Ottawa Hospital Research Institute · University of Ottawa
Decoding gynecologic disease to design new approaches for prevention, detection, and treatment.
Decode·Design·Deliver
Questions we're asking
SEE ALL OUR RESEARCH →
Why does chemotherapy stop working?
Most patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer respond to first-line platinum chemotherapy — then relapse with disease that no longer responds. We're mapping the cell states that survive treatment and tracking how they re-emerge.
Treatment resistance
Can we make ovarian cancer respond to immunotherapy?
The ovarian tumour microenvironment is profoundly immunosuppressive, leaving checkpoint inhibitors and other immunotherapies largely ineffective. We're developing new therapeutics to reprogram the TME and unleash a durable anti-tumour response.
Novel immunotherapies
How does endometriosis become cancer?
Women with endometriosis face 2–3× the risk of ovarian cancer. We're tracing the cellular transitions from benign lesion to malignant transformation — catching the process before it progresses.
Progression
Latest
PREPRINT · COMING SOON
Our first preprint is on the way...
NEW MEMBERS · 2026
Welcome Sara, Michelle, Katrina, and Elizabeth to the lab!
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PUBLICATION · 2025
New collaborative study published in Nature Biotechnology exploring best practices in spatial genomics
Plummer*, Dezem*, Cook*, Park* et al
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FUNDING · 2025
CIHR Project Grant awarded — targeting malignant cell states in ovarian cancer
2025–2030 · $1.03M
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FUNDING · 2025
Cook Lab joins $6.5M CCS Breakthrough Team Grant on ovarian cancer dormancy
Co-PI with Dr. Francis Rodier (CRCHUM) · 2025–2030
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FUNDING · 2025
CIHR Project Grant awarded — racial and ethnic disparities in endometriosis
with Dr. Sony Singh and Benjamin Tsang · 2025–2030 · $1.05M
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