Cook Lab

David Cook

Scientist, Cancer Therapeutics Program
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Assistant Professor, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine
University of Ottawa

Research Interests

Treatment options for ovarian cancer are limited, and while tumours often respond to initial treatments, many recur and become resistant to therapy. We use experimental and computational approaches to understand why ovarian cancer treatment fails and explore new therapeutic strategies to manage the disease. 

We are currently exploring several related directions: 

1. We study the diversity of cellular populations and their interactions through the tumour microenvironment in multiple subtypes of ovarian cancer.

2. How do malignant cells adapt to changes in their microenvironment? We are particularly interested in the adaptive mechanisms underlying therapy resistance and immune evasion.

3. We develop therapeutic approaches that manipulate adaptive mechanisms to slow tumour progression and improve treatment outcomes.

Brief Biography

Dr. Cook obtained his PhD with Dr. Barbara Vanderhyden from the University of Ottawa, combining high-throughput screening and single-cell genomics to study epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity in cancer. This phenomenon describes the capacity of malignant cells to dedifferentiate, increasing their ability to invade surrounding tissue, evade immune detection, and resist therapeutics. During this period, he also worked on preclinical models of ovarian cancer to study disease biology and therapeutic testing. For his postdoctoral studies, Dr. Cook worked with Dr. Jeff Wrana (Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Toronto, ON) to study how cellular phenotypes and tissue structure influence one another. 

Dr. Cook is a recipient of the CIHR Banting Fellowship, the OICR Rising Star Award, and the Worton Researcher in Training Award.

Selected Publications

  1. Cook, DP., Jensen, KB., Wise, K., Roach, MJ., Dezem, FS., Ryan, NK., Zamojski, M., Vlachos, IS., Knott, SRV., Butler, LM., Wrana, JL., Banovich, NE., Plummer, JT., Martelotto, LG. Benchmark analysis of imaging-based spatial transcriptomics platforms. Preprint on bioRxiv (2023). Link
  2. Cook, DP., Galpin, K., Rodriguez, G., Shakfa, N., Wilson-Sanchez, J., Pereira, M., Matuszewska, K., Haagsma, J., Murshed, H., Cudmore, AO., Macdonald, E., Tone, A., Shepherd, TG., Petrik, J., Koti, M., Vanderhyden, BC. Comparative analysis of syngeneic mouse models of high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Communications Biology (2023). Link
  3. Cook, DP., Wrana, JL. A specialist-generalist framework for epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity in cancer. Trends in Cancer (2022). Link
  4. Cook, DP., Vanderhyden, BC. Transcriptional census of epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity in cancer. Science Advances (2022). Link
  5. Cook, DP., Vanderhyden, BC., Context specificity of the EMT transcriptional response. Nature Communications (2020). Link

Diseases, conditions and populations of interest





Research and clinical approaches