News

Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre has been featured in the Government of British Columbia’s Life Sciences Series: Genomics as a key piece of the province’s world-leading genomics ecosystem. The article showcases how B.C.’s genomics success — from foundational science to commercial and clinical impact — is rooted in strong public investment, cutting-edge infrastructure, and deep scientific expertise, with the GSC playing a central role in driving this momentum.

Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre (GSC) introduced clinical whole genome sequencing for hereditary cancer testing in 2025 in collaboration with the Hereditary Cancer Program at BC Cancer and the Cancer Genetics and Genomics Laboratory with the Provincial Laboratory Medicine Services. This marked a major milestone for precision medicine in British Columbia and becoming the second Canadian province to adopt this latest technology.

On October 24, 2025, Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre (GSC) hosted our second annual, highly successful Collaborator Forum, with a focus on single cell technologies.  The day brought together researchers, partners, and innovators from across British Columbia’s genomics community to share ideas, strengthen collaborations, and celebrate the GSC’s next chapter.

Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre (GSC) is expanding its mandate and governance to drive innovation across genomics, health, and environmental stewardship — extending its world-leading expertise beyond medicine to address challenges in climate resilience, agriculture, biodiversity, and sustainable resource management.

We were honored to welcome Cynthia Johansen, Deputy Minister of Health for British Columbia, for a visit and lab tour at Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre (GSC).

Congratulations to the recipients of the BC Cancer Foundation (BCCF) Rising Stars Graduate Awards competition!

This year’s awardees are: 

Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre (GSC), in collaboration with Olink®, is offering researchers a unique opportunity to access the Olink® Explore HT Reagent Kit for high-throughput proteomic profiling — at 50% off standard GSC pricing.

Olink® Explore HT enables the quantitative analysis of over 5,000 proteins using next-generation sequencing, detecting concentrations from femtograms to milligrams per millilitre. With as little as 2 µl of sample, you can profile tissues, cell lysates, or plasma with unmatched precision.

Through Genome British Columbia’s GeneSolve program, Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre (GSC) is partnering with Swiss Vault to pilot next‑generation storage infrastructure tailored for genomics research. This collaboration combines smarter file systems, energy‑efficient hardware, and scalable, secure architecture to meet the rapidly increasing demands of genomic data management.

Key highlights of the project include:

The Genome Sciences Centre (GSC) continues to provide core genomic sequencing and bioinformatics services in support of the BC Contribution to the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network (MOHCCN).  MOHCCN is a national initiative led by the Terry Fox Research Institute (TFRI) and the Terry Fox Foundation to bring together cancer research and care centres across Canada to accelerate the integration of advanced genomics into cancer care.