New cancer research pavilion for McGill

Montreal, QC – McGill University is about to begin construction of a new facility, the Cancer Research Pavilion, that will bring together more than 200 basic cancer researchers from other facilities around its campus including the McGill Molecular Oncology Group (from the McGill University Health Centre) and the McGill Cancer Centre.

The university is receiving a $14-million contribution for the new research pavilion from the Quebec provincial government, announced today.

The new McGill entity is recognized as the only Groupe de Recherche en Cancer of the Fonds de recherche en sant du Qubec (FRSQ). It will be at the forefront of rapidly emerging technology and enable a collaborative effort toward finding new therapies and cures for cancer. To be part of McGill’s Life Sciences Complex, the facility will eventually house between 250 to 300 employees – from world-renowned scientists and talented graduate students to lab technicians.

“Today, we are celebrating the beginning of a new era in cancer research,” says Heather Munroe-Blum, McGill principal and vice-chancellor. “Our scientists will have a remarkable centre to propel knowledge and achieve their full potential."

The new research pavilion will consist of three floors covering over 4,585 sq m of space. Researchers working in the facility will have easy access to both the university’s McIntyre building and the Francesco Bellini Pavilion allowing for close collaboration among investigators from the biology, chemistry and biochemistry departments.

Research conducted in the new facility will focus on five themes: development and cancer, DNA damage repair and apoptosis, metabolism and cancer, breast cancer, and stem cells and cancer. Several state-of-the-art facilities will be established in the McGill Cancer Pavilion to support the technological requirements of the research. Among them will be facilities for generation of mouse models, imaging, histology and tissue processing, and microscopy.

“The McGill Cancer Centre has been one of the most outstanding cancer research centres in Canada for the last 25 years," says professor Michel L Tremblay, director of the McGill Cancer Centre. "Research in this facility should lead to the discovery of new targets for cancer detection, prognosis and treatments, which will promote more rapid procedures for tumour detection, less toxic treatments, and a happier and longer life for cancer patients.”