Ontario Institute for Cancer Research(OICR)

OICR is an innovative translational research institute dedicated to research on the prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

OICR Associates are exceptional investigators with appointments at academic research institutions that share a scientific focus with OICR. These investigators engage in innovative research collaborations with OICR programs and platforms, but do not receive financial support from OICR. OICR Associates collaborate primarily with the Genetic Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Genome Technologies, Informatics and Bio-computing, Drug Discovery and Transformative Pathology Programs.CAREERS@OICR

To learn more about OICR’s job opportunities, please visit our Careers page.

OICR’s Investigator Awards Program has attracted outstanding PhD researchers and clinician-scientists to Ontario from across Canada and around the world. The program provides stable recruitment and retention funding for principal investigators in Ontario, further strengthening the province’s cancer research capacity.CAREERS@OICR

To learn more about OICR’s job opportunities, please visit our Careers page.

OICR OVERVIEW

Translational cancer research institute;

• Research in small molecules, biologics, stem cells, imaging, genomics, informatics and biocomputing, pathology, high impact clinical trials and health outcomes;

• With its collaborators and partners supports >1,700 researchers, clinician scientists research staff and trainees;

• Headquartered in downtown Toronto’s Discovery District, with a global strategy and an Ontario focus;

• Toronto has Canada’s largest concentration of scientific research and is among the top three in North America in terms of its bioscience cluster.

8 partnerships with national organizations that support cancer research and commercialization in Canada;

• 20 startup companies with a total of 180 employees developed out of OICR’s investments and research, 7 with prototypes manufactured, 4 with products sold, 4 commenced first-inman studies;

• 108 patent applications filed between April 2010 and March 2014 arising from OICR-funded research;

• 565 papers published in scientific journals between April 2013 and March 2014 arising from OICR-funded research; ON

OICR’S VISION

5 OICR is a centre of excellence that moves Ontario to the forefront of discovery and innovation in cancer research and ensures the effective knowledge transfer and commercialization of research findings to maximize the health and economic benefits for the people of Ontario.

OICR’S TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH MISSION AND PRIORITIES

 OICR’s unique translational research model leverages Ontario’s province-wide strengths in discovery research, translational medicine and commercialization to maximize impact of prevention, screening and treatment for cancer patients.

Collaboration among programs, e.g., Translational Research Initiatives, accelerates the flow of research discoveries for testing in the clinic. The Improved Management of Early Cancer (IMEC) is developing new approaches to distinguish aggressive versus non-invasive disease for patients with early breast or prostate cancer. PanCuRx integrates genomics, bioinformatics, drug discovery, biology, imaging and innovative pre-clinical models to develop new treatment approaches for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

OICR PROGRAMS

1-Cancer Stem Cell (CSC) Leader: Dr. John Dick 10 Determining the role of CSC biology in cancer prognosis and treatment, and its potential to improve patient outcomes

2-Innovation in Target Validation Leader: Dr. Rob Rottapel

3-Drug Discovery Leader: Dr. Rima Al-awar Translating cancer-related discoveries into effective and safe therapeutics for patients

4-Smarter Imaging and Imaging Translation Co-leaders: Drs. Martin Yaffe and Aaron Fenster Developing new imaging probes and techniques for early detection, diagnosis and prognosis of cancer, from cell lines towards early human trials

5-Genome Technologies Leader: Dr. John McPherson

6-Genome Technologies – ICGC Leader: Dr. John McPherson

7-International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC)

8-Informatics and Bio-computing Leader: Dr. Lincoln Stein 17 Developing expertise and tools to enable clinically-relevant discoveries through characterization of high-throughput cancer data

9-Transformative Pathology Leader: Dr. John Bartlett 18 Developing validated biomarker assays for clinical us

10-Ontario Tumour Bank Director: Monique Albert 19 Enabling better research through access to quality-controlled biospecimens and corresponding highly annotated clinical data

11-Immuno- and Bio-Therapies Leader: Dr. John Bell Identifying new bio-therapeutic approaches for the treatment of cancer through the execution of high impact clinical trials

12-Health Services Research Leader: Dr. Craig Earle 21 Using data to inform cancer service innovations, evaluate technologies and optimize patient care

13-Ontario Health Study Leader: Dr. Mark Purdue 22 Already one of the largest longitudinal cohort studies ever conducted

14-Canadian Cancer Clinical Trials Network Scientific Director: Dr. Janet Dancey

OVERVIEW

Research and clinical scientists at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) are making a significant contribution to the prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

OICR has a number of programs that facilitate knowledge exchange to ensure that the research it conducts has a great impact on the understanding of cancer, on future cancer research and on the provision of oncology services to patients.

We are committed to cancer research education and outreach to:

• Generate public awareness about cancer research in Ontario;
• Engage youth in cancer research activities;
• Support and develop young basic and clinical scientists in their cancer research careers in order to help build the next generation of cancer researchers.

The goal of OICR’s cancer career training and support program is to provide continued support and learning opportunities to the next generation of cancer researchers to further their own research and their careers.

OICR is an innovative cancer research institute located in the MaRS Centre in the Discovery District in downtown Toronto. OICR is addressing significant challenges in cancer research with multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional teams. New discoveries to prevent, detect and treat cancer will be moved from the bench to practical applications in patients. The OICR team is growing quickly. We are innovative, dedicated professionals who bring expertise to each of our roles. We are looking for individuals interested in being part of a culture of excellence that will result in Ontario being recognized internationally as a leading jurisdiction for cancer research.

OICR has a diverse workforce and is an equal opportunity employer.

• View positions available with OICR

The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research conducts research but does not provide medical advice or treatment.

If you are looking for a clinical trial for cancer, please visit the following websites:

Clinical trials in Canada are listed at http://portfolio.3ctn.ca/ andhttp://www.canadiancancertrials.ca/.

Stand Up to Cancer has information about clinical trials and a link to clinical trials in Canada and the United States.

Clinical trials in the United States are listed at: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/search. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the United States lists NCI-sponsored cancer clinical trials.