Marco Marra

Marco Marra

Marco Marra is a Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics and the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He holds the Canada Research Chair in Genome Sciences and is a Distinguished Scientist at BC Cancer. His research focuses on understanding genomic and epigenomic dysregulation in cancer, with emphasis on developing genomic technologies for precision medicine. Marra has led groundbreaking projects including sequencing the SARS coronavirus genome and co-founding the Personalized OncoGenomics (POG) program.

• Affiliations: UBC Faculty of Medicine, BC Cancer, Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre
• Education: PhD (1994) and BSc (1989) in Molecular & Cell Biology, Simon Fraser University

Research Interests

Marra’s work explores genomic and epigenomic drivers of cancer, including the functional interplay between genomes and epigenomes. His lab develops genomic technologies to inform clinical decision-making, with a focus on pediatric cancers and treatment-resistant disease. Key areas include single-cell multi-omics, long-read sequencing, and translational research.

Awards & Honors

• Officer of the Order of Canada (2024)
• Canadian Medical Hall of Fame (2020)
• National Killam Prize in Health Sciences (2025)

Labs & Teams

Director of the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre and co-founder of the Genome Sciences and Technology Graduate Program. Leads the Marra Lab, which collaborates with 80% of BC’s medical oncologists in the POG initiative, analyzing 2,000+ cancer patient genomes.