The Princess Margaret “Transformers”

18 PRINCESS MARGARET CANCER CENTRE PRECISION GENOMICS MEDICINE: CANCER MOLECULAR PROFILING Launched in 2017, OCTANE is designed to expand the use of next- generation sequencing technology in Ontario cancer centres. Led by Drs. Lillian Siu and Philippe Bedard from The Princess Margaret, the trial is part of a collaboration with four other centres in Hamilton, Kingston, London, and Ottawa. Tumour samples from patients across Ontario will be analyzed and the results will be shared on a secure genomic data platform. The results will help oncologists identify the most appropriate clinical trial or drug treatment for patients. ONTARIO-WIDE CANCER TARGETED NUCLEIC ACID EVALUATION (OCTANE) PRECISION GENOMICS MEDICINE Working with the Cancer Genomics Program at The Princess Margaret, Medical Oncologists Dr. Lillian Siu and Dr. Philippe Bedard have a mission: to help every cancer patient get treatment tailored to their disease. “We deal with molecular profiling. That means looking at cancers and trying to extract out the DNA,” says Dr. Bedard. DNA can provide a precise roadmap for patient care, says Dr. Siu. “There are certain mutations or errors in the DNA that occur across cancers. These are important in terms of thinking about cancer drugs because there are a lot of cancer drugs that work only on patients whose cancers have specific mutations.” The Cancer Genomics Program was established in 2014. While the program has already had significant impact on cancer research and care, Dr. Bedard believes its greatest achievements still lie ahead. “Most of what we’ve generated has come from testing limited panels of 40 or 50 genes,” he says. “That’s somewhat rudimentary, and we’ve certainly had patients who’ve had clear benefits. Currently, we are using much larger gene panels. As we generate more big data in the future, we’ll be finding large numbers of mutation patterns across cancers and sharing it across institutions.” Genomics Evidence Neoplasia Information Exchange (GENIE) This international, multi- phase, multi-year project will aggregate existing and ongoing genotyping efforts from the eight Phase 1 participants into one single registry. This data will improve clinical decision-making and propel new clinical and translational research. Cancer centres participating include The Princess Margaret, Dana-Farber, Institut Gustave Roussy (France) and Memorial Sloan Kettering, to name a few. PROJECT GENIE A course on Genome Editing Techniques and Applications was developed in 2017 by Drs. Jason De Melo and Linda Penn, in collaboration with UHN Research, the Michener Institute for Education, and the Office of Research Trainees. During the two-week course, 20 undergraduate and graduate students, as well as technicians and academics, learned about the genome editing technique CRISPR. CRISPR COURSE