Latest news from Ontario Institute for Cancer Research on Newswise en-us Copyright 2024 Newswise 115 31 / /images/newswise-logo-rss.gif /articles/study-shows-that-environmental-exposures-such-as-air-pollution-are-more-determinant-of-respiratory-health-than-inherited-genetics/?sc=rsin /articles/study-shows-that-environmental-exposures-such-as-air-pollution-are-more-determinant-of-respiratory-health-than-inherited-genetics/?sc=rsin Tue, 06 Mar 2018 11:05:00 EST Researchers have found strong evidence that environmental exposures, including air pollution, affect gene expressions associated with respiratory diseases much more than genetic ancestry. The study, published today in Nature Communications, analyzed more than 1.6 million data points from biological specimens, health questionnaires and environmental datasets, making this study one of the largest ever to examine the relationship between gene expression and environmental stimuli. These findings represent a groundbreaking use of big data to uncover the environmental factors that are behind diseases and inform strategies for prevention, an approach that would apply to a number of diseases, including cancer. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/oicr-launches-groundbreaking-cancer-therapeutics-innovation-pipeline-to-drive-cutting-edge-therapies-to-the-clinic/?sc=rsin /articles/oicr-launches-groundbreaking-cancer-therapeutics-innovation-pipeline-to-drive-cutting-edge-therapies-to-the-clinic/?sc=rsin Mon, 04 Dec 2017 10:00:38 EST The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) today announced the Cancer Therapeutics Innovation Pipeline (CTIP) initiative and the first 10 projects selected in CTIP's inaugural round of funding. CTIP aims to support the local translation of Ontario discoveries into therapies with the potential for improving the lives of cancer patients. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/innovative-study-brings-next-generation-genomic-sequencing-to-more-ontario-cancer-patients/?sc=rsin /articles/innovative-study-brings-next-generation-genomic-sequencing-to-more-ontario-cancer-patients/?sc=rsin Wed, 06 Sep 2017 09:00:50 EST Understanding a cancer's genetics is key to selecting targeted therapies that are likely to be of the most benefit to a patient. The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) today announced a new study, called Ontario-wide Cancer TArgeted Nucleic Acid Evaluation (OCTANE). OCTANE will use next-generation genome sequencing technology to bring a unified molecular profiling approach to five Ontario cancer centres. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/new-data-resource-centre-will-help-better-understand-links-between-birth-defects-and-childhood-cancer/?sc=rsin /articles/new-data-resource-centre-will-help-better-understand-links-between-birth-defects-and-childhood-cancer/?sc=rsin Tue, 15 Aug 2017 12:05:00 EST Up to $14.8 million over five years, contingent on available funds, was announced today by The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund's Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program (Kids First). Researchers in Canada and the United States are using these funds to join together and build a centralized, cloud-based database and discovery portal of genetic and clinical data called the Kids First Data Resource Center (DRC). Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/oicr-launches-five-large-scale-ontario-research-initiatives-to-combat-some-of-the-most-deadly-cancers/?sc=rsin /articles/oicr-launches-five-large-scale-ontario-research-initiatives-to-combat-some-of-the-most-deadly-cancers/?sc=rsin Thu, 25 May 2017 10:00:23 EST Funding announcement from the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/innovative-technique-greatly-increases-sensitivity-of-dna-sequencing/?sc=rsin /articles/innovative-technique-greatly-increases-sensitivity-of-dna-sequencing/?sc=rsin Thu, 09 Mar 2017 10:05:12 EST OICR researchers, together with international collaborators, have invented a technique to avoid a major problem with common laboratory techniques and improve the sensitivity of important cancer tests. The findings, published today in the journal Nature Protocols, describe a process by which the sensitivity of DNA sequencing can be improved. The technology, called SiMSen-Seq, could aid in detecting the recurrence of cancers, catching possible disease relapses faster than current methods and improving patient outcomes. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/new-findings-published-today-in-nature-challenge-current-view-of-how-pancreatic-cancer-develops/?sc=rsin /articles/new-findings-published-today-in-nature-challenge-current-view-of-how-pancreatic-cancer-develops/?sc=rsin Wed, 12 Oct 2016 13:00:21 EST Researchers in the multidisciplinary PanCuRx research initiative at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and University Health Network's Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, led by Dr. Faiyaz Notta and Dr. Steven Gallinger, today published new findings that challenge current beliefs about how and why pancreatic cancer is so aggressive. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/reactome-announces-annotation-and-release-of-10-000th-human-protein/?sc=rsin /articles/reactome-announces-annotation-and-release-of-10-000th-human-protein/?sc=rsin Thu, 06 Oct 2016 09:00:21 EST The European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), the New York University School of Medicine and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) today announced a major milestone in the Reactome project: the annotation and release of its 10,000th human protein, making it the most comprehensive open access pathway knowledgebase available to the scientific community. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/new-retrospective-study-aims-to-identify-mutations-to-better-diagnose-breast-cancer-in-the-future/?sc=rsin /articles/new-retrospective-study-aims-to-identify-mutations-to-better-diagnose-breast-cancer-in-the-future/?sc=rsin Wed, 17 Aug 2016 10:00:25 EST Mr. Peter Goodhand, President of The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), today announced a new collaborative research study in partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific and Queen's University to help bring more targeted diagnosis and treatment to breast cancer patients in the future. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/international-team-launches-community-competition-to-unravel-how-cancer-changes-a-cell-s-rna/?sc=rsin /articles/international-team-launches-community-competition-to-unravel-how-cancer-changes-a-cell-s-rna/?sc=rsin Thu, 14 Jul 2016 11:05:13 EST An open challenge that merges the efforts of the International Cancer Genome Consortium, The Cancer Genome Atlas, and the NCI Cloud Pilots with Sage Bionetworks and the open science DREAM Challenge community Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/researchers-discover-protein-signatures-for-accurate-non-invasive-diagnosis-of-aggressive-prostate-cancer/?sc=rsin /articles/researchers-discover-protein-signatures-for-accurate-non-invasive-diagnosis-of-aggressive-prostate-cancer/?sc=rsin Tue, 28 Jun 2016 10:00:25 EST Researchers at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, along with researchers at the Eastern Virginia Medical School, have created protein signatures that accurately diagnose prostate cancer and can distinguish between patients with aggressive versus non-aggressive disease using a simple urine sample. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/clinical-trial-launched-to-test-use-of-mri-to-improve-prostate-cancer-diagnosis-and-management/?sc=rsin /articles/clinical-trial-launched-to-test-use-of-mri-to-improve-prostate-cancer-diagnosis-and-management/?sc=rsin Wed, 01 Jun 2016 09:00:40 EST The Movember Foundation, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and Prostate Cancer Canada today announced $3 million in funding for a new Phase III clinical trial to evaluate if magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can replace the current standard of care to diagnose prostate cancer. The primary objective of the multi-centre trial, called PRECISE, is to determine whether MRI imaging can spare some men from undergoing a biopsy and avoid the possible associated side effects. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/2-million-in-new-funding-from-canadian-institutes-of-health-research-will-help-ontario-team-study-metabolic-syndromes/?sc=rsin /articles/2-million-in-new-funding-from-canadian-institutes-of-health-research-will-help-ontario-team-study-metabolic-syndromes/?sc=rsin Mon, 02 May 2016 10:00:00 EST The award will fund the study of the role of both genes and the environment on the development of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of medical conditions that are common in aging adults, including obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and insulin resistance. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/international-cancer-genome-consortium-for-medicine-icgcmed-launches-today-will-link-genomics-to-clinical-information-and-health/?sc=rsin /articles/international-cancer-genome-consortium-for-medicine-icgcmed-launches-today-will-link-genomics-to-clinical-information-and-health/?sc=rsin Sun, 17 Apr 2016 14:00:22 EST The International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) today announced plans to launch the International Cancer Genome Consortium for Medicine (ICGCmed), a new phase in the Consortium's evolution that will link genomics to clinical information and health. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/international-cancer-genome-consortium-reaches-milestone-of-1-000-authorized-users/?sc=rsin /articles/international-cancer-genome-consortium-reaches-milestone-of-1-000-authorized-users/?sc=rsin Tue, 01 Mar 2016 09:00:22 EST The International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) announced today that its Data Access Compliance Office (DACO) authorized its 1,000th user, giving them access to the Consortium's Controlled Access datasets. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/building-the-foundations-for-cancer-genomic-analysis-for-research-and-clinical-diagnostics/?sc=rsin /articles/building-the-foundations-for-cancer-genomic-analysis-for-research-and-clinical-diagnostics/?sc=rsin Wed, 09 Dec 2015 05:00:00 EST A study published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications revealed a high degree of heterogeneity in how cancer genome sequencing is done at different institutions across the globe. This result lays the foundation for the coming era of cancer genomics by creating guidelines and providing new tools for achieving higher quality data, for better diagnosis and precision medicine; Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/the-international-cancer-genome-consortium-brings-more-genomic-health-data-to-researchers-on-the-amazon-web-services-cloud/?sc=rsin /articles/the-international-cancer-genome-consortium-brings-more-genomic-health-data-to-researchers-on-the-amazon-web-services-cloud/?sc=rsin Wed, 18 Nov 2015 11:15:00 EST The International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) announced today that 1,200 encrypted cancer whole genome sequences are now securely available on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud for access by cancer researchers worldwide. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/international-team-announces-crowdsourcing-competition-running-on-google-cloud-platform-to-understand-how-cancers-originate-and-evolve/?sc=rsin /articles/international-team-announces-crowdsourcing-competition-running-on-google-cloud-platform-to-understand-how-cancers-originate-and-evolve/?sc=rsin Mon, 16 Nov 2015 16:30:00 EST An international consortium of groups from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom have come together to create an innovative, cloud-based, public challenge to optimize the discovery of genetically distinct groups of cells within cancers that could respond differently to treatment and have different risk of spreading. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/the-ontario-institute-for-cancer-research-and-the-structural-genomics-consortium-develop-and-give-away-new-drug-like-molecule-to-help-crowd-source-cancer-research/?sc=rsin /articles/the-ontario-institute-for-cancer-research-and-the-structural-genomics-consortium-develop-and-give-away-new-drug-like-molecule-to-help-crowd-source-cancer-research/?sc=rsin Thu, 03 Sep 2015 11:30:00 EST Researchers from the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto have developed a new drug prototype called OICR-9429 and made it freely available to the research community. Already research conducted by international groups using OICR-9429 has shown it to be effective in stopping cancer cell growth in breast cancer cell lines and a specific subtype of leukemia cells. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research /articles/world-leading-big-data-researchers-call-for-support-for-more-accessible-and-more-effective-storage-of-data-in-the-cloud-to-facilitate-genomics-research/?sc=rsin /articles/world-leading-big-data-researchers-call-for-support-for-more-accessible-and-more-effective-storage-of-data-in-the-cloud-to-facilitate-genomics-research/?sc=rsin Thu, 09 Jul 2015 13:00:00 EST Today in the journal Nature prominent researchers from Canada, Europe and the U.S. have made a powerful call to major funding agencies, asking them to commit to establishing a global genomic data commons in the cloud that could be easily accessed by authorized researchers worldwide. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research