Medical

New technique developed by U of T researchers offers “molecular window” into living organisms

ullahnor — Tue, 02 May 2017 20:24:00 +0000

New technique developed by U of T researchers offers “molecular window” into living organisms

ullahnor Tue, 05/02/2017 - 16:24

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Andre Simpson, professor of physical and environmental sciences at U of T Scarborough, and his team have developed a technique that can produce high-resolution profiles of molecules (photo by Ken Jones)

Don Campbell

Author legacy

Don Campbell

Topic

Global Lens

Imaging

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Medical

Environment

U of T Scarborough

A novel technique developed by ��Ƶ researchers can now produce high-resolution profiles of molecules present inside living organisms.

Until now, traditional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) hasn’t been able to provide high-resolution profiles of living organisms because of magnetic distortions in the sample.

Andre Simpson, professor of physical and environmental sciences at U of T Scarborough, likens it to being in a helicopter and trying to talk to people at a concert below. It’s difficult to communicate because of the noise distortion, but if you give both a walkie-talkie, it makes communication much easier, Simpson says.

Simpson and his team were able to overcome the magnetic distortion problem by creating tiny communication channels based on something called long-range dipole interactions between molecules. The new NMR technique allows them to get a complete chemical makeup of molecules within the object.

Simpson’s work focuses on environmental NMR, but he says there’s great medical potential for the new technique in medical imaging.

“In a way we’ve developed this molecular window that can look inside a living system and extract a full metabolic profile,” says Simpson, who led research into developing the technique.

“Getting a sense of which molecules are in a tissue sample is important if you want to know if it’s cancerous, or if you want to know if certain environmental contaminants are harming cells inside the body. It could have implications for disease diagnosis and a deeper understanding of how important biological processes work.”

NMR technology is able to generate a magnetic field that is so powerful that atomic nuclei can be made to absorb and reemit energy in distinct patterns, revealing a unique molecular signature.

Simpson says the new technique is easily programmable and can be translated to work on existing modern MRI systems found in hospitals.

He points to specific molecules called cancer biomarkers that are unique to diseased tissue. The new approach holds potential to detect these signatures without resorting to surgery and determine whether a growth is cancerous or benign directly from the MRI alone.

It also has the potential to tell us how the brain works, he says. Current MRI methods can tell which part of the brain “lights up” in response to stimuli like fear or happiness, but those just indicate which part of the brain is responsible. The new technique can potentially be used to look inside those locations and reveal the chemicals actually causing the response.

“It could mark an important step in unraveling the biochemistry of the brain,” says Simpson.

Simpson has been working on perfecting the technique for more than three years with colleagues at Bruker BioSpin, a scientific instruments company that specializes in developing NMR technology. The technique is based on some unexpected scientific concepts that were discovered in 1995, which at the time were described as impossible by many researchers.

The technique developed by Simpson and his team, which includes PhD student Ioana Fugariu, builds upon these early discoveries and is published in the journal Angewandte Chemie. The work was supported by Mark Krembil of the Krembil Foundation and the Natural Sciences Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Simpson says the next step for the research is to test it on human samples. He adds that since the technique detects all metabolites equally, there’s also potential for non-targeted discovery like finding pathologies or processes you weren’t even looking for in the first place.

“Since you can see metabolites in a sample that you weren’t able to see before, you can now identify molecules that may indicate there’s a problem,” he says.

“You can then determine whether you need further testing or surgery. The potential for this technique is truly exciting.”

Infants in northern Canada face the highest rates of respiratory infection in the world: U of T researcher

lanthierj — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 12:05:45 +0000

Infants in northern Canada face the highest rates of respiratory infection in the world: U of T researcher

lanthierj Wed, 10/19/2016 - 08:05

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Camp Iqalurajuk

Liam Mitchell

Author legacy

Liam Mitchell

Topic

Subheadline

Providing antibody to infants could prove lifesaving, experts say

Infants in Canada’s north are facing alarming rates of respiratory infection, U of T’s Anna Banerji says – but providing an antibody to all infants will prevent hundreds of hospitalizations of babies in the Arctic and save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

In a paper published October 19 in CMAJ Open, researchers conducted the largest study ever of infant admission due to lower respiratory tract infections. They focused on admissions to health facilities by children under 12 months old in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Nunavik – the northern region of Quebec. The research uncovered wide disparity in admission rates, ranging from 3.9 per cent in the Northwest Territories to 45.6 per cent in Nunavik, which is the highest rate ever reported in the world. By comparison, the rate of respiratory infection in the first year of life in North America is estimated to be between one and three per cent. More than 40 per cent were diagnosed specifically with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), either alone or with other viruses.

“The likely reasons for these high rates may include living in overcrowded conditions, exposure to cigarette smoke as well as the associated challenges of living in remote areas and poverty. But, there could be a genetic risk specific to Inuit. The fact is, nobody knows for sure,” said Professor Banerji, an expert in Indigenous and refugee health in the ��Ƶ’s Faculty of Medicine. Banerji was lead author on the paper that included co-authors from across the country and was based in five northern hospitals and four tertiary hospitals.

Read the CBC story

“What really stands out is that in certain areas, two to three per cent of all babies born are put on life support," Banerji said. “As a result of the infections, many babies are evacuated by air to southern health centres in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Montreal, where they receive intensive care.

“They’re young babies – on average three months old – and generally don’t have any underlying risk factors, but they’re often at death’s door. In addition to long periods of hospitalization, they can be placed on life support for extended periods of time and frequently suffer from complications, some of those having long-term consequences.”

Read the Toronto Star story

In a second paper also published in CMAJ Open, researchers found that by providing universal access to the RSV antibody palivizumab in regions of Nunavut and Nunavik, the rates of hospitalization could be substantially reduced and in certain areas it would actually save money. Currently, palivizumab is given by monthly injections during the RSV season to infants considered at high risk for severe disease which excludes most Inuit infants. But the researchers found that by giving the antibody to all healthy babies under six months of age at the start of the RSV season, some northern health systems can save $35,000 to $50,000 per RSV infection avoided.

The regional Government of Nunavik has just announced that will be providing palivizumab to all term Inuit infants.

“It’s very cost-effective to give this antibody to healthy term Inuit babies in regions of Nunavut and Nunavik. It’s much cheaper to prevent RSV with this antibody than to pay for hospital treatment. We’d save money and prevent suffering,” said Banerji.

iamsick.ca startup helps Toronto get healthier with “virtual waiting rooms”, flu shots and more

sgupta — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 06:52:44 +0000

iamsick.ca startup helps Toronto get healthier with “virtual waiting rooms”, flu shots and more sgupta Wed, 11/05/2014 - 01:52

Brianna Goldberg

Author legacy

Brianna Goldberg

As cold weather approaches, launching coughs and sneezes all around, a startup called iamsick.ca continues to develop free tools to help users in Toronto and beyond get the help they need – fast.

Led by PhD candidate and entrepreneur Ryan Doherty, the startup provides easy web-based or app-based access to information about healthcare options nearby, allowing users to select between clinics and urgent care centres open at a specific time, single out healthcare providers who speak their language, and more. (Read more about iamsick.ca)

“We founded iamsick.ca because we wanted to build a platform that would leverage technology and data to allow healthcare resources to be better utilized,” said Doherty. “We noticed gaps and inefficiencies in our healthcare system, and began to realize that we could build tools that support health policy initiatives.”

Now, as the company continues to grow, iamsick.ca is rolling out a new suite of features including virtual waiting rooms and flu shot information. The company will spread the word about its services along with more than 40 other startups at the TechnoShowcase event on Nov. 5 in Toronto, where five years of graduating companies from The Impact Centre’s bootcamp program will offer hands-on demonstrations. (Read more about the TechnoShowcase)

“The Impact Centre has been a tremendous help with mentorship, advisors, business workshops, resources, meet-and-greets with successful entrepreneurs, and a friendly community,” said Doherty. “And U of T's size and diversity makes it a perfect breeding ground for student-led startups.”

Doherty shared the latest on the new features – and a few pieces of hard-won advice – with U of T News.

What's new with iamsick.ca?
We recently launched an online flu shot appointment booking service for the campus pharmacy at Queen's University, and are in the process of launching a similar service at a walk-in medical clinic near Yonge/Dundas Square and other pharmacies in Toronto.

Our service lets people book appointments through the iamsick.ca website and smartphone apps. It includes a "virtual waiting room" for walk-in clinics, which shows real-time wait-times and lets patients queue remotely and time their arrival instead of waiting in the waiting room.

Our system sends emails or SMS messages to alert patients when it's almost their turn. And our service is free.

You’ve also expanded into British Columbia since we last covered iamsick.ca . Why B.C., and what have you learned as you expand into a new province?
In the summer, we ran a crowdfunding campaign. Everyone who supported our campaign received a vote to decide which province we'll expand into next. Most votes were for B.C., so we focused on expanding there first. However, since our supporters were from all provinces, we decided to also prioritize getting all Canadian ERs into our system.

We're in the process of validating some of this information to ensure that it is accurate and complete before it becomes available through our service. We aim to have B.C. walk-in clinics and pharmacies, and all Canadian ERs (from P.E.I. to Nunavut to Vancouver Island) available through our website and smartphone apps within the next few weeks.

While expanding our service into B.C. and other provinces, we've learned about the many differences in healthcare service delivery in Canada. We are lucky to have access to world-class hospitals in major Canadian cities like Toronto, especially when compared to remote regions of Canada.

Flu shot season is here. How does iamsick.ca fit into plans there?
iamsick.ca is all about improving access to healthcare and this includes improving access to flu shots.
To help make it easier to get a flu shot, we've started working with local pharmacies to offer flu shot appointment bookings through our website and apps. Our service and the flu shot are free. And, if you do get sick with the flu this season, you can book an appointment or enter the virtual waiting room for one of our partner walk-in clinics.

Your business has expanded its services massively in the past few months. What’s surprised you, for good or for bad, during such a period of growth? And how did you learn from it?
Our service has been gaining traction and supporters throughout the past year and this has led to many exciting new opportunities. The most challenging aspect of such growth has been deciding which opportunities to turn down.

To help us achieve our goals, our team has grown. We have nine people on our team and we're still growing. Four of our new team members are undergraduate interns who are working with us for course credit. Having more people on the team is great, because it provides more perspectives on what we're building and planning.

Any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking. You can use your entrepreneurial drive in any career path, whether it's running a scientific study, incorporating innovative processes in a service industry, coming up with a creative approach to implementing a new policy, to starting your own business.

For those who want to run a business, explore business ideas that you are passionate about. And, always start with a problem that needs solving. Being passionate about the idea will keep you motivated while you put in the many hours that are necessary for creating a business.

Share your business idea with others and get their feedback, and try to talk to experts in that particular field. There will always be nay-sayers, especially early on. Again, this is why the idea should be something that you are passionate about, and willing to research and learn about. Once you become an expert in the topic of the business, then you will identify solutions to the problems that those nay-sayers raised.

Most importantly, find mentors and supporters. There has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur. There are many initiatives at U of T (i.e., Impact Centre, Techno bootcamp, Engineering Hatchery, Creative Destruction Labs, UTEST, etc.), initiatives at MaRS (free workshops, conferences, advisory services, etc.), resources online, as well as meet-up groups and hackathons where you can meet like-minded people. The support network is constantly growing and is a valuable resource available.

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