“The one thing that strikes people when they pass through the building is the way natural light gets into almost every area.” Dr. Roger Deeley is talking about the new home of the Cancer Research Institute at Queen’s University.

A key feature of the building is a central atrium that illuminates the core of the 5,500-square-metre facility. The space is visually appealing, but it’s also a striking reminder of the Institute’s cross-disciplinary approach to cancer research.

“One of the objectives in the design,” explains Dr. Deeley, the Institute’s director, “was to promote integration between the floors. The atrium opens up the building visually and reminds you that there are other divisions working here. Because of the physical integration, researchers from those divisions have the ability to interact informally on a daily basis, which wasn’t possible before.” The Institute brings together three key strands of cancer research: biology and genetics; epidemiology and cancer care; and clinical trials. “Our focus is really on trying to develop insights that lie at the interface between those three areas.”

As soon as the building opened, Dr. Deeley initiated a Translational Cancer Research Group that meets once a month. Composed of basic scientists, oncologists, surgeons and pathologists, the group discusses opportunities for translating insights from one sphere of cancer research to another. The results of an epidemiological study of environmental carcinogens, for example, might suggest a strategy for cancer prevention. Or a basic piece of cancer biology research might identify a new potential drug target. “It’s proved to be a very useful vehicle,” says Dr. Deeley. “We just get together in an informal manner and bat around ideas.” Several projects have already emerged from the forum.

Training is another way in which the Institute takes a unique approach to cross-pollination of research. The Institute operates a transdisciplinary cancer research training program, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, in which every trainee works under at least two supervisors, each representing a different facet of cancer research. The result, tomorrow’s researchers develop an interdisciplinary perspective from the very beginning.

The Institute only opened in 2004, but already Dr. Deeley is pleased with the results. “There’s a lot more interaction taking place between the clinical trials group, the population people and the wet lab scientists than ever happened before.”

It looks like the concerted effort to bring disciplines together—both through programming and architecture— is working.