Research

What we work on

Cancer drivers and passengers

Somatic mutations accumulate in every cancer genome, yet only a few drive the disease. We develop statistical and machine-learning methods to find driver mutations in coding and non-coding DNA, and study the mutational processes, shaped by chromatin, carcinogens and therapies, that create the far more numerous passengers.

Multi-omics data integration

Genomes, transcriptomes, proteomes and epigenomes each capture part of a tumour’s biology. We build data-fusion methods for pathway and network analysis that combine these layers, highlight the genes and processes supported by converging evidence, and show which data type contributes to each finding.

Biomarker and target discovery

Large clinically annotated cancer cohorts let us look for molecular features that predict patient outcomes or therapy response, and genes that cancer cells depend on. We use machine learning with independent validation cohorts, and work with experimental labs to test the most promising candidates.

People

The team

Jüri Reimand

Jüri Reimand

Principal Investigator

Senior Principal Investigator, OICR · Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto

PhD in computer science (University of Tartu, 2010), postdoctoral training at the Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto (2011–2015). Started the lab at OICR and the University of Toronto in 2015.

Jigyansa Mishra

Jigyansa Mishra

PhD Student · Molecular Genetics

Mutational processes and cellular signalling networks.

Zoe Klein

Zoe Klein

PhD Student · Molecular Genetics

Transcriptomics of cancer metastasis.

Alec Bahcheli

Alec Bahcheli

Contributor

Multi-omics of glioblastoma heterogeneity.

Hanli Jiang

Contributor

Machine learning and mutational processes.

Kevin Cheng

Kevin Cheng

Contributor

Mutational processes in prostate cancer.

Laura Luhari

Visiting PhD Student

Lung cancer genomics.

Alumni

  • Christian Lee — MSc graduate
  • Diala Abd-Rabbo — Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Dike Aduluso-Nwaobasi — Co-op Student
  • Diogo Pellegrina — Postdoctoral Fellow · now Research Associate, University of Ottawa
  • Helen Zhu — MSc graduate
  • Hyoeun Choi — Co-op Student
  • Irakli Dzneladze — Postdoctoral Fellow
  • J Drew Thompson — Co-op Student
  • Jonathan Barenboim — Co-op Student
  • Keren Isaev — MSc graduate
  • Kissy Guevara-Hoyer — Visiting Researcher
  • Lina Wadi — Bioinformatician
  • Luyao Ruan — Co-op Student
  • Mariam Abdellateef — Co-op Student
  • Marta Paczkowska — Bioinformatician
  • Masroor Bayati — PhD graduate
  • Michal Krassowski — Google Summer of Code Student
  • Miles W Mee — Bioinformatician
  • Mona Meyer — Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Mykhaylo Slobodyanyuk — MSc graduate
  • Nardnisa Sintupisut — Bioinformatician
  • Nina Adler — Research Student
  • Oliver Ocsenas — MSc graduate
  • Yao Li — Co-op Student
  • Yuxi Zhu — Undergraduate Student
Publications

Selected papers

All 101 publications →

Lab members in bold. Full list also on Google Scholar.

Software

Tools we build

All code on GitHub →

RM2

Local mutational processes in families of genomic elements.

PACIFIC

Interactions between multi-omic features that shape cancer patient outcomes.

CAMM

Deep learning of regional mutation rates in metastases from chromatin accessibility.

Contact

Get in touch

Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
MaRS Centre, 661 University Avenue, Suite 510
Toronto, ON M5G 0A3, Canada
juri.reimand -@- utoronto.ca
Map

Finding us

OICR is in the MaRS Centre at the southeast corner of University Avenue and College Street (Queen's Park subway station). Enter MaRS from University Avenue, walk past the café on your right and turn right, continue past the security desk on your left, then turn right to a set of three elevators (the elevators straight ahead don't go to OICR). Take them to the 5th floor of the West Tower and turn left to OICR reception, who will let us know you've arrived.

Join us

We welcome graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staff with skills and motivation for research in computational biology, genomics, statistics and machine learning. Graduate students join through the MSc and PhD programs of the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto. To enquire, email Jüri with a CV and a short statement of interest.