Toronto chosen as headquarters for global cancer genome project

Toronto is the new home and data centre for the International Cancer Genome Project (ICGC) — a massive new undertaking that could generate 25,000 more data than the Human Genome Project. The secretariat for the ICGC executive committee will be housed at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) in Toronto.

The Consortium plans to identify the genetic mutations of 50 types of cancer and subtypes with each member country contributing $20 million per project — a task that is expected to take several years. Each member is required to choose at least one cancer type and fund the necessary research, with Canada selecting the pancreas, a cancer type for which there is no known cure. Not all cancer types have been delegated yet as more countries are expected to join the Consortium in the coming months. Canada may also undertake the study of brain and ovarian cancer if it is successful in obtaining additional funds from Genome Canada.

The OICR is becoming a centrepiece for the Toronto region's growing status as an internationally recognized centre for health and life sciences research. For its part, the government has committed $347 million to the OICR over five years. It will use $30 million of that funding to support its work with the ICGC. An additional $10 million is being provided for the global data centre.

The data unit will manage data flow from projects and centres to the central ICGC database and public repositories and provide regular progress reports to the executive. New sequencing and other genomic technologies have made a project of this magnitude feasible on a comprehensive and high-throughput scale.

Last October, cancer and genomic researchers and funding agency representatives from 22 countries assembled in Toronto to discuss strategies for accelerating the study of cancer genomes. An interim executive was established and the OICR agreed to take on the secretariat function. Included on the interim executive is Dr Tom Hudson, OICR president and CEO. Cindy Bell and Karen Kennedy of Genome Canada have observer status.

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