Understanding the body and disease process Cells, Genetics and Genomics

1913

After a number of years in medical practice, Dr. Oswald Avery pursued medical research

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1923

Dr. Pierre Masson's early research led to the publication of his classic text "Les Tumeurs Humaines"

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1940s

At McGill, Dr. Charles Leblond found the opportunity to attempt his autoradiography experiment again, this time using an isotope with a longer half-life

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1944

The Journal of Experimental Medicine published the breakthrough discovery of Avery, MacLeod and McCarty

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1948

Drs. Barr and Bertram made a ground-breaking discovery later referred to as the Barr body

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1953

Along with his student Yves Clermont, Dr. Charles Leblond discovered the first mammalian stem cells

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1953

Watson and Crick discover the structure of DNA

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1955

With Dr. K.L. Moore, Dr. Barr developed the buccal smear test, a non-invasive method of gathering human cells from the lining of the mouth for genetic testing

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1956

Louis Siminovitch joins the Ontario Cancer Institute

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1960's

For the next 15 years, Drs. McCulloch and Till pursued stem-cell research

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1961

Till and McCulloch published their original paper describing stem cells in Radiation Research

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1963

Ernest McCulloch and James Till published their findings in "Nature"

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1963

Lou Siminovitch provides input to the fledgling stem cell research group with Drs. Till and McCulloch

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1969

Dr. MacLennan began his studies of the SR—a calcium storage and release compartment inside muscle cells

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1970

Dr. Lou Siminovitch appointed Geneticist-in-Chief at The Hospital for Sick Children

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1970s

Dr. Michael Smith focused his research on the human genome and on developing methods to sequence DNA molecules called oligonucleotides

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1971

Dr. Worton returned to Canada and joined the Department of Genetics at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto as Director of the Cytogenetics Laboratory

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1979

Dr. John Bienenstock was one of the first to identify the T cell-dependent mucosal mast cell as a major effector cell of parasite gut immunity

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1979

Dr. Michael Hayden established the 1st Huntington’s Disease Clinic in South Africa

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1980

Dr. Joseph Martin developed an NIH-sponsored Huntington’s Disease Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital that brought together scientists from Harvard, MIT and Boston University

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1981

Dr. Eaves co-founded the Terry Fox Laboratory at the BC Cancer Agency

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1982

Dr. Worton devised a five year research plan to identify the gene responsible for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy using DNA from Dr. Verellen's patient.

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1984

Known as the “holy grail” of immunology, Dr. Mak discovered the structure of the T-Cell captor for antigens

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1985

Dr. Lap-Chee Tsui completed a four-year tour-de-force to map the cystic fibrosis gene to a position on human chromosome 7

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1985

Dr. Worton began a ten-year term as Geneticist-in-Chief at the Hospital for Sick Children. That same year he, along with colleague Dr. Peter Ray, identified a portion of the X chromosome containing…

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1986

Dr. Pawson developed the concept of signaling proteins and identified the Src homology 2 (SH2) domain as the prototypic protein-interaction module

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1986

To facilitate increased scientific collaboration, Dr. Hayden established the Canadian Collaborative Network on Predictive Testing for Huntington's Disease

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1989

Along with Dr. Michael Hayden, Dr. Worton developed the successful proposal to create the Canadian Genetic Diseases Network (a Network of Centres of Excellence) and served as its Associate Director…

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1989

Dr. John Dick developed the first xenograft assay (the implantation of human tumour cells into immunocompromised mice) for human leukemia cells

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1989

Dr. Worton joined a small group of geneticists in Montreux to create HUGO, the international Human Genome Organisation.

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1989

The discovery of the CFTR gene defective in cystic fibrosis was published in three foundational papers in Science magazine and received worldwide acclaim as the first disease gene to be identified…

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1990

The Human Genome Project began

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1992

Dr. David MacLennan published his research on the genetic basis of malignant hyperthermia in swine in the journal "Trends in Pharmacological Sciences"

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1992

Dr. Worton was appointed Director of the Canadian Genome Analysis and Technology Program which was the forerunner of Genome Canada established seven years later

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1993

With support from the world’s largest independent biotech company, Amgen, Dr. Mak established the Amgen Research Institute in Toronto

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1996

As part of an effort to translate scientific discoveries into commercial products, Dr. Hayden established NeuroVir Pharmaceutic

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1997

Dr. Finlay and his team published a seminal paper that showed Salmonella resides inside host cells during infections

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1997

The Finlay Group showed how enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) injects its own receptor into host cells

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2000

Learning from the success of the South Africa Clinic, Dr. Hayden founded BC’s first Huntington’s Disease Clinic

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2000

NeuroVir was sold to a German biotechnology company that took NeuroVir’s technology into clinical trials

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2000

Ron Worton elected President of the American Society for Human Genetics

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2000

A great mentor, Michael Smith hand-picked Marco Marra to succeed him as Director of the GSC

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2001

Connie Eaves became the first researcher in Vancouver to commence investigations of human embryonic stem cells (ES) and human induced pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS)

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2001

Following merger of four Ottawa hospitals to create The Ottawa Hospital, Dr. Worton became the first CEO and Scientific Director of the new Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, and VP Research of the…

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2002

Dr. Finlay co-founded Inimex Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company to facilitate shifting lab work into accessible products

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2003

At the height of the SARS outbreak Marco Marra and his team of researchers successfully sequenced the SARS coronavirus, providing a basis for both vaccine development and diagnostic testing

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2004

Along with Dr. Bruce Carleton, Dr. Hayden created Genotype-Specific Approaches to Therapy in Childhood

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2004

Dr. John Dick identified cancer stem cells in human colon cancer

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2004

Tak Wah Mak became Director of the Campbell Family for Breast Cancer Research Institute at the Princess Margaret Hospital

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2005

David MacLennan published his research on the Ca2+ATPase in the Journal of Biological Chemistry in 1970

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2005

Till and McCulloch published “Perspectives on the Properties of Stem Cells”

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2006

Onpattro developed to treat transthyretin induced amyloidosis (hATTR), a previously fatal hereditary condition that affects some 50,000 people worldwid

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2008

The Brain-Body Institute was established at McMaster University

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2009

Marco Marra and his team became the first to publish a genomic study of breast cancer and its metastasis

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2012

The Personalized Oncogenomics (POG) project at BC Cancer was established under Marco Marra’s leadership

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2016

Dr. John Dick provided the first evidence that leukemia stem cell gene expression signatures are clinically relevant

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2018

Dr. John Dick demonstrated that detection of pre-leukemia haematopoietic stem cells can predict individuals at risk for progression to acute myeloid leukemia up to a decade in advance

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2018

Nanomedicine-based drug Onpattro approved by the FDA

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