CanPath’s genomic data landscape: Insights from Ontario and Quebec
About the webinar
CanPath’s genomic data is expanding, creating exciting opportunities for researchers to explore genetic, biological, behavioural, and environmental influences on health. This webinar will introduce newly available Ontario Health Study (OHS) genomic data collections, their quality control process, and how they complement existing data from CARTaGENE (CaG) in Quebec.
In this session, Dr. Philip Awadalla will highlight how Ontario’s genotyping and genomic data have been utilized in combination with clinical data and other technologies to support cell-free DNA analyses and liquid biopsy development, single-cell studies and broader genetic programs. Dr. Guillaume Lettre will dive into genetic ancestry in Quebec, the French-Canadian founder effect, and the potential clinical applications of whole genome sequencing from 2,200 participants, as well as genotype imputation and genotype-phenotype associations.
Whether you’re new to CanPath or already working with genetic data, this session will provide valuable insights into how these datasets can power new discoveries.
About the presenters
Dr. Philip Awadalla is the National Co-Scientific Director at CanPath, a Senior Professor of Molecular Genetics at the University of Oxford and a Professor at the University of Toronto. Previously, as Director of Computational Biology at the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research, he advanced early cancer detection and precision oncology, focusing on clonal hematopoiesis, breast, and prostate cancer. His research on rare mutations has informed disease susceptibility in cancer, psychiatric conditions, and aging. Early work in malaria resulted in the first global maps of malaria genome diversity leading to discoveries on how humans and pathogens co-evolve. His lab aims to identify early cellular and environmental determinants of aging and cancers using genomic, imaging and advanced AI approaches. He serves on key committees, including the International Health Cohort Consortium Steering Committee and advisory boards for the NIH-NIEHS, European Genome Archive, and NIH/Wellcome Trust’s H3Africa program.
Dr. Guillaume Lettre is a Professor of Medicine at the Montreal Heart Institute and the Université de Montréal. He holds a Canada Research Chair in Heart and Blood Disease Genetics. He obtained his PhD in Developmental Genetics from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. His lab investigates the genetics of complex traits and common diseases in humans. Based at the Montreal Heart Institute, the Lettre Lab aims to identify genetic variation that influences cardiovascular and hematological disease risk using high-throughput DNA genotyping and sequencing technologies, together with state-of-the art computational and bioinformatics approaches. They are also combining their genetic discoveries with functional characterization largely based on genome editing methods (e.g. CRISPR/Cas9) to gain molecular and mechanistic insights into disease pathophysiology.