January 20, 1999
New centre to lead Canadian brain tumour research
TORONTO - Canada's first basic science brain tumour research centre is set to open this week at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). The Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre brings together clinicians and scientists from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), The Toronto Hospital and the University of Toronto to form a leading-edge collaborative laboratory.
Research into the causes and development of brain tumours is vital as so much still needs to be uncovered. To this day, the prognosis for malignant brain tumours remains as dismal as it was 20 years ago. And, the incidence of brain tumours is rising steadily in both children and adults, with an increase of up to 40 per cent per year.
The Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre (BTRC), housed in the Elizabeth McMaster Building at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), will focus on basic science research of human brain tumours, both in adults and children.
"Basic science research is the only way we can solve the mysteries of human brain tumours," said Dr. James Rutka, a SickKids neurosurgeon and clinician-scientist, and inaugural director of the BTRC. "We first need to understand the properties of brain tumours so that new and better treatments can be developed to fight this deadly condition."
The establishment of the Brain Tumour Research Centre was made possible thanks to a $5-million donation from Arthur and Sonia Labatt. Arthur Labatt is President of Trimark Financial Corporation and CEO of Trimark Investment Management Inc., which he co-founded in 1981. Sonia Labatt is an Associate Faculty Member at the Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Toronto.
"Toronto has a critical mass of scientific and medical expertise in the detection and treatment of brain tumours. We knew that by funding this important area of research we could make a significant difference," said Arthur Labatt.
The Labatt gift has so far allowed the BTRC to bring together 20 dedicated staff - five principal investigators, four post doctoral fellows, seven graduate students, and four research associates - to collaborate on brain tumour research. Ongoing areas of active research include: cell cycle control (the mechanism that tells cells when to divide); signal transduction and developmental signaling mechanisms (outside signals that affect the way cells grow); radiation injury to brain tumours and normal brain tissue; differentiation (how tumour cells, which are abnormal, can be altered to return to normal); and brain tumour invasion (how tumours spread through normal brain tissue).
Research has already impacted favourably on the diagnosis of brain tumour patients. Advances in imaging technology - such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) - mean brain tumours are being diagnosed at earlier stages in their development. These technologies also enable more rapid detection of tumour recurrence. Early diagnosis and detection improve the likelihood of successful treatment.
As part of the grand opening of the BTRC, the first annual Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre Academic Lecture is being held on Thursday, January 21 at 5:00 p.m. in Sick Kids' Main Auditorium.
Dr. Robert Martuza, professor and chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., will lecture on a novel approach to gene therapy he has developed to fight brain tumours.
Martuza has genetically engineered herpes viruses that can be used in a clinical setting without causing infection. These herpes "vectors" are injected directly into the tumour where they attack and kill the tumour, but not the surrounding normal brain tissue. The first clinical trial of G207, a genetically engineered herpes vector, for brain tumour therapy began in 1998. Current studies are underway to expand its use to cancers outside the nervous system.
Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre Academic Lecture
Thursday, January 21, 5:00 p.m. Main Auditorium, The Hospital for Sick Children
Grand Opening of The Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre
Friday, January 22, 11:00 a.m. Main Auditorium, The Hospital for Sick Children
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