at speeds hundreds of times faster than the commercial Internet, OICR research teams can quickly share analyses with researchers around the world, enabling greater collaboration and cooperation, and opening the door to new hypotheses, approaches and treatment protocols.

"The range of scientific and research activities that CANARIE enables is one of the great strengths of the network," notes Jim Roche, President and CEO of CANARIE. "Having a national digital infrastructure like CANARIE means that Canadian researchers, like those at the OICR, can participate in global research on issue of global importance, like cancer."

    
    About CANARIE:
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CANARIE Inc. is Canada's Advanced Research and Innovation Network. Established in 1993, CANARIE manages an ultra high-speed network, hundreds of times faster than the internet, which facilitates leading-edge research and big science across Canada and around the world. More than 39,000 researchers at nearly 200 Canadian universities and colleges use the CANARIE Network, as well as researchers at institutes, hospitals, and government laboratories throughout the country. The CANARIE Network enables researchers to share and analyze massive amounts of data, which can lead to ground-breaking scientific discoveries. CANARIE's network, programs, and strategic partnerships with 12 regional networks in Canada, and 100 international networks in more than 80 countries, stimulate research that delivers economic, social, and cultural benefits to Canadians.

CANARIE is a non-profit corporation supported by membership fees, with major funding of its programs and activities provided by the Government of Canada. For additional information, please visit: www.canarie.ca.

    
    About the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research:
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The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) is a centre of excellence in cancer research with a focus on prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The Institute is an independent, not-for-profit corporation funded by the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Research and Innovation. The Institute is bringing together multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional collaborations, which will allow complex questions to be pursued. It is translating research findings into programs, technologies and therapies. Established in December, 2005, the Institute will support more than 50 internationally recognized principal investigators; there will be a strong core of scientists at the MaRS Centre with the remainder in nodes of excellence around the province.

The Institute is leveraging the current research excellence at universities, research hospitals and health research institutes across Ontario, leading to greater integration of cancer research efforts across institutions. The Ontario Cancer Research Network, established in 2002, has been incorporated into the Institute. Its initiatives will continue under the umbrella of the Institute and will include:

    
    -   Cancer Research Fund
    -   Clinical Trials Infrastructure Fund
    -   Clinical Trials Network
    -   OntarioCancerTrials.ca
    -   Ontario Cancer Research Ethics Board
    -   Ontario Tumour Bank
    

For more information, please visit www.oicr.on.ca.

For further information: Kathryn Anthonisen, Director of Communications, CANARIE, [phone], [email protected]