Cancer Control Research Unit

2003 Research Unit Award

This unit combines the skills and talents of researchers in the BC Cancer Agency’s Cancer Control Research Program and Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre to create a critical mass of expertise in cancer epidemiology, environmental exposure assessment, genetics and biostatistics. The unit will explore the interaction between environmental toxins and genetic susceptibility in determining cancer risk, focusing on environmental, genetic and gene-environment studies in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, skin cancer, ovarian cancer and cancers of the mouth.

While it is estimated that up to 80 per cent of cancers are of environmental origin, advances in genetics and molecular biology indicate that disease risk cannot be attributed solely to exposure to environmental toxins. There is clear evidence that the interaction between levels of exposure and individual genetic susceptibility to cancer determines the degree of risk. This research unit aims to discover those genetic, environmental, and occupational factors and their interactions that define cancer risk and can inform the development of new strategies for prevention, early detection and treatment.

The Cancer Control Research Unit combines the skills and talents of researchers in the BC Cancer Agency’s Cancer Control Research Unit and Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre. With complementary expertise in cancer epidemiology, environmental exposure assessment, genetics and biostatistics, this team is uniquely positioned to undertake an integrated program of environmental, genetic and gene-environment studies. Building on BCCA’s Cancer Control Research Unit, a world-class epidemiology research program with 20 years of experience in studying environmental and occupational cancer risks, the linkage with the Genome Sciences Centre will enable the unit to undertake an expanded program of gene-environment interaction studies in areas such as non-Hodgkins’s lymphoma, skin cancer, ovarian cancer and cancers of the mouth. Future plans include linking with BCCA’s Tumour Tissue Repository and ultimately with the Translation Informatics Health Outcomes and Evaluation Unit. These linkages will support tumour-specific, population–based studies aimed at further refining and describing environmental and genetic risk factors as well as the molecular factors that predict disease virulence and treatment outcomes.

Completed award term September 2009.

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