The Terry Fox Laboratory (TFL) is the major research unit of the British Columbia Cancer Agency.
The TFL was established in 1981 when "a gift of one million dollars from the province of British Columbia to the Marathon of Hope (with additional funds raised elsewhere)" was used to renovate an old bakery and equip 1,800 square meters of laboratory and office space.[1] The TFL is now housed at the British Columbia Cancer Research Centre at 675 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, and occupies a total of ~20,000 sq ft (1,900 m2). It is composed of 13 senior scientists, over 46 graduate students, 32 post-doctoral fellows and approximately 53 additional technical and support personnel.
The establishment of TFL was sparked with a donation in 1980 of $1,000,000 from the provincial government to the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope. This donation, together with subsequent generous contributions from the British Columbia Cancer Foundation, the Canadian Cancer Society, the British Columbia Cancer Agency, the P.A. Woodward Foundation, the British Columbia Order of the Eastern Star, the British Columbia Health Care and Research Foundation, the University of British Columbia, Joseph Cohen, the Variety Club, and members of the banking community, enabled the renovation and equipping of 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) of modern laboratories. The Terry Fox Laboratory is privileged to be one of only a handful of organizations permitted to use the name of Terry Fox, the young man who set out to run across Canada after losing a leg to cancer.