Breast Cancer Research Centre
Scientists and clinical staff in the comprehensive and multidisciplinary Breast Cancer Research Centre (BCRC) at Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) are working together to understand and solve some of the most important problems in breast cancer, in particular, which genomic factors result in disease susceptibility and variable response to treatment, and how to detect and diagnose tumours more swiftly and accurately.
Research within the centre spans the spectrum of discovery. Biologists are developing molecular methods, via gene profiling and improved histological sampling, to predict disease outcome and develop individualized treatments. To improve diagnostic and interventional imaging, physicists are developing and testing technology to identify tumours earlier and with more sensitivity, and to detect tumour boundaries for improved pathology analysis and surgical intervention epidemiologists are testing and validating these basic discoveries and translational results in international clinical trials.
Founded in 2000 by an $11 million grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, matched by the same amount from the Ontario Innovation Trust, BCRC has produced notable advances, some of which have changed practice. The centre is now seen as the premier place to do multidisciplinary breast cancer research in Canada, and it attracts researchers and trainees from across the country. The construction of new space on M wing that will give BCRC a 26,000 square-foot home will enable the entire team—biologists, physicists, oncologists, radiologists, surgeons, engineers, pathologists and epidemiologists—to work together even more closely.
Six SRI scientists and their lab groups are formally affiliated with BCRC. Short research overviews for each are given on the project profiles pages, and each scientist also has a full profile, which you can see by clicking on the name.
