Tak Mak moves to breast cancer

Leading Canadian researcher Tak Mak announced last week (June 2) that he will head a new breast cancer research center in Toronto. The Institute for Breast Cancer Research (IBCR), based at the Princess Margaret Hospital, will focus on three areas: identifying genes to target for future cancer therapies—including the use of transgenics and knockout mice, Drosophila screening tumor and tissue banks/human samples, signal transduction, and cancer immunotherapy; developing new surgical, radiation, and drug treatments; and expanding the number of clinical trials—40 are now underway—conducted at the hospital.

The announcement garnered widespread support from international colleagues.

"The institute," wrote Jean-François Bach, the past president of the Necker Hospital in Paris, "represents a unique opportunity." Hans Wigzell, the former chair of the Nobel Prize Committee in Stockholm, said the facility, would likely be "a significant contributor in the global arena in the fight against this disease."

The IBCR hopes to...