Toronto Centre for Phenogenomics Opens

The Toronto Centre for Phenogenomics (TCP), the largest centre of its kind in Canada and one of the biggest and best centres for mouse genetics in the world, officially opened October 1st. The $69 million state-of-the-art facility enables groundbreaking research and discovery, with the goal of advancing human health. Located on Orde Street behind Mount Sinai and Princess Margaret Hospitals, TCP is an innovative scientific collaboration among SickKids, Mount Sinai Hospital, University Health Network and St. Michael's Hospital, pooling expertise and resources under one roof to enable the best science supported by the best infrastructure. The centre aims to be a hub of tools, technologies and services, making it a one-stop shop for studying mouse models of human disease, and enabling knowledge translation for the scientific community as well as advancing the commercialization agenda of its strategic partners.

With a broad range of state-of-the-art technologies and a team of elite Canadian scientists housed under one roof, the TCP is one of the world's most comprehensive discovery hubs for the development of cures and treatments for chronic and often fatal diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and schizophrenia. TCP's ability to generate, hold, analyze, archive and distribute a critical mass of genetically important mice-up to 180,000-is unique. Under the direction of Colin McKerlie, interim CEO of TCP and scientist in the Physiology & Experimental Medicine Program at SickKids Research Institute, the centre brings together several research programs studying genetics through mouse genome research: the Centre for Modeling Human Disease (CMHD), the Canadian Mouse Mutant Repository (VMMR) and the Mouse Imaging Centre (MICe). Click here for more information: http://www.phenogenomics.ca/index.html.

The Ontario Innovation Trust the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), have provided funding support for the centre, together with the four hospitals and industry partners.