Ottawa's Cancer Research Group

In March 1995, four cancer researchers - Mike McBurney, John Bell, Doug Gray and I, moved our labs from the University of Ottawa to the third floor of the newly constructed cancer centre. We had spent 5 years designing this research floor, and when we finally moved into our new space, we were like kids in a candy store - limited only by our imagination and our willingness to explore. Mike McBurney, our director, gave us only two instructions: play nice with each other, and play nice with the neighbours.
Looking back, those two characteristics are what define the strength and the uniqueness of the cancer research group today. In adult terms, the key words are team and translational research. Working as a team has been a foundation of our group from the start. When we received the architectural plans for our new research floor, the first thing that we did was erase the internal walls - we didn't want any barriers to the flow of communication among the different labs. We not only work in shared space but, from the start, and still today, the cancer researchers can be found every day in the hospital cafeteria for lunch. We share the results of our recent experiments, describe interesting topics that we have recently read about, or discuss the best way to tackle a particularly tough problem. In this way, information is shared and little problems get solved on a daily basis. In the early days, we spent a lot of time talking about how to ensure that the research floor ran as efficiently and cheaply as possible. With a Scottish man as our director, it’s no surprise that we have maintained our basic principles of high quality research performed as frugally as possible. Teamwork among the cancer researchers is really our standard way of doing things.
The Director's second instruction - to play nice with the neighbours - turned out to be an idea before its time. The term "translational research" had not yet been coined, but we were already doing it - developing strong connections with the clinicians downstairs to ensure that anything we discovered in the lab could be assessed immediately for its potential to have impact on cancer patients. This third floor of the Cancer Centre, now known as the Center for Cancer Therapeutics, currently is home to nine scientists and three clinician-scientists and more than 100 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and technicians who all share the same goal - to translate ideas for better strategies to prevent, detect and treat cancer from the lab to the clinic.