Software Engineering

We are OICR’s team of software engineers, infrastructure specialists, and bioinformaticians building tools that empower the minds and machines accelerating the knowledge and treatment of cancer. We value collaboration, integrity, and excellence, fostering an environment where we can grow better, together.

Overture is a collection of open-source software used to create discovery platforms where researchers manage, share and access genomics data. Built to be reusable and scalable, Overture was created to share our data science components with the community. Our ecosystem of research software tools reduces redundant efforts and enables the creation of robust genomics data applications.

The International Cancer Genome Consortium Accelerating Research in Genomic Oncology (ICGC ARGO) is a global initiative to provide precision oncology knowledge to the world. With the goal of analyzing genomes from 100,000 cancer patients, ICGC ARGO aims to collect genomic data alongside high-quality clinical data and make it available to the research community in a rapid and responsible way. The hope is that by gathering and sharing this information, researchers will be able to accelerate their understanding of the causes and control of cancer, ultimately leading to more effective treatments and better outcomes for patients. Over the next ten years, ICGC ARGO plans to deliver a million patient-years of precision oncology knowledge to the world.

The VirusSeq Data Portal is an open-source and open-access data portal for all Canadian SARS-CoV-2 sequences and associated non-personal contextual data. It harmonizes, validates and automates submission to international databases. The project is a collaboration of various Canadian organizations, including federal, provincial, and regional public health authorities, healthcare partners, academia, industry, hospitals, research institutes, and sequencing centers.

Hereditary cancers are caused by an inherited genetic mutation passed down from parent to child and make up at least 10% of all cancer cases. Identifying and monitoring these individuals can lead to early cancer detection and treatment yet these patients are scattered across Ontario posing a challenge in providing effective care and hindering the progress of research due to a gap between researchers and the available data. The Ontario Hereditary Cancer Research Network aims to harmonize Information from individuals with a Hereditary Cancer Syndrome (HCS) in order to better understand and advance the prevention, early detection and treatment of these cancers.

The International Health Cohorts Consortium (IHCC) is a global platform for translational research that informs the biological and genetic basis for disease and aims to improve clinical care and population health. Hosted member cohorts are disease-agnostic, have available biospecimens, longitudinal follow-up activities and have one hundred thousand participants or more (with exception to underrepresented/underprivileged cohorts & populations).