Page 31 - EUREKA! Summer 2018

A head When Martin Holcik joined Carleton in September 2017 as chair of the Health Sciences department,

it felt like a homecoming. Previously director of the molecular biomedicine program at the
Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute and a University of Ottawa professor, he
for holistic had done his PhD in biology at Carleton in the 1990s. Which is why, as he walked to meetings on

campus, his muscle memory would kick in, sending him down the hallway that led to his former
lab, for instance, instead of to his intended destination. But much has changed at Carleton over the
past couple decades, including the launch of Health Sciences in 2014 and the construction of a new
health building to house the program, one of the fastest growing offerings at the university. Carleton’s

approach to health research and education is poised to have a positive impact in Canada and
beyond, says Holcik, who is determined to lead by example and continue his own research while
helming the department. — as told to Dan Rubinstein

e’ve realized over time that span everything from understanding expand and develop them in the lab
we cannot only use traditional single cells and genetics to cellular and look at how they interact with
Wresearch methods to deal behaviour, organism behaviour, different drugs and try to find the best
with the most pressing health issues. population health, community health treatment.
Traditionally, we’ve had silos, such as and health policy. Some people work My second area of focus, rare
molecular biology or genetics, and from the bottom up, starting with genetic disorders, is very close to my
more and more it’s obvious that you single cells, while others work top heart because it gave me a chance
need people with different training down, starting with community health. to start interacting with patients and
and different expertise working on Ultimately, by combining all of these patients’ families. As a non-physician,
the same team. That’s the philosophy areas and looking at health from you don’t have much opportunity to
behind our department, and we’re different levels, we’re hoping to help do that, and it completely changed
extremely happy to be in our new modify societal behaviour, so people my perception of research. All of a
building because it’s the first time become healthier. sudden, it became a specific disease
we’re all in one place. I’m trained as a molecular biologist for a person, as opposed to an abstract
About half of our faculty is wet and geneticist, and most of the work disorder we were studying in the lab.
lab based. The other half is dry lab we do in my labs looks at genetic In the simplest terms, you can look at
based. It’s easy to imagine these two alterations within cells and how they this as a motivator — students in the
groups remaining separate, but we’re impact disease. One of the challenges lab were able to connect what they’re
trying to encourage our faculty to find in pediatric oncology — one of my doing in a petri dish with the life and
death of a particular child. It’s much
“You need people with different more motivating than anything else I
can think of.
We are very good at putting
training and different expertise bandages on wounds, but as a society,
we’re not very good at understanding
working on the same team.” the value of preventative medicine —
and sometimes, I’m surprised by how
little we pay attention to evidence-
based approaches, despite the fact
ways to interact, which can take us in research focuses — is that if you that we’re in the 21st century. Only
unexpected directions and lead to new don’t see something very often, it’s through bringing together people
research opportunities. When dry lab difficult to find ways to approach from different backgrounds and
and wet lab people start talking, they it therapeutically. We’re trying to different disciplines can we develop
may have different methodologies, identify ways of connecting genetic a system for understanding when it’s
but each of those can enrich the information from tumors to the more appropriate to intervene in a
other group and lead to the cross- biochemical and molecular fingerprints preventative way, and when it’s more
pollination of ideas. To become good at of cells to help oncologists come up appropriate to intervene later on. We
something, you have to be a specialist.
have to be very careful not to put all
with the most appropriate treatments
Photo: Chris Roussakis But there’s a danger of becoming too for specific tumors. It’s basically of our eggs in one basket, but all of
the science we’re doing now should
specialized and not being able to see
personalized medicine. You can take
a tumor, sequence it, get its genetic
be able to influence public policy in an
outside of those boundaries.
evidence-based and timely way.
fingerprint, then take the tumor cells,
The research interests of our faculty
30 science.carleton.ca science.carleton.ca 31