OICR researcher receives Genome Canada award to develop software for personalized medicine

TORONTO, April 25, 2013 /CNW/ - The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and the Ontario Genomics Institute (OGI) today announced that Dr. Lincoln Stein, OICR's Program Leader, Informatics and Bio-computing, has been awarded $250,000 through Genome Canada's Bioinformatics and Computational Biology competition, in partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Dr. Stein and his colleague Dr. Guanming Wu, aim to develop software that will improve the treatment of cancer patients by enabling physicians to study and visualize the genomic aberrations of individual patients. It will help identify genes related to cancers and other diseases.

Cancer is a disease caused by the accumulation of multiple genetic mutations. Highly specific drugs that target mutated proteins in cancer cells are currently being used to treat the disease. However, since cancer patients have different mutation profiles, a drug that is effective in one may not have the same result in another. Personalized medicine based on genomic data would allow doctors to determine the best targeted therapy for each patient.

"One of OICR's research priorities is to use personalized medicine to optimize patient treatment decisions," said Dr. Tom Hudson, OICR's President and Scientific Director. "This project will be of great value to patients because it will link genomic pathway and network patterns to clinical information such as likelihood of cancer metastasis, recurrence, drug sensitivity and patient overall survival."

"This project will improve clinical care for individuals with cancer," said Dr. Mark Poznansky, President and CEO, Ontario Genomics Institute. "Understanding the genetic differences between individuals allows for personalized approaches to medicine, which will have a significant impact on health care in Ontario and the world. OGI is proud to support this important work by Drs. Stein and Wu."

About OICR

OICR is an innovative cancer research and development institute dedicated to prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The Institute is an independent, not-for-profit corporation, supported by the Government of Ontario. The annual budget for OICR, its research partners and collaborators exceeds $150 million. This supports more than 1,600 investigators, clinician scientists, research staff and trainees located at its headquarters and in research institutes and academia across the Province of Ontario. OICR has key research efforts underway in small molecules, biologics, stem cells, imaging, genomics, informatics and bio-computing. For more information, please visit the website at www.oicr.on.ca.

About OGI

The Ontario Genomics Institute (OGI) is a private, not-for-profit corporation focused on using world-class research to create strategic genomics resources and accelerate Ontario's development of a globally-competitive life sciences sector. Through its relationship with Genome Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, and other private and public sector partners, OGI works to: identify, attract and support investment in Ontario-led genomics research; catalyze access to and the impact of genomics resources; and, raise the visibility of genomics as well as its impact and associated issues. For more information on OGI, please visit www.ontariogenomics.ca.

SOURCE: Ontario Institute for Cancer Research

For further information:

Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
Contact: Michael Giardino
Communications Officer
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Ontario Genomics Institute
Contact: Christine Beyaert
Corporate Communications Manager
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Twitter: @ontariogenomics