Life Sciences

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A reputation for excellence in life sciences research

From the discovery of the first heart pacemaker to the identification of the genes responsible for Alzheimer's and cystic fibrosis, the Toronto Region has long been a recognized leader in biomedical sciences research, biotechnology research and health care research. A few statistics tell the story:

Home to one of North America's largest health care and health sciences complexes, with more than 60 hospitals, 37 medical institutions, 8,200 physicians and 54,000 health professionals
Home to one of North America's largest pharmaceutical and biotechnology clusters with more than 300 firms and 40,000 employees
The University of Toronto and McMaster University medical schools together have 12 associated research hospitals
The University of Toronto medical school ranks third in the world for research publication citations

The region's growing reputation for excellence in bio life sciences research has attracted major private and public R&D investment, including $1 billion from pharmaceutical companies for advanced drug development programs and $347 million over five years from the Ontario government for the new Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR).

OICR heads the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) which is described as one of the most ambitious biomedical research efforts since the Human Genome Project. The consortium will help to coordinate current and future large-scale projects to understand the genomic changes involved in cancer, and will generate high-quality genomic data on up to 50 types of cancer. OICR will spearhead the pancreatic cancer project while serving as the administrative lead for this global consortium.

Other initiatives like the Structural Genomics Consortium combine with these world-class programs to make this cluster a leading international force conducting leading-edge research in advanced biomedical sciences.