Three graduate students receive Jennifer Dorrington Award
Graduate students Sanna Masud, Nil Sahin and Benjamin Kingston are the winners of the 2020 Jennifer Dorrington Award, which recognizes outstanding students in the Faculty of Medicine who are doing research in the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research.
鈥淭hese three winners are doing some of the most innovative research in biology, which has already revealed important new insights and has the potential to improve patient lives,鈥 says Gary Bader, a University of Toronto professor of molecular genetics and computer science, and the chair of the award committee.
Masud鈥檚 research is shedding new light on the cellular basis of Barth syndrome, a rare genetic disorder for which there is currently no treatment. Sahin is developing AI-powered computer vision tools to reveal gene function from cell microscopy images. And Kingston is mapping tumours in three dimensions to help the development of targeted therapies.
Established in 2007 by the Dorrington family, the annual award is named after in U of T鈥檚 Banting and Best department of medical research, which was later integrated into the Donnelly Centre.