Genetics & Health

Achievements
Translational research activities related to medical genetics have expanded substantially at CFRI in the past few years, and several of our researchers have been successful in securing funding through many of the opportunities that have recently become available for genetics and genomics research. Our collaboration among leading-edge basis science and clinical investigators has already resulted in major grants for our research from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Genome Canada, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

For example, in 2001 the CIHR Institute of Genetics developed a new programme to provide two years of release time for clinically-qualified geneticists to devote to research. The first two of these Clinical Investigatorships were awarded in 2002 – both to recipients affiliated with the CFRI Genetics program, Dr. Laura Arbour and Dr. Suzanne Lewis. In the second competition, all three awards were again affiliated with our site: Dr. Laura Arbour, Dr. William Gibson and Dr. Evica Rajcan-Separovic.

In 2004, Dr. Jan Friedman lead a successful effort to obtain CFI funding for the Canadian Molecular Cytogenetics Platform, a national research infrastructure designed to make state-of-the-art molecular cytogenetics expertise and technology available to clinical genetics and clinical cytogenetics investigators across the country.

Later that year, another group lead by Dr. Friedman, with Dr. Marco Marra (Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer Research Centre) received funding from Genome Canada to investigate the use of high-resolution array genomic hybridization to detect submicroscopic chromosomal abnormalities in children with mental retardation.

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Last updated: 03/11/2010