surgery / en A diabetes drug promotes brain repair – but only in females, οstudy shows /news/diabetes-drug-promotes-brain-repair-only-females-u-t-study-shows <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">A diabetes drug promotes brain repair – but only in females, οstudy shows</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/RebeccaRuddy_CindiMorshead_KelseyAdams-web-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=zH_qHm9x 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/RebeccaRuddy_CindiMorshead_KelseyAdams-web-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=DEINNDqD 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/RebeccaRuddy_CindiMorshead_KelseyAdams-web-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=QQopHh9O 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/RebeccaRuddy_CindiMorshead_KelseyAdams-web-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=zH_qHm9x" alt="Cindi Morshead (centre) and graduate students Rebecca Ruddy (left) and Kelsey Adams"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-09-12T10:49:05-04:00" title="Thursday, September 12, 2019 - 10:49" class="datetime">Thu, 09/12/2019 - 10:49</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Cindi Morshead (centre) and graduate students Rebecca Ruddy (left) and Kelsey Adams. The study by Morshead's team highlights how sex bias in preclinical work can lead to failed clinical trials and inappropriate treatments (photo by Jovanna Drinjakovic)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/jovana-drinjakovic" hreflang="en">Jovana Drinjakovic</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/donnelly-centre-cellular-biomolecular-research" hreflang="en">Donnelly Centre for Cellular &amp; Biomolecular Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hospital-sick-children" hreflang="en">Hospital for Sick Children</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/institute-biomaterials-and-biomedical-engineering" hreflang="en">Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/surgery" hreflang="en">surgery</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Males are straightforward while females are complicated. This misguided view prompted a decades-long exclusion of female animals from research out of fear that their fluctuating hormone levels will muddle the data.&nbsp;</p> <p>But now a new study by researchers at the University of Toronto shows that a female sex hormone plays a key role in promoting brain repair and opens the door to the development of more effective treatments.</p> <p>The team of researchers led by <strong>Cindi Morshead</strong>, a professor at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research and the department of surgery, found that metformin, a widely prescribed drug to treat diabetes, promotes repair in adult female brains and is dependent on the sex hormone estradiol.</p> <p>Their findings <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/9/eaax1912">are described in a study</a> published in the Sept. 11, 2019 issue of the journal <em>Science Advances</em>.</p> <p>The research builds on a previous study, in collaboration with <strong>Freda Miller</strong>’s group at the Hospital for Sick Children, that sought to find treatment for childhood brain injury. They found that the widely prescribed drug metformin can induce brain repair and improve motor function in newborn mice that had a stroke injury. Metformin works by activating stem cells in the brain, which can self-renew and give rise to different types of brain cells to replace those killed by injury.</p> <p>Because brain injury in early life can lead to lifelong cognitive problems, the researchers wanted to find out if metformin also promoted cognitive recovery.</p> <p>“You can fix a hole in someone’s brain, but if they don’t function better it’s irrelevant to them,” says Morshead, who is also a professor at U of T’s Institute of Medical Science and the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering.</p> <p>Graduate student <strong>Rebecca Ruddy</strong> induced stroke in newborn mice, followed by daily metformin treatment before the animals were tested in a puzzle box test that measured learning and memory.</p> <p>The metformin was able to activate neural stem cells in the brain and promote cognitive recovery. But the data also revealed something unexpected: Metformin did not affect all the animals in equal manner. It only worked in adult females.</p> <p>“When we first looked at the data, we did not see the benefit of the metformin treatment,” says Morshead. “Then we noticed that adult females tended to do better than the males.”</p> <p>A closer look revealed that metformin selectively activated the adult female neural stem cells while having no effect on the males. This turned out to be due to the female sex hormone estradiol which somehow enhances the stem cells’ ability to respond to metformin. Conversely, the male hormone testosterone appears to inhibit this process. When female mice had their ovaries removed and lacked the female sex hormone, the stem cells did not respond to metformin treatment.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>“To know that there are both age and sex dependent effects – it has such implications for treatment and therapeutics,” says Morshead.</p> <p>The findings come at a time when the research community is reckoning with the data sex bias stemming from an overwhelming exclusion of female mice from research.&nbsp;</p> <p>“The thinking was that we’re going to study males because everything you need to know is found in the male brain, and then the female brain just complicates things with hormones,” says Morshead. “It’s very misguided and troublesome for advancing neurological health.”</p> <p>As preclinical research informs human studies, the sex bias is believed to have led to failed clinical trials, misdiagnosis and inappropriate therapies for women, as highlighted in a recent <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6443/825">article</a> in <em>Science</em>.&nbsp;</p> <p>Human trials focused on repurposing metformin as a brain repair drug are ongoing. Morsehead’s collaborators – Dr. <strong>Donald Mabbott</strong>, the head of neurosciences and mental health at SickKids, and Dr. <strong>Eric Bouffet</strong>, the director of the brain tumour program at SickKids – are leading a pilot study testing the drug in children who suffered brain injury. Although the current patient cohort is too small to detect any sex effects, the plan is to increase the number of patients to see if sex also affects treatment outcome in people, Morshead says.</p> <p>The research was supported by the funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, which in 2016 mandated its grant holders to consider animals of both sexes in their research, as well as from the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Medicine by Design, Brain Canada, the Stem Cell Network and the Ontario Brain Institute.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 12 Sep 2019 14:49:05 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 158200 at 'It's a great honour': Eleven οfaculty named fellows of the Royal Society of Canada /news/it-s-great-honour-eleven-u-t-faculty-named-fellows-royal-society-canada <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">'It's a great honour': Eleven οfaculty named fellows of the Royal Society of Canada</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/kraatz-gallagher-klassen_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=An7GC871 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/kraatz-gallagher-klassen_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=5JOYx_P1 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/kraatz-gallagher-klassen_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=uo_UWfdp 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/kraatz-gallagher-klassen_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=An7GC871" alt="Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz, Pamela Klassen and Kathleen Gallagher"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>perry.king</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-09-10T09:53:13-04:00" title="Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 09:53" class="datetime">Tue, 09/10/2019 - 09:53</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">From left to right: Pamela Klassen, Kathleen Gallagher and Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz are three of 11 οresearchers named fellows of the prestigious Royal Society of Canada (all photos by Perry King)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/perry-king" hreflang="en">Perry King</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physical-and-environmental-sciences" hreflang="en">Physical and Environmental Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/awards" hreflang="en">Awards</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/drama" hreflang="en">Drama</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ecology-and-evolutionary-biology" hreflang="en">Ecology and Evolutionary Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/history" hreflang="en">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hospital-sick-children" hreflang="en">Hospital for Sick Children</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/humanities" hreflang="en">Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/laboratory-medicine-and-pathobiology" hreflang="en">Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mechanical-industrial-engineering" hreflang="en">Mechanical &amp; Industrial Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ontario-institute-studies-education" hreflang="en">Ontario Institute for Studies in Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physics" hreflang="en">Physics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/psychiatry" hreflang="en">Psychiatry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/religion" hreflang="en">Religion</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/royal-society-canada" hreflang="en">Royal Society of Canada</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/st-michael-s-hospital" hreflang="en">St. Michael's Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/surgery" hreflang="en">surgery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/theatre" hreflang="en">Theatre</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">οScarborough</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-health-network" hreflang="en">University Health Network</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Pamela Klassen</strong> studies religion’s impact on the world at large. <strong>Kathleen Gallagher</strong> sees theatre as a way to understand students and their education. <strong>Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz</strong> is designing tools to detect biomolecules that cause cancer and other diseases.</p> <p>They are just three of 11 University of Toronto researchers named fellows of the prestigious Royal Society of Canada – considered a major achievement for scholars in this country.</p> <p>The other new fellows from οare: <strong>Cheryl Grady</strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Eric Jennings</strong>, <strong>Sidney Kennedy</strong>, <strong>Zheng-Hong Lu</strong>, <strong>Locke Rowe</strong>, <strong>Kimberly Strong</strong>,<strong> Yu Sun </strong>and<strong> Michael Taylor</strong>. (See the full list below.)</p> <p>“The University of Toronto congratulates its newest Royal Society of Canada fellows on their achievement and looks forward to the outstanding work they will continue to produce as members of the national academy,” says <strong>Vivek Goel</strong>, vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.</p> <p>“These 11 researchers, representing a wide array of disciplines, are contributing to new knowledge, insights and innovations that impact the lives of Canadians and people around the world.”</p> <p>Founded in the 1880s, the Royal Society of Canada recognizes scholars and their work in order to help them build a better future in Canada and around the world.</p> <p>Fellows have made remarkable contributions in the arts, humanities and sciences and will be mobilized to contribute knowledge, understanding, and insight through engagement with the Canadian public.</p> <p>They are nominated and elected by their Royal Society of Canada peers.</p> <p>U of T’s 11&nbsp;new fellows will join over 370 Royal Society of Canada fellows from U of T, and more than 2,000 active fellows overall.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/0J5A1064.jpg" alt></p> <h4>Pamela Klassen</h4> <p>A professor in the department for the study of religion, Klassen seeks to understand how religion shapes our world – in the past, present and imagined future.</p> <p>Since joining οin 1997, she has researched religion, gender and secularism in North America, the intersection of gender and medicine and the role of Christianity in Canadian colonialism.</p> <p>“Religion is at the heart of some of the most challenging issues in the contemporary world,” says Klassen, adding that it plays an integral role in personal decision-making, social structure and politics.</p> <p>The subject has led Klassen down several seemingly disparate roads of inquiry. They include: research into Mennonite women refugees during the Second World War; the role of religion in the home birth movement; and the history of medicine, including the role of medical missionaries.</p> <p>She describes her work as “people focused.”</p> <p>“I want to take care to reflect on what people have&nbsp;told me in interviews or from diaries and letters I’ve found in archives in a way that is respectful of their stories – but set those stories&nbsp;in a wider context so we can learn from them in a broader political, social way,” says Klassen, who previously won an American Academy of Religion award of excellence.</p> <p>Such personal engagement laid the groundwork for Klassen’s 2018 book&nbsp;<em>The Story of Radio Mind: A Missionary’s Journey on Indigenous Land</em>. The book, which combined meticulous historical research and many conversations with Indigenous historians and knowledge holders, examines the life of Frederick du Vernet, an early 20<sup>th</sup>-century Anglican archbishop who journeyed through Ojibwe, Ts’msyen and Nisga’a territory and came to condemn the devastating effects of residential schools run by his church.</p> <p>Klassen’s work on the book also led to the Kiinawin Kawindomowin&nbsp;<a href="https://news.artsci.utoronto.ca/all-news/digital-humanities-project-conveys-stories-colonial-settlement-indigenous-resistance-northwestern-ontario/">Story Nations project</a>, <a href="http://storynations.utoronto.ca/storynations_wp/">an interactive website</a> that Klassen and her students continue to work on in consultation with the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre of the Rainy River First Nations. It focuses on a diary Du Vernet wrote on an 1898 visit to Rainy River, and includes many stories of Ojibwe women and men expressing strong resistance to the missionary presence.</p> <p>“My work has always been animated by – this is more grandiose than I want to make it sound – questions of injustice that I see around me and how religion plays into various kinds of inequality, or how religion shapes the political world in which we live,” Klassen says.</p> <p>She thanks her peers for nominating and appointing her as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.</p> <p>“It’s a great honour to be nominated and accepted,” she says. “It’s a community of such a wide array of scholars – people from so many different fields – so to have the recognition of colleagues from across the humanities really means a lot to me.”</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/0J5A1125.jpg" alt></p> <h4>Kathleen Gallagher</h4> <p>A professor in the department of curriculum, teaching and learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Gallagher uses theatre to understand young people’s views on life in and out of the classroom.</p> <p>Gallagher, who is interested in questions of pedagogy, artistic practice and the social contexts of schooling, sees theatre as a “mode of inquiry” that’s yielded important insights into young people’s views on democracy, civic engagement and inequality.</p> <p>In order to conduct her global, ethnographic research, Gallagher has relied on collaborations with graduate students, who she calls her “most important intellectual community,” as well as the active participation of youth. Such collaborations are a “lifeblood,” she says.</p> <p>“I can’t imagine operating as a researcher in any other way, frankly,” says Gallagher, who is cross-appointed at the Centre for Drama, Theatre &amp; Performance Studies <a href="/news/u-t-honours-seven-researchers-whose-impact-reaches-beyond-academia">and won a οPresident’s Impact Award last year</a>. “The richness and the contributions of young people in my research projects make it possible for me to do the work I do.”</p> <p>Gallagher has also worked with playwright Andrew Kushnir on <em>Towards Youth</em> – a play Kushnir wrote that brings to life the concept of hope among youth in drama classrooms around the world that Gallagher’s research has explored. She describes the collaboration with Kushnir as “next level” because working with a professional playwright gave her an opportunity to communicate some of her research findings to a broad audience. It was also an opportunity to work with a professional playwright.</p> <p>“To be able to be in a long-term, close dialogue with someone who brings a whole other set of professional skills, understandings and experience to that research, is a gift with untold value,” she says.</p> <p>Gallagher hopes her Royal Society of Canada fellowship opens up more avenues for cross-disciplinary work.</p> <p>“The idea that I’m going to walk into new intellectual terrain with researchers beyond my οnetwork is enormously exciting to me,” she says. “It feels like a new beginning.”</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/0J5A1070%20%281%29.jpg" alt></p> <h4>Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz</h4> <p>A professor in the department of physical and environmental sciences at οScarborough, Kraatz wants to prevent diseases by creating tools that can help spot their underlying causes.</p> <p>Kraatz is focused on creating new sensor materials that allow him to detect biomolecules, such as DNA and proteins – and even biological processes – that play a role in everything from cell division to cancer and viral infections.</p> <p>He’s also conducting research that looks at the underlying molecular causes for conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.</p> <p>“We’re looking at identification of organisms at the genetic level, but we’re also looking at detection of pathogens in the environment,” says Kraatz, who is also οScarborough’s vice-principal of research.</p> <p>Finding ways to translate such research into real-world solutions can take decades – which is why Kraatz is grateful for his lab colleagues and students who have helped push ideas forward.</p> <p>“You can have this crazy idea and a non-optimal model system to work it out,” he says. “But taking that next step to go to a model system that actually does allow you to answer that question in a definitive way – it’s really important.”</p> <p>He hopes his passion for science rubs off on his students.</p> <p>“I love discussing science with my students, first of all. This is fun, this is a dialogue. Students have ideas – I have ideas and we sort of bounce them off each other,” he says. “Students come up with brilliant ideas and offer some brilliant solutions to problems.”</p> <p>In his role as vice-principal of research, Kraatz works to promote outstanding research and scholarship in all disciplines at οScarborough while also advancing collaborations and enhancing the research environment for students.</p> <p>He considers himself a role model at the university – a responsibility he takes seriously.</p> <p>“Ultimately, [the fellowship] enhances visibility and you have an obligation to contribute to the Royal Society, but also to university life by mentoring young faculty and students,” says Kraatz.</p> <p>“Making sure they’re on a productive path going forward is critical.”</p> <hr> <p><strong>Here is the full list of new Royal Society of Canada fellows from U of T:</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Kathleen Gallagher, </strong>department of curriculum, teaching and learning</li> <li><strong>Cheryl Grady</strong>, department of psychiatry, and Baycrest Health Sciences</li> <li><strong>Eric Jennings</strong>, department of history</li> <li><strong>Sidney Kennedy</strong>, department of psychiatry, University Health Network, St. Michael’s Hospital</li> <li><strong>Pamela Klassen, </strong>department for the study of religion</li> <li><strong>Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz, </strong>department of physical and environmental sciences, οScarborough</li> <li><strong>Zheng-Hong Lu</strong>, department of materials science and engineering</li> <li><strong>Locke Rowe</strong>, department of ecology and evolutionary biology</li> <li><strong>Kimberly Strong</strong>, department of physics</li> <li><strong>Yu Sun</strong>, department of mechanical and industrial engineering</li> <li><strong>Michael Taylor</strong>, departments of surgery and laboratory medicine and pathobiology, and the Hospital for Sick Children</li> </ul> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 10 Sep 2019 13:53:13 +0000 perry.king 158082 at οresearchers part of international team awarded US$4 million by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to map human liver /news/u-t-researchers-part-international-team-awarded-us4-million-chan-zuckerberg-initiative-map <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">οresearchers part of international team awarded US$4 million by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to map human liver</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/IMG_0064.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Amb1Jv70 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/IMG_0064.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=W5qzIgaG 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/IMG_0064.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=MA_FB_o5 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/IMG_0064.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Amb1Jv70" alt="Photo of researchers Sonya MacParland, Ian McGilvray and Gary Bader"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-07-15T16:07:17-04:00" title="Monday, July 15, 2019 - 16:07" class="datetime">Mon, 07/15/2019 - 16:07</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">From left to right: Sonya MacParland, Ian McGilvray and Gary Bader (photo courtesy of University Health Network)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/ann-perry" hreflang="en">Ann Perry</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/donnelly-centre-cellular-biomolecular-research" hreflang="en">Donnelly Centre for Cellular &amp; Biomolecular Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine-0" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/immunology" hreflang="en">Immunology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/institute-biomaterials-and-biomedical-engineering-0" hreflang="en">Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/laboratory-medicine-and-pathobiology" hreflang="en">Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medicine-design" hreflang="en">Medicine by Design</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mount-sinai-hospital" hreflang="en">Mount Sinai Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physiology" hreflang="en">Physiology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/surgery" hreflang="en">surgery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-health-network" hreflang="en">University Health Network</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A group of University of Toronto researchers&nbsp;are part of a 19-person&nbsp;international team&nbsp;awarded US$4 million by the&nbsp;Chan Zuckerberg Initiative&nbsp;to advance understanding of the human liver across diverse life stages and genetic backgrounds.</p> <p>The U of T&nbsp;researchers&nbsp;– all funded through Medicine by Design&nbsp;– <a href="https://mbd.utoronto.ca/news/medicine-by-design-funded-researchers-create-first-map-of-the-human-liver-at-the-molecular-level/">published the first single-cell map of the human liver</a>&nbsp;last fall. They&nbsp;are: <strong>Gary Bader</strong>, a professor and computational biologist at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research;&nbsp;<strong>Sonya MacParland</strong>, a scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute (TGHRI) at the University Health Network (UHN) who is also an assistant professor in U of T’s departments of immunology and laboratory medicine and pathobiology; and&nbsp;<strong>Ian McGilvray</strong>, a senior scientist at TGHRI, a transplant surgeon at UHN and a professor in U of T’s department of surgery.</p> <p>Part of the&nbsp;Human Cell Atlas, an international effort to map all cells in the human body, the collaboration brings together liver-mapping efforts from around the world to build a more complete picture of the human liver.</p> <p>“We have been working on building a global team of researchers who are all interested in mapping the human liver in different ways,” said Bader, who is a member of the organizing committee of the Human Cell Atlas.</p> <p>“This grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative really speeds up the development of the human liver map and allows us to move in novel directions by combining diverse research projects and data into one map.”</p> <p>The international collaboration, Bader added, is a “direct extension” of the liver mapping work he and his Toronto collaborators have already done with support from Medicine by Design, an interdisciplinary research program at οfocused on regenerative medicine and cell therapy.</p> <p>Their project – titled&nbsp;“A Reference Cell Atlas of Human Liver Diversity Over a Lifespan”&nbsp;– &nbsp;is one of 38 that are sharing US$68 million in funding through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s&nbsp;Seed Networks for the&nbsp;Human Cell Atlas&nbsp;program. Co-founded by Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg and pediatrician Priscilla Chan, who is married to Zuckerberg, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative seeks to harness technology to solve some of the world’s greatest problems and is actively supporting the Human Cell Atlas.</p> <p>The three-year award is significant because it supports international collaborations that are often&nbsp;ineligible to receive money from country-specific research funders, Bader said. The liver project includes computational biologists, clinicians, engineers and life scientists from Canada, Singapore, Germany, Belgium, the U.K., the U.S. and Israel.</p> <p>The team will meet in Toronto to kick off the project in late July.</p> <p>The international nature of the research team means it will have access to samples that better represent the full diversity of human livers, including age, sex and genetics.</p> <p>“One of the goals of the Human Cell Atlas is to capture human diversity,” Bader said. “We have a specific plan to collect a range of samples to cover a lot of diversity, allowing us to understand the variability in the human liver across the population.”</p> <p>For the Toronto-led part of the project, Bader, MacParland and McGilvray have joined forces with a new collaborator,&nbsp;<strong>Mei Zhen</strong>, a senior investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Sinai Health System and a professor in U of T’s department of physiology. Zhen is an expert in volumetric electron microscopy, a technology that captures high-resolution, 3D images by assembling individual images of extremely thin slices of tissue samples. Zhen has been developing this technology for studying neural systems in C. elegans, tiny worms that are part of the nematode family.</p> <p>This is believed to be the first time the technology will be used to image the liver as part of a tissue map project. Bader said the organ is a good candidate because it is made up of tiny, repeating, hexagonal-shaped structures called lobules.</p> <p>“Because of the biology of the liver, it is an interesting opportunity to understand the whole organ by studying its individual modules,” Bader said.</p> <p>The Toronto team plans to link these images with genomics data by applying computational methods and deep learning to analyze the vast amounts of data the project will generate, ultimately creating a unified map.</p> <p>“Medicine by Design helped catalyze this team, and we are delighted it is taking a leadership role in international efforts to create a next-generation map of the human liver,” said&nbsp;<strong>Michael Sefton</strong>, the executive director of Medicine by Design, a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards-funding/university-professors/" target="_blank">University Professor</a>&nbsp;at the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) and the Michael E. Charles Professor in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in U of T’s Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering.</p> <p>“This investment by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is an affirmation of the excellence and innovation of their research, and supports the collaborative, interdisciplinary approach that is at the core of Medicine by Design.”</p> <p>All data, tools and protocols generated from the Chan Zuckerberg Seed Networks for the Human Cell Atlas projects will be freely available to the research community.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 15 Jul 2019 20:07:17 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 157273 at From AI to immigrant integration: 56 οresearchers supported by Canada Research Chairs Program /news/ai-immigrant-integration-56-u-t-researchers-supported-canada-research-chairs-program <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">From AI to immigrant integration: 56 οresearchers supported by Canada Research Chairs Program</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/group-photo.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Ab584hUb 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/group-photo.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=2DoTikj0 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/group-photo.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=qdj1tj7B 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/group-photo.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Ab584hUb" alt="Composite photo of Jonathan Kelly, Marzyeh Ghassemi and Vincent Kuuire"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>geoff.vendeville</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-06-14T14:56:08-04:00" title="Friday, June 14, 2019 - 14:56" class="datetime">Fri, 06/14/2019 - 14:56</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Three of U of T's 56 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs (from left to right): Jonathan Kelly, Marzyeh Ghassemi and Vincent Kuuire (photos courtesy of Jonathan Kelly and Marzyeh Ghassemi, and by Blake Eligh)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/geoffrey-vendeville" hreflang="en">Geoffrey Vendeville</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/pediatrics" hreflang="en">Pediatrics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/donnelly-centre-cellular-biomolecular-research" hreflang="en">Donnelly Centre for Cellular &amp; 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Industrial Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/molecular-genetics" hreflang="en">Molecular Genetics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mount-sinai-hospital" hreflang="en">Mount Sinai Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/occupational-therapy" hreflang="en">Occupational Therapy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ontario-institute-studies-education" hreflang="en">Ontario Institute for Studies in Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physics" hreflang="en">Physics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physiology" hreflang="en">Physiology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/political-science" hreflang="en">Political Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/psychology" hreflang="en">Psychology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sociology" hreflang="en">Sociology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sunnybrook-hospital" hreflang="en">Sunnybrook Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/surgery" hreflang="en">surgery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">οMississauga</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">οScarborough</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-health-network" hreflang="en">University Health Network</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/utias" hreflang="en">UTIAS</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/vector-institute" hreflang="en">Vector Institute</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/visual-studies" hreflang="en">Visual Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/women-s-college-hospital" hreflang="en">Women's College Hospital</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Survey after survey show doctors face burnout from heavy workloads. But what if they could use a machine learning algorithm to shoulder some of the burden?</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/2017-10-31-Marzyeh_Ghassemi.jpg" alt><strong>Marzyeh Ghassemi </strong>(left), the first University of Toronto faculty member to be cross-appointed to the departments of computer science and medicine, is looking to lighten the load on health practitioners – and, by extension, improve patient health – by developing algorithms that can estimate the length of a person's hospital stay, need for intensive care or mortality risk.&nbsp;</p> <p><br> “We have a really good body of clinical research that suggests patients respond better to all manner of treatments when it’s provided with compassion and with focus, and with an understanding of where they come from,” she said.</p> <p>“So I think we should use machine learning to let doctors do the doctoring, to actually interface with patients and make decisions about care.”&nbsp;</p> <p>Ghassemi is one of 56 οfaculty members awarded new Canada Research Chairs, or whose chairs were renewed, as part of a double, fall-spring cohort <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/government-of-canada-announces-talented-and-diverse-group-of-new-and-renewed-canada-research-chairs-895143035.html">announced Friday by the federal government</a>. Established in 2000, the federal program invests about $295 million annually to recruit and retain top minds in Canada. It supports research in engineering, natural sciences, health sciences, humanities and social sciences.&nbsp;</p> <p>U of T’s total allotment of research chairs in the program is 315, making it the largest in the country.</p> <p>“I want to extend my warmest congratulations to U of T's new and renewed research chairs,” said&nbsp;<strong>Vivek Goel</strong>, U of T's vice-president of research and innovation.&nbsp;</p> <p>“The work supported by the Canada Research Chairs Program&nbsp;benefits all Canadians by advancing our shared knowledge and fostering innovation.”</p> <p>The new and renewed research chairs at οfocus on fields ranging from artificial intelligence, or AI, to studies of immigrant integration and well-being.&nbsp;</p> <p>Ghassemi, who was named a tier-two chair in machine learning and health, is continuing work she began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during her PhD studies. That includes developing an algorithm to help physicians determine the best possible patient treatments by predicting the onset of acute conditions and the need for intervention. Part of her research involved tagging along with doctors and nurses at a Boston hospital during their morning rounds to get a better sense of their daily routines and determine where AI could offer assistance.</p> <p>Also a faculty member at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Ghassemi said her research chair will allow her to expand the scope of her research beyond acute cases. In fact, she said her research is increasingly focused not on sickness, but on being in good health.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/Jonathan%20Kelly.jpg" alt>“The majority of the research we’re able to do looks at people when they’re at their very sickest, and then tries to understand whether there are small differences in outcome that we can have at these very, very sick moments,” she said.</p> <p><br> “We don’t really know what it means for a person to be healthy.”&nbsp;</p> <p>She sees her tier-two chair, a five-year award reserved for “exceptional emerging scholars,” as a vote of confidence in her work.</p> <p>“It’s recognizing that this area of research is one that Canadians care about,” she said.</p> <p><strong>Jonathan Kelly </strong>(left), an assistant professor at U of T’s Institute for Aerospace Studies, or UTIAS, is putting artificial intelligence to work for a different purpose. The new tier-two chair in collaborative robotics designs the software brain for machines with a wide variety of applications, from self-driving wheelchairs to robotic space explorers.</p> <p>One focus of Kelly’s research is on warehouse-dwelling “cobots” – short for collaborative robots – that are intended to work side-by-side with people in logistics, packaging and assembly.&nbsp;The machines would be sophisticated enough to respond to a worker’s movements without being told explicitly what to do.&nbsp;</p> <p>“In a manufacturing scenario, maybe both of you are working on adjusting a bolt on a part, but you need the robot to help support the piece so a bolt can be tightened,” Kelly said.</p> <p>“We’ve actually looked at trying to program the robot to interpret forces that are applied to the part by the person, because that can guide the machine as to what the person’s intent is.”</p> <p>Kelly sees cobots in the warehouse as a first step toward a Jetsons-like future where robots are interacting with humans in more unpredictable environments – including on the street or in the home.</p> <p>The Canada Research Chairs Program, Kelly said, provides an advantage when trying to recruit top research talent.&nbsp;<img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/UTM-Vincent-Kuuire-5.JPG" alt></p> <p>“We want to attract really great students,” he said, “and when you’re in the pool with the MITs, the Stanfords and Berkeleys and Carnegie Mellons, anything you can do to enhance your visibility is extremely valuable.”&nbsp;</p> <p>At οMississauga, health geographer&nbsp;<strong>Vincent Kuuire</strong>&nbsp;(right) said his tier-two chair in immigrant well-being and global health gives him more resources to explore health and well-being among newcomers to Canada.</p> <p>The assistant professor in geography is presently focused on Greater Toronto’s Eritrean and Nigerian communities, which are among the fastest growing groups in Canada. He relies on both census data and information painstakingly gathered by visiting local churches and grocery stores, where he explains his research purpose and looks for volunteers.</p> <p>He considers himself a “serial migrant,” having lived in seven different regions of his native Ghana before coming to Canada for graduate studies.&nbsp;</p> <p>Kuuire&nbsp;said the goal of his research is to better understand Canadian immigration, which has been pursued as a population growth strategy for over three decades in response to an aging population and low fertility rates. In one recent paper in the <em>Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health</em>, he traces the relationship between an experience of “childhood adversity” – such as physical and sexual trauma before age 15 – to psychosocial health outcomes among immigrants later in life.</p> <p>“It’s important to be able to understand the factors that are related to their (immigrants) general wellbeing and integration,” Kuuire&nbsp;said.</p> <p>“Those findings can contribute to broader policies that may enhance or promote a more cohesive Canada.”</p> <hr> <h4>Here is the full list of new and renewed Canada Research Chairs:</h4> <p><em>New Canada Research Chairs (applied fall of 2018)</em></p> <ul> <li><strong>Jennifer Campos</strong>, in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and University Health Network, tier two in multisensory integration and aging</li> <li><strong>Sabine Cordes</strong>, in the&nbsp;department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and Sinai Health System, tier one in molecular mechanisms of mood and mind</li> <li><strong>Ken Croitoru</strong>, in the department of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Sinai Health System, tier one in inflammatory bowel diseases</li> <li><strong>William Derry</strong>, in the department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in genetic models of human disease</li> <li><strong>Natalie Enright&nbsp;Jerger</strong>, in the department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, tier two in computer architecture</li> <li><strong>Michael Garton</strong>, in the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering in the&nbsp;Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, tier two in synthetic biology</li> <li><strong>Marzyeh Ghassemi</strong>, in the department of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, tier two in machine learning for health</li> <li><strong>Maria Hupfield</strong>, in the department of visual studies and the department of English and drama at οMississauga, tier two in transdisciplinary Indigenous arts</li> <li><strong>Noah Ivers</strong>, in the department of family and community medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Women’s College Hospital, tier two in implementation of evidence-based practice</li> <li><strong>Zhengping Jia</strong>, in the department of physiology in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in synaptic plasticity and brain disorders</li> <li><strong>Brian Kavanagh</strong>, in the department of anesthesia in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in acute lung injury</li> <li><strong>Jonathan Kelly</strong>, at University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, tier two in collaborative robotics</li> <li><strong>Heather McFarlane</strong>, in the department of cell and systems biology in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, tier two in plant cell biology</li> <li><strong>JoAnne McLaurin</strong>, in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier one in Alzheimer’s disease therapeutics</li> <li><strong>Aleixo Muise</strong>, in the department of paediatrics and department of biochemistry in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children,&nbsp;tier one in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease</li> <li><strong>Emily Nalder</strong>, in the department of occupational science and occupational therapy in the Faculty of Medicine, tier two in resiliency and rehabilitation</li> <li><strong>Patricia O'Campo</strong>, at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Unity Health Toronto, tier one in population health intervention research</li> <li><strong>Meaghan O'Reilly</strong>, in the department of medical biophysics in the Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier two in biomedical ultrasound</li> <li><strong>Christopher Pearson</strong>, in the department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in disease-associated genome instability</li> <li><strong>Beate Sander</strong>, at the Institute of Health Policy, Management &amp; Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and University Health Network, tier two in economics of infectious diseases</li> <li><strong>Bojana Stefanovic</strong>, in the department of medical biophysics in the Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier one in neuroimaging</li> <li><strong>Sandra Styres</strong>, in the department of curriculum, teaching and learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, tier two in Iethi’nihsténha Ohwentsia’kékha (land), resurgence, reconciliation and the politics of education</li> <li><strong>Lillian Sung</strong>, in the department of paediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in pediatric oncology supportive care</li> <li><strong>Wendy Ungar</strong>, at the&nbsp;Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in economic evaluation and technology assessment in child health</li> <li><strong>Lu-Yang Wang</strong>, in the department of physiology in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in brain development and disorders</li> <li><strong>Ding Yuan</strong>, in the department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, tier two in systems software&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Gang Zheng</strong>, in the department of medical biophysics in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier one in cancer nanomedicine</li> </ul> <p><em>Renewals of Canada Research Chairs (applied fall of 2018)</em></p> <ul> <li><strong>Evdokia&nbsp; Anagnostou</strong>, in the department of paediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, tier two in translational therapeutics in autism</li> </ul> <ul> <li><strong>Michael Baker,</strong> in the department of economics in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, tier one in economics and public policy</li> <li><strong>Timothy Chan</strong>, in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, tier 2 in novel optimization and analytics in health</li> <li><strong>Brendan Frey, </strong>in the department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, tier one in machine learning for genome biology and therapeutics</li> <li><strong>Marney Isaac, </strong>in the department of physical and environmental sciences at οScarborough, tier two in agroecosystems and development</li> <li><strong>Catherine Sabiston, </strong>in the Faculty of Kinesiology &amp; Physical Education, tier two in physical activity and mental health</li> <li><strong>Bianca Schroeder, </strong>at the department of computer and mathematical sciences at οScarborough, tier two in data centre technologies</li> <li><strong>Wei Yu, </strong>in the department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, tier 1 in information theory and wireless communications</li> </ul> <p><em>New Canada Research Chairs (applied spring of 2018)</em></p> <ul> <li><strong>Isabella Caniggia</strong>, in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology in the Faculty of Medicine and Sinai Health System, tier one in placental biology in pregnancy and disease</li> <li><strong>David Curtin</strong>, in the department of physics in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, tier two in theoretical particle physics</li> <li><strong>Shiphra Ginsburg</strong>, in the department of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Sinai Health System, tier one in health professions education&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Tara Gomes</strong>, in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and Unity Health Toronto, tier two in drug policy research and evaluation&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Annie Huang</strong>, in the department of paediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in rare childhood brain tumors</li> <li><strong>Mohit Kapoo</strong>r, in the department of surgery and department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier one in the mechanisms of joint degeneration&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Vincent Kuuire</strong>, in the department of geography at οMississauga, tier two in immigrant well-being and global health</li> <li><strong>Tony Lam</strong>, in the department of physiology in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier one in diabetes and obesity</li> <li><strong>Hyun Lee</strong>, in the department of biochemistry&nbsp;in the Faculty of Medicine, tier two in biomolecular phase transitions in cellular repair</li> <li><strong>Philipp Maass</strong>, in the department of molecular genetics&nbsp;in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two in non-coding disease mechanisms</li> <li><strong>Julien Muffat</strong>, in the department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two in stem cell bioengineering and synthetic neuro immunology</li> <li><strong>Navindra Persaud</strong>,&nbsp;in the department of family and community medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Unity Health Toronto, tier two in health justice</li> <li><strong>Hannes Röst</strong>, at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research in the Faculty of Medicine, tier two in mass spectrometry-based personalized medicine</li> <li><strong>Adam Shlien</strong>,&nbsp;in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two in childhood cancer genomics</li> <li><strong>Valerie Wallace</strong>,&nbsp;in the department of ophthalmology and vision sciences in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier one in retina regeneration</li> <li><strong>Wendy Wong</strong>, in the department of political science in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, tier two in global governance and civil society</li> </ul> <p><em>Renewals of Canada Research Chairs (applied spring of 2018)</em></p> <ul> <li><strong>Aimy Bazylak</strong>, in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, tier two in thermofluidics for clean energy</li> <li><strong>Gustavo Bobonis</strong>, in the department of economics in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, tier two in the political economy of development</li> <li><strong>Goldie Nejat</strong>, in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, tier two in robots for society</li> <li><strong>Scott Schiema</strong><strong>n</strong>,&nbsp;in the department of sociology&nbsp;in the&nbsp;Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, tier one in social contexts of health</li> <li><strong>Dvira Segal</strong>,&nbsp;in the department of chemistry&nbsp;in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, tier two in theoretical chemistry</li> </ul> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 14 Jun 2019 18:56:08 +0000 geoff.vendeville 156847 at 'You could avoid huge numbers of deaths': οresearcher on gun fatalities in the U.S., Mexico, Brazil and Colombia /news/you-could-avoid-huge-numbers-deaths-u-t-researcher-gun-fatalities-us-mexico-brazil-and-colombia <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">'You could avoid huge numbers of deaths': οresearcher on gun fatalities in the U.S., Mexico, Brazil and Colombia</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Prabhat-Jha-headshot-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=tkQKkBXM 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Prabhat-Jha-headshot-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ErR-vcR7 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Prabhat-Jha-headshot-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=7s7fMDsE 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Prabhat-Jha-headshot-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=tkQKkBXM" alt="Photo of Prabhat Jha"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-05-22T12:38:38-04:00" title="Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - 12:38" class="datetime">Wed, 05/22/2019 - 12:38</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Prabhat Jha, an epidemiologist with the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and his fellow researchers analyzed more than 106 million deaths among men 15 to 34 (photo courtesy of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/heidi-singer" hreflang="en">Heidi Singer</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dalla-lana-school-public-health" hreflang="en">Dalla Lana School of Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/guns" hreflang="en">Guns</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/surgery" hreflang="en">surgery</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Professor<strong> Prabhat Jha</strong>, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto’s&nbsp;Dalla Lana School of Public Health, <a href="/news/u-t-researchers-find-firearm-mortality-americas-highest-among-young-men-links-education-and">has published a comprehensive study</a> that found race and education strongly correlates with a young man’s chances of dying from guns in the United States, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.</p> <p>Working with <strong>Anna Dare</strong>, a surgical resident at οand St. Michael’s Hospital, Jha and his fellow researchers analyzed more than 106 million deaths among men aged 15 to 34 in the four countries, looking at how firearms-related mortality corresponded with race and education.</p> <p>He said he expected to find a correlation with lower education and non-white races, but was still shocked at the strength of the connection the researchers uncovered – particularly in America.</p> <p>“In the U.S., the differences are really driven by race,” said Jha, who is also the director of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. Michael’s Hospital and a world leader in collecting and analyzing data about why people die.</p> <p>U of T’s <strong>Heidi Singer</strong> caught up with Jha to ask him more about the study and its findings.</p> <hr> <p><strong>What surprised you most about these results?</strong></p> <p>The most surprising result was how big the ratio in equalities were between young Black men in the U.S. and other groups, including young Black men in these other countries. I was surprised by the extent to which the risk was so much higher in the U.S.</p> <p>In the U.S., the differences are really driven by race, so a young Black man with a post-secondary education has 30 times [more] risk of being killed by firearms than his white counterpart. He’s even 14 times more likely to be shot and killed than an uneducated white man. We didn’t see anything like this in other countries we studied.</p> <p>I was also surprised by how much gun deaths varied within a country by time and space, with factors such as drug wars. But we also saw that in Mexico and Colombia they were able to reduce mortality through firearms restrictions and broader social policies. It suggests that if the U.S. and Brazil were able to do the same, you could avoid huge numbers of deaths.</p> <p>That said, generally firearms mortality has improved over time – the risk was much higher in the past.</p> <p><strong>Do you think these results could bolster gun control advocacy in the U.S.?</strong></p> <p>I’ve never taken the approach of trying to influence a political agenda. The only thing I do is rub the noses of politicians in the data. And the data here really jump out in saying that reducing young Black men’s deaths requires a reduction in firearms.</p> <p><strong>Was this really the first time anyone thought to correlate gun deaths with education and race in some of these countries?</strong></p> <p>Differences in education have been documented before. But differences in race and education and how much they contributed to the life expectancy has not been studied. Young men are generally healthy – we shouldn’t have many deaths at that age group. But when they do die, up to half of it is attributed to guns.</p> <p><strong>What prompted this study?</strong></p> <p>Counting the dead is an extremely powerful way to improve public health. These are routine data but we just looked at them carefully.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 22 May 2019 16:38:38 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 156741 at οresearchers find firearm mortality in the Americas highest among young men, links to education and race /news/u-t-researchers-find-firearm-mortality-americas-highest-among-young-men-links-education-and <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">οresearchers find firearm mortality in the Americas highest among young men, links to education and race</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-gun-protest-%28weblead%29.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=vWfphuin 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/GettyImages-gun-protest-%28weblead%29.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=8uTQx_O_ 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/GettyImages-gun-protest-%28weblead%29.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Jx-P-vsE 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-gun-protest-%28weblead%29.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=vWfphuin" alt="Photo of gun control protesters in Washington D.C."> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-05-22T10:23:50-04:00" title="Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - 10:23" class="datetime">Wed, 05/22/2019 - 10:23</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Students gather at a gun control rally in Washington, D.C. on March 14, 2019 (photo by Alex Wong via Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/heidi-singer" hreflang="en">Heidi Singer</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dalla-lana-school-public-health" hreflang="en">Dalla Lana School of Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/guns" hreflang="en">Guns</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/st-michael-s-hospital" hreflang="en">St. Michael's Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/surgery" hreflang="en">surgery</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>University of Toronto researchers have analyzed more than 106 million deaths and found that firearms are a leading cause of mortality in men aged 15 to 34 years in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and the United States.</p> <p>While the number of firearm deaths has previously been reported at the national level for countries in the Americas, the variations in firearm mortality at the state level, by race or ethnicity, and by education level have not been examined before. In addition, the impact of these deaths on life expectancy among subpopulations hadn’t been assessed.&nbsp;</p> <p>The authors say that the variation in risk of firearm deaths in different populations and the changing patterns they have observed provide strong evidence that as many as 1.8 million dealths could have been avoided between 1990 and 2016 across all ages and genders, including one million in men aged 15 to 34.</p> <p>The study, <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(19)30018-0/fulltext#%20">published this week in the journal <em>The</em>&nbsp;<em>Lancet Public Health</em></a>, also highlights the important role of education level and race in firearm deaths.</p> <p>“Firearms are not only a leading and persistent cause of mortality in the USA, Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil – and as such must be considered a major public health concern – but the extreme variations in firearm mortality among sub-populations represent a societal challenge,” says study co-author <strong>Prabhat Jha</strong>, a professor at U of T’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the director of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. Michael’s Hospital.</p> <p>“Changes in firearm mortality explain most of the variation in overall mortality among young men in these four countries over the past 25 years&nbsp;– and in the U.S.&nbsp;firearm homicides account for three quarters of the marked differences in overall mortality observed between young white and Black men, regardless of educational level.”</p> <h3><a href="/news/you-could-avoid-huge-numbers-deaths-u-t-researcher-gun-fatalities-us-mexico-brazil-and-colombia">Read a Q&amp;A with οresearcher Prabhat Jha on the study in <em>The</em>&nbsp;<em>Lancet Public Health</em></a></h3> <p>Firearms have remained a persistent cause of premature death in the Americas for the past 25 years. While firearm mortality in the U.S. is markedly higher than in any other high-income country, the rates in several Central and South American countries are even higher.&nbsp;</p> <p>In the study, the authors collected national data on individual deaths between 1990 and 2015 in the U.S., Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, which all have high-quality data on cause of death and high firearm mortality. Using information from death certificates, they compared overall and firearm mortality at the country and state levels. In addition, the authors analyzed these deaths by intent (homicide, suicide, unintentional or undetermined), and they also stratified cause of death data by age, gender&nbsp;and education level.<br> <br> For homicide, the authors analyzed data by education in all four countries and by race in the U.S. and Brazil.<br> <br> Brazil had the highest number of firearm deaths in all ages and genders between 1990 and 2015 (855,000 deaths), followed by the U.S. (851,000), Colombia (494,000), and Mexico (272,000). Homicide was the most common form of firearm death in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico (accounting for 90 per cent, 94 per cent, and 83 per cent of cases, respectively), while suicide accounted for 56 per cent of all U.S. firearms deaths.<br> <br> During the study period, the risk to young men of dying from firearms increased in Mexico and Brazil, but decreased in the U.S. and Colombia, according to the researchers.&nbsp;<br> <br> Firearm mortality accounted for up to half of the overall risk of premature death for young men, ranging from 12.5 per cent of overall mortality risk in Mexico to 58 per cent in Colombia in 2000 to 2004. The authors found that where firearm mortality has fallen, the reductions account for much of the improved life expectancy in young men.</p> <p>Place of residence, education and race were important risk factors in death from firearms. The researchers found more than a 10-fold variation in the risk of firearm mortality, ranging from 1.1 per cent in Louisiana to 0.1 per cent in Hawaii. In Mexico, the regional variation ranged from 4.7 per cent in Chihuahua to 0.05 per cent in Yucatán. Typically, deaths were concentrated in a few high-burden states, but these varied over time, particularly in Brazil and Colombia – highlighting the volatility of firearm violence and mortality, and suggesting that these deaths could be avoided.&nbsp;<br> <br> The authors found that men with high school or lower levels of education were at greater risk of firearm homicide than those who received post-secondary education in all four countries.</p> <p>When also considering race within these populations in Brazil and the U.S., the authors found that Black men in the U.S. and Black&nbsp;men in Brazil were among the groups at the highest risk of homicide, compared to Hispanic and white men.&nbsp;<br> <br> In the U.S. in particular, Black men with lower educational attainment were 14 times more likely to die due to firearm homicide than comparably educated white men, and, in these groups, firearm homicides accounted for three quarters of the difference in overall mortality risk between Black and white men.&nbsp;<br> <br> Black American men with low educational attainment were two to four times more likely to die by firearm homicide than Brazilian Black or white men, as well as men from Mexico. And Black American men who received post-secondary education were 30 times more likely to die by firearm homicide than comparably educated white men.<br> <br> The effect of race on firearm homicide was much greater in the U.S. than in Brazil, where differences in men’s risk of firearm mortality were mostly due to differences in education, and where a higher education reduced the relative risk of firearm homicide among men of all races by similar amounts.<br> <br> When focussing on suicide in the U.S., the pattern changed and the risk of firearm suicide was higher among young white men than Black or Hispanic men. The authors note that most people who survive a suicide attempt do not try again&nbsp;– thus, restricting access to firearms could avert tens of thousands of suicide deaths.<br> <br> “Failure to address firearms as a major cause of mortality for Black men in the U.S. will hamper efforts to reduce disparities in mortality and improve life expectancy for Black men,” says co-author <strong>Anna Dare</strong>, a resident in U of T’s department of surgery and researcher at St. Michael’s Hospital.</p> <p>“Interventions that reduce exposures to firearms are crucial, and well-supported by research and international comparisons. There is also a clear need to address the broader cultural, social&nbsp;and economic factors that contribute to such marked differences in mortality.”<br> <br> The research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and U of T’s Connaught Global Challenge.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 22 May 2019 14:23:50 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 156740 at U of T's Medicine by Design invests $1.2 million to advance regenerative medicine research and translation /news/u-t-s-medicine-design-invests-12-million-advance-regenerative-medicine-research-and-translation <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">U of T's Medicine by Design invests $1.2 million to advance regenerative medicine research and translation</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Leo_Chou_CCBR-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=OJJt8qa0 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Leo_Chou_CCBR-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=u1coi4w6 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Leo_Chou_CCBR-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=asyxLOnI 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Leo_Chou_CCBR-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=OJJt8qa0" alt="photo of Leo Chou"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-05-14T17:05:07-04:00" title="Tuesday, May 14, 2019 - 17:05" class="datetime">Tue, 05/14/2019 - 17:05</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Leo Chou, an assistant professor at U of T’s Institute of Biomaterials &amp; Biomedical Engineering and a Medicine by Design investigator, is leading one of four projects selected for the 2019 New Ideas Awards (Photo by Bill Dai)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/ann-perry" hreflang="en">Ann Perry</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/pediatrics" hreflang="en">Pediatrics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/donnelly-centre-cellular-biomolecular-research" hreflang="en">Donnelly Centre for Cellular &amp; Biomolecular Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lunenfeld-tanenbaum-research-institute" hreflang="en">Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/chemical-engineering" hreflang="en">Chemical Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/electrical-computer-engineering" hreflang="en">Electrical &amp; 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Industrial Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medicine" hreflang="en">Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medicine-design" hreflang="en">Medicine by Design</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/molecular-genetics" hreflang="en">Molecular Genetics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mount-sinai-hospital" hreflang="en">Mount Sinai Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physiology" hreflang="en">Physiology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/psychiatry" hreflang="en">Psychiatry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/regenerative-medicine" hreflang="en">Regenerative Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sunnybrook-hospital" hreflang="en">Sunnybrook Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/surgery" hreflang="en">surgery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">οScarborough</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-health-network" hreflang="en">University Health Network</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/utias" hreflang="en">UTIAS</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>What can a swarm of drones tell us about how our bodies make blood? Can folding strands of DNA into origami-like structures help researchers engineer more targeted treatments for lupus and multiple sclerosis? What new insights can mathematical and computational modelling offer into how tissues and organs form?</p> <p>These are just a few of the questions that nine research teams across the University of Toronto and its affiliated hospitals are investigating thanks to $1.2 million in 2019 New Ideas and Seed Fund awards from <a href="file://128.100.71.78/mbd_dir/Communications%20&amp;%20Marketing/News%20and%20Announcements/2019%20New%20Ideas%20and%20PDFs/2019%20New%20Ideas/mbd.utoronto.ca">Medicine by Design</a>. The awards support basic and translational research aimed at advancing new concepts that are expected to be of critical importance to regenerative medicine in the coming decades, using tools such as synthetic biology and mathematical modelling.</p> <p>“With these awards, we are pushing the frontiers of regenerative medicine by encouraging creativity, risk-taking and excellence at the convergence of science, engineering and medicine,” said <a href="https://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards-funding/university-professors/">University Professor</a>&nbsp;<strong>Michael Sefton</strong>, who is executive director of Medicine by Design and a faculty member&nbsp;at the Institute of Biomaterials &amp; Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) and the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry.</p> <p>“These projects exemplify the best of Medicine by Design by bringing people together across disciplines and institutions to tackle novel questions and test new approaches.”</p> <p>Medicine by Design selected the nine funded projects from among 22 short-listed proposals, which were evaluated and ranked through an external peer review process. Sixty research teams at οand its affiliated hospitals submitted expressions of intent last fall in response to an open call.</p> <p>Medicine by Design is a regenerative medicine research initiative at οwith a mandate to accelerate transformational discoveries and translate them into new therapies for common diseases. It is made possible thanks in part to a $114-million grant from the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cfref-apogee.gc.ca/">Canada First Research Excellence Fund&nbsp;</a>– the single-largest research award in U of T’s history.</p> <h3>New Ideas Awards</h3> <p><strong>Leo Chou</strong> leads one of four projects selected for 2019 New Ideas Awards, which provide $100,000 per year for two years. Chou, an assistant professor at IBBME and a new Medicine by Design investigator, is collaborating with <strong>Bebhinn Treanor</strong>, an associate professor in the department of biological sciences at the οScarborough, to study how DNA nanotechnology could be used to ramp up or dampen immune responses, offering new ways to treat disease.</p> <p>The project elegantly fuses their diverse expertise. Chou uses a process known as DNA origami to pinch and “staple” a long strand of DNA at precise points to create a variety of nanoscale shapes that can arrange biomolecules into precise two- and three-dimensional patterns. Treanor, an immunologist, studies how antigens – fragments of viruses or bacteria with unique markers – trigger immune cells in our bodies called B cells to produce specific antibodies to bind to and inactivate the associated virus or bacteria. Both are intrigued by the fact that, in nature, antigens arranged in periodic spacing provoke a much more potent immune response than individual antigens.</p> <p>Together, they plan to use Chou’s DNA nanostructures as building blocks to study how the layout, structure, and nature of an array of antigens can affect the dynamics and strength of B cell activation.</p> <p>The immediate goal is to figure out the basic design principles. “Like all good, fundamental studies, it might open up a lot of doors,” said Chou, who earned his PhD at IBBME in 2014 and returned to οin January as a faculty member after a post-doctoral fellowship at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.</p> <p>“It might lead us to interesting biology that we just don’t understand, or haven’t discovered, yet.”</p> <p>Ultimately, Chou and Treanor hope to create synthetically designed particles that can act as precision vaccines to heighten or dampen immune responses. This approach could lead to more targeted therapies for autoimmune diseases, such as lupus, arthritis and multiple sclerosis, in which the normal immune process goes haywire and mounts an attack on a person’s own cells. Chou also thinks their technology platform could be applied to better control the activation of other cell types, which could help enable cell-based therapies by making the cell-manufacturing process more efficient.</p> <p>Other 2019 New Ideas projects include:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Dr. Robert Hamilton</strong>, a cardiologist and senior associate scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and a professor in the department of paediatrics at U of T, is leading a project that aims to create precision immunotherapies for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. This heritable, autoimmune condition causes the myocardium, or heart muscle wall, to break down over time and can lead to sudden death. <strong>Sachdev Sidhu</strong>, a professor at U of T’s Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, is the co-investigator, and SickKids clinicians <strong>Dr. Donna Wall</strong> and <strong>Dr. Joerg Krueger</strong> are also part of the project team.</li> <li><strong>Dr. Sevan Hopyan</strong>, an orthopaedic surgeon and senior scientist at SickKids and an associate professor in the departments of molecular genetics and surgery at U of T, is making a computational tool to gain new insights into the physical processes that influence how embryonic tissues are organized and shaped. Known as morphogenesis, this process at the earliest stages of life remains poorly understood but could hold important clues for researchers developing regenerative medicine therapies. The co-investigator on this project is <strong>Yu Sun</strong>, a professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering at U of T, while <strong>Huaxiong Huang</strong>, the deputy director of the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, is collaborating.</li> <li><strong>Krishna Mahadevan</strong>, a professor in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry, is leading a team that aims to create new therapies for inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s disease by engineering gut bacteria that can sense inflammation, and then secrete molecules that dampen it and promote regeneration of the intestinal lining. Combining synthetic biology and stem cell biology, the project also draws on the expertise of co-investigators <strong>Keith Pardee</strong>, an assistant professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and a Medicine by Design investigator, and <strong>Tae-Hee Kim</strong>, a scientist at SickKids and an assistant professor in U of T’s department of molecular genetics.</li> </ul> <h3>Seed Fund Awards</h3> <p>To increase the number of cutting-edge ideas it invests in, Medicine by Design created a new&nbsp;award this year called the Seed Fund Award, which provides&nbsp;$75,000 for one year to each of five projects.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__10960 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" src="/sites/default/files/Schoellig-photo---Credit-Roberta-Baker---Engineering-Strategic-Communications-embed.jpg" style="width: 296px; height: 453px; margin: 10px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image"><strong>Angela Schoellig</strong>&nbsp; (left) leads one of these projects, which is forging innovative ties between biomedical engineering and robotics. An assistant professor at U of T’s Institute for Aerospace Studies, she works at the interface of robotics, controls and machine learning, with research interests in self-driving vehicles and autonomous aerial vehicles, or drones.</p> <p>Schoellig is using her award funding to study complex collective behaviour in living and non-living systems. Known as emergence, the phenomenon refers to the dynamic evolution of a system to develop complexity that cannot be easily predicted from the properties of its individual parts. In nature, a common example of emergence is <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/01/04/506400719/video-swooping-starlings-in-murmuration">murmuration</a>, which occurs when hundreds of birds congregate and fly in organized, swooping patterns.&nbsp;</p> <p>Schoellig and co-investigator <strong>Peter Zandstra</strong>, a University Professor at IBBME, are combining their respective expertise in robotic drones and blood-forming systems to gain new insights into emergence that could lead to advances in both fields. They hope that identifying common elements in these diverse systems will help them understand how a collection of individual entities in a disordered state develops complex, co-ordinated activities, ultimately advancing the capacity to predict and even control desirable emergent behaviour. Such findings could have many applications, including improving the reconstitution of healthy blood systems in patients who have undergone stem cell transplants. The research could also enhance the ability of robots to perform collaborative tasks in dynamic environments, such as airspace defence, search and rescue, and package delivery. Zandstra is also director of the School of Biomedical Engineering and the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia.</p> <p>The other four successful Seed Fund Award projects range from brain organoids to new strategies to treat hearing loss.</p> <ul> <li><strong>Dr. Peter Carlen</strong>, a neurologist and senior scientist at the Krembil Research Institute at University Health Network (UHN) and a professor in U of T’s departments of medicine and physiology, as well as IBBME, is leading a project aimed at creating personalized treatments for the one-third of epilepsy patients whose disease does not respond to drugs. He plans to do this by generating cerebral organoids – brain-like mini-organs grown in a dish – from induced pluripotent stem cells derived from patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. His team will then use these organoids to study why the patients have not responded to medication, and to determine optimal pharmacotherapy options. Co-investigators on the project are <strong>Cathy Barr</strong>, a senior scientist at Krembil and SickKids and a professor in U of T’s department of psychiatry, and <strong>Roman Genov</strong>, a professor in U of T’s department of electrical and computer engineering.</li> <li><strong><strong>Sarah Crome</strong></strong>, a scientist at UHN, an assistant professor at U of T’s department of immunology and a Medicine by Design investigator, heads a project investigating whether immune cells known as innate lymphoid cells that reside in tissues can be harnessed to promote regeneration, prevent rejection and ultimately improve the success of cell-based immune therapies.</li> <li><strong>Alain Dabdoub</strong>, a senior scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute and an associate professor in the departments of otolaryngology and laboratory medicine and pathobiology at U of T, leads a project aimed at regenerating the auditory neurons that transmit sound from the inner ear to the brain as a strategy to reverse hearing loss. Building on work he has already performed in mice <em>in vitro</em>, Dabdoub will investigate how to convert glial cells in a mouse model of neuropathy as well as human glial cells <em>in vitro</em> into auditory neurons.</li> <li><strong>Miguel Ramalho-Santos</strong>, a senior investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Sinai Health System, a professor at U of T’s department of molecular genetics and a Medicine by Design investigator,&nbsp;is using his Seed Fund Award to study whether the way genes are packed inside the nucleus of human pluripotent stem cells affects their ability to generate cerebral organoids, a tool that holds potential to model neurological diseases and test medications outside the body.</li> </ul> <p>With these new awards, Medicine by Design funds more than 130 investigators across οand its affiliated hospitals.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 14 May 2019 21:05:07 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 156683 at οPhD student publishes hip-surgery research in major U.S. medical journal /news/u-t-phd-student-publishes-hip-surgery-research-major-us-medical-journal <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">οPhD student publishes hip-surgery research in major U.S. medical journal</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-11-28-surgery-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=3pNhD3zy 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-11-28-surgery-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=yTB3ZQCB 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-11-28-surgery-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=X8AKvL72 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-11-28-surgery-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=3pNhD3zy" alt="Photo of operating room"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>rasbachn</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-11-28T12:38:53-05:00" title="Tuesday, November 28, 2017 - 12:38" class="datetime">Tue, 11/28/2017 - 12:38</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"> If patients are ready for the operating room, "there is no reason they need to wait until 24 hours, especially as they are suffering in pain," says Dr. Daniel Pincus, a resident in orthopedic surgery (photo by Randy Risling/Toronto Star via Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/heidi-singer" hreflang="en">Heidi Singer</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dalla-lana-school-public-health" hreflang="en">Dalla Lana School of Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/surgery" hreflang="en">surgery</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Delaying hip fracture surgery more than one day associated with increased risk of death</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Waiting more than 24 hours to undergo hip fracture surgery may be associated with an increased risk of death and complications, according to research published by a University of Toronto graduate student and medical resident.</p> <p>Dr. <strong>Daniel Pincus</strong>, a resident in orthopedic surgery, found the link after studying wait times and health outcomes of more than 42,000 people who had hip fracture surgery in Canadian hospitals.</p> <p>Patients who had surgery more than 24 hours after coming to the emergency room with a broken hip had a 6.5 per cent chance of death within 30 days, compared with a 5.8 per cent chance among patients who received more immediate care.</p> <p>“Complications analyzed&nbsp;included heart attack, pneumonia, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. These are not necessarily a direct result of the injury itself but can occur when patients wait bedridden prior to surgery.” says Pincus, a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Medicine’s clinician investigator program. &nbsp;“Patients also must fast before surgery, which is hard on an elderly person already dealing with intense inflammation from a break to the largest bone in the body.”</p> <p>Pincus was not the first to establish a link between hip surgery wait times and death rates. &nbsp;But his study clarifies disagreement over the length of time that’s most dangerous. He found that risk of death only increased after 24 hours of waiting.</p> <h3><a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2664460">Read Pincus's research&nbsp;in <em>JAMA</em></a></h3> <h3><a href="http://gicr.utoronto.ca/support-the-report/">Interested in publicly funded research in Canada? Learn more at UofT’s #supportthereport advocacy campaign</a></h3> <p>“What is interesting is that we found a relationship between risk and delay, but only after 24 hours. Before 24 hours there was no increased risk of waiting. So surgery within 24 hours thus appears to be the&nbsp;‘safe window,’"&nbsp;he says. “Some patients will benefit from pre-operative medical treatment and rushing them to the operating room before this happens is probably not the right answer.&nbsp;If patients are healthy and ready for the OR, however, there is no reason they need to wait until 24 hours, especially as they are&nbsp;suffering in pain.”</p> <p>Hip fractures are the most common reason for urgent surgery in Canada, with more than 30,000 procedures occurring across the country annually. Currently, two thirds of patients in Ontario who enter the hospital with a hip fracture don’t receive surgery within 24 hours, says Pincus. “There have been improvements made in the last five or ten years to get patients to the operating room faster, but more work needs to be done.”</p> <p>His research was <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2017.17606">published</a> in the <em>Journal of the American Medical Association</em> (JAMA) on Nov. 28.</p> <p>Pincus is a Vanier Scholar and is studying for his PhD as part of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation.</p> <p>The study was funded by the Vanier Scholarship Program and the Marvin Tile Chair in Orthopaedics at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.&nbsp;</p> <h3><a href="/news/u-t-researchers-find-motorcycle-crashes-five-times-more-deadly-car-collisions">Read more about research by Pincus</a></h3> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 28 Nov 2017 17:38:53 +0000 rasbachn 123269 at Not just for gamers: οanesthesiologists taking virtual reality to patients facing surgery /news/not-just-gamers-u-t-anesthesiologists-taking-virtual-reality-patients-facing-surgery <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Not just for gamers: οanesthesiologists taking virtual reality to patients facing surgery</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-11-30-VR-lead_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=1ehzmaKP 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2016-11-30-VR-lead_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=QOCJJHJz 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2016-11-30-VR-lead_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=FQABVore 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-11-30-VR-lead_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=1ehzmaKP" alt="Photo from virtual reality technology at SickKids"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-11-30T10:01:41-05:00" title="Wednesday, November 30, 2016 - 10:01" class="datetime">Wed, 11/30/2016 - 10:01</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">The virtual reality experience takes patients at SickKids through the various stages of surgical preparation, procedure and recovery</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/dan-haves" hreflang="en">Dan Haves</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Dan Haves</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/virtual-reality" hreflang="en">Virtual Reality</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/surgery" hreflang="en">surgery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>οFaculty of Medicine's&nbsp;<strong>Fahad Alam</strong> and <strong>Clyde Matava</strong>, both assistant professors of&nbsp;anesthesia, are hoping virtual reality can play an important role in reducing preoperative anxiety.</p> <p>It’s common for many patients who are preparing for a surgical procedure to feel anxious. Whether it’s a fear of pain, being in a strange environment or worrying about the recovery, there are a number of concerns that doctors try to address with the patients before the surgery.&nbsp;</p> <p>So Alam and Matava have created the Collaborative Human Immersive and Interactive Lab (CHISIL), which has virtual reality spaces at Sunnybrook Hospital and the Hospital for Sick Children.</p> <p>The video below gives you a sense of what that virtual reality feels like.</p> <p><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="500" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w3bvphYRmks" width="750"></iframe></p> <p>A lot of the work CHISIL does is centred around patient education, an integral part of any surgical procedure. It helps the patient understand the procedure and what they can expect on the day of the surgery.&nbsp;</p> <p>“My focus has always been around technology-enhanced learning,” says Alam. “And at times, I found patient education to be an underserviced realm. So it made sense to start to look at how immersive virtual content could be geared towards preoperative patients.&nbsp;</p> <p>Patients don special virtual reality goggles that let them “experience” the journey of being prepped for surgery and being transferred to the operating room. Alam and Matava monitor the patients’ anxiety levels, blood pressure, heart rate and self-assessment. They then compare this to a control group who&nbsp;watched traditional instructional videos before their operation.&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__2698 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/2016-11-30-Virtual-reality2-embed.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>Assistant Professor Fahad Alam provides&nbsp;preoperative instruction using virtual reality technology</em></p> <p>While the study is still ongoing, Alam and Matava are already receiving positive feedback from patients who have used the&nbsp;technology.&nbsp;</p> <p>“I have never heard the phrase, ‘This is so cool!’ so often,” says Alam. “Everyone is amazed by the content and in awe of the environment we are able to immerse them in.”</p> <p>CHISIL is the first lab of its kind in Canada and is an initiative under eLearning and Technological Innovations by the Faculty of Medicine's department of anesthesia. While the lab initially operated solely from Sunnybrook and SickKids, they now have mobile virtual reality units. They’re also developing ways of letting patients access the virtual reality&nbsp;technology right from their homes.</p> <p>Alam is excited about the potential applications of virtual reality in health care.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Immersive content is just in its infancy, and it has nearly limitless possibilities. We can create any type of virtual environment and immerse the user instantaneously into what we have created.”</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__2699 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/2016-11-30-VR-embed_0.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>Assistant Professor Fahad Alam talks to a patient about the surgical process using virtual reality technology</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 30 Nov 2016 15:01:41 +0000 ullahnor 102595 at Behind the scenes of Canada's first hand/arm transplant /news/behind-scenes-canadas-first-handarm-transplant <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Behind the scenes of Canada's first hand/arm transplant </span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-01-14T11:49:45-05:00" title="Thursday, January 14, 2016 - 11:49" class="datetime">Thu, 01/14/2016 - 11:49</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Dr. Christian Veillette (r), orthopedic surgeon, looks at an x-ray to ensure proper alignment of the patient arm and donor arm as they are fused together (Photo by University Health Network)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/liam-mitchell" hreflang="en">Liam Mitchell</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Liam Mitchell</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/more-news" hreflang="en">More News</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/surgery" hreflang="en">surgery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medicine" hreflang="en">Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Work by οteam means “this type of surgery will be available to more Canadians”</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The surgery itself may have taken 14 hours, but the planning for it began five years earlier.</p> <p>A 49-year-old woman received a new hand and forearm through a still rare type of surgery performed at UHN’s Toronto Western Hospital.</p> <p>Known as Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (VCA) it’s an emerging field of surgery that blends transplant surgery and microsurgery.</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/canadas-first-hand-forearm-transplant-takes-18-u-t-surgeons-and-five-years-planning">Read more about the surgery</a></h2> <p>Professor <strong>Ronald Zuker</strong> of the department of surgery saw the promise it could deliver. With early successes in the United States and Europe, Zuker – who is also a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at The Hospital for Sick Children – established a committee to investigate the procedure.</p> <p>“Initially we wanted to be able to respond to questions from patients and their families, as well as stay up-to-date on the field,” said Zuker. However the committee soon began mapping out how this surgery could be delivered locally.They collaborated&nbsp;closely with colleagues at SickKids and UHN and worked with government officials and the Trillium Gift of Life Network to develop the protocols and reviews that were necessary before the surgery could be introduced in Toronto.</p> <p>“As we went through that process, we managed to put together a team at οso we could do this,” said Zuker. “We would reach out to specialists in other areas who could lend their expertise and perspective to different issues we would face. It helped us identify the team of people available who were interested and who wanted to be involved.”</p> <p>At its core, VCA needs a transplant team – who can focus on maintaining the viability of the limb and overcoming immune or infection issues – and a team of micro-surgeons – who connect the vascular and nervous systems. But specialized anesthesiologists, nurses, pharmacists and rehabilitation specialists are also required to ensure the surgery is a success.</p> <p>With the right people in place, and with government approval in hand, the team was ready to find the right patient. A suitable donor couldn’t be found for the first patient put on the list and he was eventually removed. The second patient added was the woman who successfully underwent the procedure and is now recovering. Zuker anticipates with news of the surgery now spreading, new patients will soon come forward.</p> <p>“Our aim is to help those patients who are having a difficult time using their prosthesis,” he said. “For those who are managing with their assistive devices, the benefits of this surgery may not be optimal. But for those patients who need a better option – such as double amputees – we are able to provide a new alternative for them.”&nbsp;</p> <p>For now, donors need to be close to the patients who receive them. Zuker explained that there is only a six-hour window where muscle – especially those in the hand and arms – can be without blood circulation before it starts to deteriorate. However, new technology is being developed that could increase that window to 12 to 14 hours. That would allow for donors to be identified from across Ontario – and possibly the country.</p> <p>He is also optimistic that the groundwork done by the οteam will open the doors for other medical centres in Canada to follow suit.&nbsp;</p> <p>“We’re confident that the work we have done will mean this type of surgery will be available to more Canadians going forward,” Zuker said.</p> <p>(<em>Below: with the arteries are attached, Dr. Stefan Hofer (l) and Dr. Toni Zhong, both plastic surgeons, move on to attach the blood vessels/ photo by University Health Network</em>)</p> <p><img alt="close-up photo of surgeons performing the operation" src="/sites/default/files/2016-01-14-transplant-IMG_9738.jpg" style="width: 640px; height: 427px; margin: 10px 20px;"></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2016-01-14-transplant-backgrounder-lead.jpg</div> </div> Thu, 14 Jan 2016 16:49:45 +0000 sgupta 7579 at