John Bell
PhD, FRSC, FCAHS
Senior Scientist, Cancer Research
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Professor, Depts. of Medicine and Biochemistry, Microbiology & Immunology
University of Ottawa
Director, Canadian Oncolytic Virus Consortium (COVCo)
Terry Fox New Frontiers Program Project Grant
Scientific Director, BioCanRx, Biotherapeutics for Cancer Treatment
Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE)
Contact
613 737-7700 70333
501 Smyth Road, Box 926 Ottawa, ON K1H 8L6
Research Groups
Bell Lab
Bio
Dr. John Bell received his PhD from McMaster University in 1982. The three years that followed, he trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa and then at the Medical Research Council in London, England. Dr. Bell began his independent research career at McGill University in 1986 and moved to the University of Ottawa, Department of Medicine, in 1989. He is a member of the Center for Cancer Therapeutics at The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Center, a Senior Scientist with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and Professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He heads the Canadian Oncolytic Virus Consortium, a Terry Fox funded group from across Canada that is developing virus based cancer therapeutics and is the Director of the Biotherapeutics Program for the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. He is the Scientific Director of the National Centre of Excellence for the development of Biotherapeutics for Cancer Therapy and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Research Goals and Interests
Oncolytic Viruses: Novel Cancer Therapeutics Current cancer therapies for metastatic disease have limited efficacy and high toxicity and thus novel approaches to treatment are sought. Viruses have many characteristics which make them desirable as a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of cancer including their ability to infect cells and replicate, induce cell death, release viral particles and spread through human tissues. We have shown that a variety of viruses patients undergoing OV therapy that our viruses can infect and disrupt tumour vasculature. The affect of OV therapy on all aspects of tumour microenvironment (e.g. support cells, immune infiltrates) is under investigation.
News
Publications
Twumasi-Boateng K, Pettigrew JL, Eunice Kwok YY, Bell JC & Nelson BH. Oncolytic viruses as engineering platforms for combination immunotherapy. Nature Reviews Cancer. Published online: 25 April 2018. doi:10.1038/s41568-018-0009-4. Free full text.
Go to publicationBourgeois-Daigneault MC, Roy DG, Aitken AS, El Sayes N, Martin NT, Varette O, Falls T, St-Germain LE, Pelin A, Lichty BD, Stojdl DF, Ungerechts G, Diallo JS and Bell JC. Neoadjuvant oncolytic virotherapy before surgery sensitizes triple-negative breast cancer to immune checkpoint therapy. Sci Transl Med. 2018 Jan 3;10(422).
Go to publicationArulanandam R, Batenchuk C, Angarita FA, Ottolino-Perry K, Cousineau S, Mottashed A, Burgess E, Falls TJ, De Silva N, Tsang J, Howe GA, Bourgeois-Daigneault M-C, Conrad DP, Daneshmand M, Breitbach CJ, Kirn DH, Raptis L, Sad S, Atkins HL, Huh MS, Diallo JS, Lichty B, Ilkow CS, Le Boeuf F, Addison CL, McCart JA and Bell JC. VEGF-mediated induction of PRD1-BF1/Blimp1 expression sensitizes tumour vasculature to oncolytic virus infection. Cancer Cell. 2015 Aug 10;28(2):210-24.
Go to publicationIlkow CS, Marguerie M, Batenchuk C, Mayer J, Ben Neriah D, Cousineau S, Falls T, Jennings V, Boileau M, Bellamy D, Bastin D, Tanese de Souza C, Alkayyal A, Zhang J, LeBoeuf F, Arulanandam R, Stubbert L, Sampath P, Thorne S, Paramanthan P, Chatterjee A, Strieter RM, Burdick M, Addison CL, Stojdl DF, Atkins HL, Auer RC, Diallo JS, Lichty B, and Bell JC. Reciprocal cellular cross-talk within the tumor microenvironment promotes oncolytic virus activity. Nat Med. 2015 May;21(5):530-6.
Go to publicationLichty BD, Breitbach CJ, Stojdl DF, & Bell JC. Going viral with cancer immunotherapy. Nature Reviews Cancer. 2014 03 July.
Go to publicationLe Bœuf F*, Batenchuk C*, Vähä-Koskela M, Breton S, Roy D, Lemay C, Cox J, Abdelbary H, Falls T, Waghray G, Atkins HL, Stojdl DF, Diallo JS, Kaern M, Bell JC. Model-based Rational Design of an Oncolytic Virus with Improved Therapeutics Potential. Nature Communications 2013 Jun 14;4:1974.
Go to publicationHeo J, Reid T, Ruo L, Breitbach C, Rose S, Bloomston M, Cho M, Lim HY, Chung HC, Kim CW, Burke J, Lencioni R, Hickman T, Moon A, Lee YS, Kim MK, Daneshmand M, Dubois K, Longpre L, Ngo M, Rooney C, Bell JC, Rhee B-G, Patt R, Hwang T-H, Kirn DH, (2013) Randomized dose-finding clinical trial of oncolytic immunotherapeutic vaccinia JX 594 in liver cancer. Nat Med. 2013 Mar;19(3):329-36.
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