Tommy Alain Laboratory

“Oncolytic Viruses: The Future of Cancer Treatment”

Surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the current standard-of-care treatments against cancer. A considerable number of cancers cannot be treated simply using the current available treatments. Scientists at University of Ottawa are working hard to devise new treatments based on an entirely different approach that involves the use of viruses to destroy human cancer. These viruses, referred in the scientific community as oncolytic viruses, offer great potential in the eradication of cancer and are currently being tested in clinical trials for their safety and efficacy in humans.

Our laboratory is interested in understanding how these viruses modulate the gene expression of cancer cells thus contributing to the cancer demise. Gene expression is the cell’s program by which it synthesizes its various cellular components. We are currently investigating how oncolytic viruses modulate the gene expression program, specifically the process of mRNA translation.