news & updates News Releases Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tours Dr. John Dick's lab. The Governor of California and Ontario's Premier Dalton McGuinty visit MaRS to announce the creation of the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium. This unique collaboration will support innovative cancer research in California and Canada. Dr. John Dick awarded Premier's Summit Award. Funding from the Province of Ontario intended to recognize extraordinary research, support expansion of research programs and catalyze commercialization. CBCnews article describes the Dick lab's mouse model of human cancer development. A mouse model of human leukemia created in the Dick lab by insertion of the MLL-ENL fusion gene has also been published in the journal Science and is featured in a Globe and Mail article from April 27, 2007. The A-Team of Stem Cell Science. A Globe and Mail article from November 25, 2006 provides a historical perspective on the cancer stem cell model developed by Dr. John Dick and other Toronto-based scientists. Research in the Dick lab suggests a novel strategy for treating leukemia. An article in the September 25, 2006 issue of the Toronto Star focuses on the potential of targeting the adhesion molecule CD44 to eradicate leukemia stem cells. Cancer: The root of the problem. Dr. John Dick's pioneering work on leukemia stem cells is referred to in the August 17, 2006 issue of Nature's Web Focus. Dr. John Dick's work described in Scientific American. Dr. John Dick's establishment of a mouse model to study human stem cell development is described in the July 2006 issue of Scientific American. Dr. John Dick interviewed on The National. A science report that aired on May 1, 2006 included Dr. Dick talking about his work on leukemia stem cells.

“If cancer stem cells lie at the heart of some cancers, then being able to predict the behavior of tumors and providing effective therapies against them means understanding the abnormal growth pathways within the stem cells themselves.”

- John Dick, Project Leader (UHN)

“The only reason that I'm willing to take a risk on this project is my confidence in the quality and camaraderie of my colleagues.”

- Scott Tanner, Principal Investigator (University of Toronto)

“We're examining DNA not for its well-recognized role as the genetic material to store and transmit genetic information, but rather for its less-known potential to act as a novel cancer diagnostic tool.”

- Yingfu Li, Principal Investigator (McMaster University)

“We're gaining more understanding of cell defects and how to modify them, so that treatment is no longer a shotgun approach, but more like an arrow aimed at a specific target.”

- Mark Minden, Principal Investigator (OCI)

resources and links

Mass Spectrometry:

Perkin Elmer's introductory overview of the hardware and operation of an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS).

Stem Cell Research:

Website of Canada's Stem Cell Network.

Website of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.

Nature's Web Focus on New horizons in cancer research (Aug. 17, 2006).

Nature's Web Focus on Stem Cells.

Nature's Milestones in Cancer.
Nature's Milestone 6 (Cancer Stem Cells).


Descriptions of CD markers.

Leukemia:

An overview of leukemia.