Vancouver, BC: BC Cancer Agency researchers will receive $2.9 million for two, first-of-their kind programs to train Canadian researchers in the most up-to-date techniques for cancer detection and research. The training programs in pathology and bioinformatics will be supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research will provide additional funding for the Bioinformatics training program.

"We are thrilled to be recognized as leaders in pathology and bioinfomatics," says Dr. Victor Ling, vice-president, Research. "These programs will help train current and future Canadian researchers, so they can return to their communities and in turn train others."

Dr. Steven Jones - based at the BC Cancer Agency's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre (GSC) - in partnership with researchers at Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia will receive a total of $2 million over six years for a Bioinformatics Training Program.

There has been an explosion of biological information generated from the study of DNA, genes and proteins. The management and interpretation of this information with the aid of computer technology - known as bioinfomatics - is a new field that holds great promise in helping researchers better understand life at the molecular level. This program will provide high-level training to teach the current generation of health researchers to effectively use computer tools and databases to advance biological discovery. More than 60 researchers will be trained over the next six years.

The GSC, founded by the late Nobel Laureate Dr. Michael Smith, is one of a handful of world-wide laboratories contributing to the enormous undertaking of mapping and sequencing the genomes of a variety of organisms to determine their specific roles in illness and health. More than 70 researchers, lab technicians, computer scientists, engineers and others work in the GSC.

BC Cancer Agency researchers will receive $900,000 over six years to establish a national training program for scientists and research pathologists. Dr. Diponkar Banerjee, head of the BC Cancer Agency's Pathology Program, is leading the B.C. team, which is collaborating with the Ontario Cancer Institute. The Ontario Cancer Institute will also receive $900,000 for a total CIHR grant of $1.8 million.

Recent advances in our knowledge about molecular biology have revolutionized our understanding and treatment of cancer. Future treatments will increasingly depend on knowing the characteristics of molecular changes in individual tissue, and developing therapeutic agents to target specific tissue changes. This training program will help pathologists integrate new knowledge in molecular biology, genomics, molecular cytogenetics and advanced molecular micro-imaging techniques.

There is currently an acute shortage of pathologists with molecular expertise in North America. A team of mentors, including scientists from the Agency's BC Cancer Research Centre, the Genome Sciences Centre (GSC), and pathologists from the Vancouver Centre will train about 20 pathologists during the next six years to help alleviate the critical shortage.

Pathologists are physicians who are experts in the interpretation of tissue and cellular changes in the disease process. The BC Cancer Agency's pathology department is known for its expertise in the molecular pathology and cytogenetics of cancer, especially lymphoma and leukemia. More than 45 pathologists, technologists and support staff work in the department.