Gelareh Zadeh, a neurosurgeon-scientist, recognized with Canada Gairdner Momentum Award

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 15:50:07 +0000

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 03/30/2023 - 11:50

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Gelareh Zadeh, a researcher at University Health Network and U of T, is one of two winners of the inaugural Gairdner Momentum Award for her work on the classification and treatment of brain tumours (photo courtesy of UHN StRIDe)

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Gelareh Zadeh, a researcher at University Health Network and the University of Toronto, has been recognized with a 2023 Canada Gairdner Award for her work on the classification and treatment of brain tumours.

She is one of two winners of the inaugural Momentum Award, created by the Gairdner Foundation to recognize mid-career researchers who have made significant discoveries with the potential to improve human health.

“It is such an honour to receive this award from the Gairdner Foundation,” said Zadeh, a senior scientist at University Health Network and a professor of surgery in U of T’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

“I attribute my success in large part to the highly skilled and integrated research and clinical teams that I work with at University Health Network. My team’s achievements in translational brain research simply would not be possible without the exceptional researchers, trainees, neuro-oncologists, surgical teams and patients that we work with every day.”

The Gairdners are Canada’s most prestigious honour for health-related research and have developed a reputation since their inception in 1957 as a precursor to the Nobel Prize, with roughly a quarter of Gairdner recipients later winning a Nobel.

Zadeh was recognized for her contributions to the understanding of brain tumours. Her work has led to a new molecular classification of meningiomas, one of the most common types of brain tumours – an advance that could produce more effective treatments, models for predicting patient outcomes and biomarkers of treatment response.

Her research integrates molecular, genomic and epigenomic techniques with experimental models of brain tumours to accelerate translational research.

Zadeh has also led international efforts to define the genomic landscape of neuronal tumours that have not been the focus of significant biological research, including schwannomas, peripheral nerve tumours and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours. These efforts have revealed novel fusion proteins and resulted in the molecular sub-classification of schwannomas.

Additionally, her team has identified two biological pathways that drive the progression of benign peripheral nerve tumours toward malignant sarcomas. These molecular pathways provide a better biological understanding of tumour transformation, but also offer targets that could be used to develop therapeutic strategies, including the repurposing of existing pharmaceuticals.

In collaboration with researchers at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Zadeh has advanced the development of blood-based biomarkers that can help discriminate among different brain tumour types and potentially to track response to therapy and early recurrence of disease.

Zadeh holds the Dan Family Chair in the division of neurosurgery in U of T’s department of surgery and is the first woman in Canada to be named neurosurgery chair. She is also the head of neurosurgery at Toronto Western Hospital and co-director of the Krembil Brain Institute. She leads a 30-member research team at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

Her other prestigious honours include the William E. Rawls Prize from the Canadian Cancer Society, the Top 25 Women of Influence Award, and the Ab Guha Award, which is jointly awarded by the Society of Neuro-Oncology and American Association of Neurological Surgeons.

The Gairdner Momentum Award comes with a $50,000 prize and will be presented during Gairdner Science Week in October 2023.

A version of this story originally appeared at University Health Network.

Mobility scooters not up to winter's icy challenge, researchers say

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 17:54:05 +0000

Mobility scooters not up to winter's icy challenge, researchers say

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 01/06/2022 - 12:54

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(Photo by Knight725 via Flickr)

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Mobility scooters perform poorly under the snow- and ice-covered road conditions that are common during Canadian winters, a new study by researchers at University Health Network and the University of Toronto has found.

The research team tested the performance of eight commercially available mobility scooters under a range of winter driving conditions.

Geoffrey Fernie

“We tested performance in normal conditions on dry concrete, as well as on snow- and ice-covered surfaces. Specifically, we looked at the scooters’ steerability – the ability to round corners on level ground – and slip resistance when driving forward and backward on slopes,” says study author Geoffrey Fernie, a professor of surgery with appointments at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute who is a senior scientist at the University Health Network's KITE Research Institute.

All scooters studied had near-perfect success rounding corners on a concrete surface, but when ice- and snow-covered surfaces were tested, around two out of three scooters failed.

Snow and ice also reduced the ability of scooters to navigate slopes. Only half of the scooters tested could ascend a gentle slope (i.e., a 4.8-degree incline) covered in snow without losing traction. Furthermore, only one scooter could ascend a slope that was covered in ice. The impact of snow and ice on slip resistance was even more apparent when the scooters descended slopes.

The inability of scooters to navigate a 4.8-degree slope in the presence of snow or ice is particularly concerning because this slope angle complies with the standards set out by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“Snow removal services do not always adequately clear ramps and sidewalks, and many do not even clear snow until it accumulates to well over the amount that we tested,” warns Roger Montgomery, research analyst at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and lead author of the study. “Moreover, curb and accessibility ramps do not always comply with guidelines and are often much steeper.”

Given the failure of the scooters to maintain traction on snow- and ice-covered slopes, the team tested whether winter tires could improve scooter performance. Compared to stock tires, prototype winter tires significantly improved scooters’ performance, enabling them to successfully drive down 4.8-degree slopes covered in bare and melting ice.

Unfortunately, winter tires are not readily available for mobility scooters at this time.

“We need to improve safety for those facing mobility challenges – ensuring that they have the resources necessary to maintain their independence is a big part of that,” says Montgomery. “To meet the needs of scooter users year-round, manufacturers need to consider winter environments when they design and test their devices, and make winter tires widely available.”

The work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the UHN Foundation. Two scooters used for winter tire testing were donated by Shoppers Home Health Care.

This story originally appeared at University Health Network.