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Research 'Firsts'
PMH and it’s research arm, the Ontario Cancer Institute, have an enviable track record when it comes to ground-breaking work.  Below is a list of just some of the discoveries that have made headlines in the medical and scientific world.

1958: Princess Margaret Hospital opens on Sherbourne Street in Toronto

Late 1950s: Dr. Vera Peters uses radiation to cure Hodgkin's disease

Late 1950s: Dr. Vera Peters introduces breast-conserving surgery called 'lumpectomy' for women with early stage breast cancer

1959: Dr. Harold Johns pioneers high-dose radiation therapy known as the 'cobalt bomb'

1961: Dr. James Till and Dr. Ernest McCulloch discover stem cells

1971: Bone marrow transplant unit performs first transplant between unrelated donors

Early 1970s: Team designs and builds the Hemitron, a machine that delivers full and half-body radiation

1984: Dr. Tak Mak clones the T-cell receptor, known as the 'Holy Grail' of immunology

1995: The Princess Margaret moves to new location at 610 University Avenue

1996: Dr. Mark Bernstein performs 'awake' craniotomy to remove brain tumour, with same-day discharge

1996: Chemotherapy treatment for hormone-resistant prostate cancer (Dr. Ian Tannock and Dr. Malcolm Moore)

1999: Doctors use toxin to rid bone marrow of cancer cells, improving treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and breast cancer

1999: First North American installation of full-field digital mammography at Princess Margaret and Mount Sinai Hospitals, enabling earlier diagnosis of breast cancer with less radiation exposure

2000: Surgeons use robotic laparoscopic technology to perform a radical prostatectomy

2000: Researchers identify IL-13 as the driver of Hodgkin's Disease

2001: Discovery that a protein called Interleukin 13 fuels the growth of Hodgkin's lymphoma (Dr. Tak Mak)

2002: Dr. Pamela Ohashi identifies an immune molecule called IRAK-4, critical in defense against infections (Dr. Wen-Chen, Dr. Tak Mak and Dr. Pam Ohashi)

2002: Together with The Hospital for Sick Children, researchers identify a gene that, when mutated, results in medulloblastoma, the most common brain tumour in children

2002: Dr. Frances Shepherd leads a team that identifies 'gene clusters' involved in lung cancer (Drs. Denis Wigle, Igor Jurisica, Jim Woodgett, Shaf Keshavjee, Gail Darling, Frances Shepherd, and Ming Tsao)

2003: Dr. Brenda Gallie develops a method for detecting gene mutations that enhance care for families with retinoblastoma

2003: Integration of cone-beam CT into radiation therapy procedures (Dr. David Jaffray)

2005: Dr. Norman Boyd identifies breast density as a major risk factor for breast cancer, and later demonstrates that it is highly inheritable

2006: Dr. John Dick identifies colon cancer stem cells

2007: Dr. Laurie Ailles isolates cancer stem cells in head & neck cancers

2008: Drs. Frances Shepherd, Ming Tsao, and Igor Jurisica identify a gene 'signature' that predicts lung cancer patients' response to chemotherapy in combination with surgery

2012: Dr. John Dick isolates a human blood stem cell in it's purest form - as a single stem cell capable of regenerating the entire blood system

2012: The Princess Margaret is the first site in Canada to use a robot to produce chemotherapy doses for patients

2012: The Princess Margaret is one of the first hospitals in Ontario to offer patients 3-Dimensional breast mammography scans, called "tomosynthesis"

1950s   Use of radiation to cure Hodgkin’s disease (Dr. Vera Peters)
     
1950s   Introduction of lumpectomy for breast cancer (Dr. Vera Peters)
     
1952   Use of cobalt radiotherapy units for cancer (Dr. Harold Johns)
     
1961   Discovery of blood forming stem cells enabling bone marrow transplants (Dr. Ernest McCulloch and Dr. James Till)
     
1984   First cloning of the T-cell receptor genes, significant in the field of immunology (Dr. Tak Mak)
     
1996   Chemotherapy treatment for hormone-resistant prostate cancer (Dr. Ian Tannock and Dr. Malcolm Moore)
     
2001   Discovery that a protein called Interleukin 13 fuels the growth of Hodgkin’s lymphoma (Dr. Tak Mak)
     
2002   Description of the role of IRAK-4, an immune molecule, critical for first-line defense against infections (Dr. Wen-Chen Yeh, Dr. Tak Mak and Dr. Pam Ohashi)
     
2002   Identifying gene clusters using micro-array technology that are involved in lung cancer (Drs. Denis Wigle, Igor Jurisica, Jim Woodgett, Shaf Keshavjee, Gail Darling, Frances Shepherd, and Ming Tsao)
     
2003   Demonstrating that dense breast tissue, a major risk factor in breast cancer, is mainly determined by genetic factors (Dr. Norman Boyd)
     
2003   Developing a method for detecting gene mutations that enhance care for families with retinoblastoma (Dr. Brenda Gallie)
     
2006   Cancer stem cells isolated in colon cancer (Dr. John Dick)
     
2007   Cancer stem cells isolated in head & neck cancers (Dr. Laurie Ailles)
     
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The design and development of The Hemitron, a machine used to deliver full and half-body radiation was created at PMH.
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