Princess Margaret Hospital / en Sunscreen, shade and covering up: U of T dermatologist Cheryl Rosen offers sun safety tips /news/sunscreen-shade-and-covering-u-t-dermatologist-cheryl-rosen-offers-sun-safety-tips <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Sunscreen, shade and covering up: U of T dermatologist Cheryl Rosen offers sun safety tips</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/2023-05/sunscreen-getty-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=IjI6gATr 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-05/sunscreen-getty-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=nhejylJz 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-05/sunscreen-getty-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=l8-7excS 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/2023-05/sunscreen-getty-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=IjI6gATr" alt="Young woman applies sunscreen by a pool"> </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="2021-08-06T11:15:09-04:00" title="Friday, August 6, 2021 - 11:15" class="datetime">Fri, 08/06/2021 - 11:15</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"><p>(photo by d3sign via Getty Images)</p> </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/blake-eligh" hreflang="en">Blake Eligh</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/temerty-faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Temerty Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/toronto-general-hospital" hreflang="en">Toronto General Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cancer" hreflang="en">Cancer</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/princess-margaret-hospital" hreflang="en">Princess Margaret Hospital</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>Dermatologist&nbsp;<strong>Cheryl Rosen</strong>&nbsp;is so serious about sun protection that she sometimes carries her own shade – a parasol.</p> <p>Rosen is a&nbsp;professor in the department of medicine in the Ƶ’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and head of the dermatology division at Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto General Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital. Her research interests include public education for skin cancer prevention.</p> <p>Each year 85,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with skin cancer and one in six Canadians will be diagnosed in their lifetime. As a member of the Canadian Dermatology Association’s (CDA) sun awareness working group, Rosen hopes public education about the need for sun protection will change those numbers.</p> <p>A spokesperson for skin cancer prevention and part of a group whose advocacy helped introduce a provincial law prohibiting people 18 and under from using tanning beds,&nbsp;Rosen says practising good sun safety is the best way to avoid skin cancers that are caused by sun exposure.</p> <p>Writer&nbsp;Blake Eligh recently asked&nbsp;Rosen to share her sun safety tips&nbsp;as Canadians take to the outdoors during another pandemic summer, including common sunscreen mistakes and her trick to eliminate the pesky white cast left by mineral sunscreens.</p> <hr> <p><strong>What are the basic steps for staying safe in the sun?</strong></p> <p>Everyone spends time outside in the summer, but particularly now because of the pandemic and the need for social distancing. As dermatologists, we say go outside and have a wonderful time, but be aware of the sun. Wear sunscreen, seek shade and cover up.</p> <p>Find a broad spectrum sunscreen with an SPF (sun protection factor) of 50 or higher to protect against both ultraviolet B and ultraviolet A (UVB and UVA) radiation. Put sunscreen right beside your toothpaste to make it&nbsp;an automatic part of your morning routine. Put it on every day in the warmer weather — you never know when you might have the chance to have lunch on an outdoor patio.</p> <p>There are clothes that offer UV protection, with a UPF label, but you don’t really need them if you choose clothes with tightly woven fabrics. Don’t forget to wear a hat and sunglasses.</p> <p>Plan your outdoor activities wisely and, if you can, schedule activities like tennis for earlier or later in the day.</p> <p>Seek shade wherever possible. Look for natural shade from trees and outdoor patios with umbrellas. You may choose to use a parasol or umbrella – carrying your own shade around with you is a good idea.</p> <p><strong>What is the role of sunscreen in skin protection?</strong></p> <p>Years ago, we didn’t know about the damage the sun could cause.</p> <p>Sunscreens help prevent sunburns, but they also prevent DNA damage in skin cells&nbsp;and decrease your risk of developing certain skin cancers&nbsp;– squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma. A sunscreen may also decrease signs of photoaging, wrinkles and fine lines.</p> <p><strong>There are so many sunscreens on the market. How do we choose the right one?</strong></p> <p>The best sunscreen is one that you don’t mind putting on, so it’s important to find a product that works for you.</p> <p>Find a sunscreen with an SPF of 50 or 60. The SPF tells you about protection against UVB radiation.</p> <p>Look for the words “broad spectrum” on the label. That indicates protection against both UVA radiation and UVB radiation, which play a role in developing skin cancer and in photoaging.</p> <p>Also look for the symbol of recognition by the CDA, or the letters “UVA” within a circle, which indicates the sunscreen has met the European Union standards for UVA protection.</p> <p><strong>Are there new developments in sunscreen formulas?</strong></p> <p>Iron oxide is the next big thing in sunscreen. There’s recent research that shows visible light – daylight, not just ultraviolet radiation – can increase pigmentation in the skin. Iron oxide can help protect our skin from this visible light. Some sunscreens include it as an inactive ingredient, but it hasn’t yet been approved by Health Canada as a sunscreen active ingredient.</p> <p><strong>What are some common mistakes that people make with sunscreens?</strong></p> <p>We know people put on way less sunscreen than is actually used in testing, so that’s a great reason to use a sunscreen with a high SPF value. If you’re putting on half as much as the test quantity, you’re actually getting half the SPF.</p> <p>One common mistake is missing parts of the body during application. People do a poor job of putting it on the first time. There are examples of tests where fluorescent dye is added to the sunscreen. A special light reveals whole areas that people missed in application.</p> <p>People forget to put sunscreen on their ears or the back of their neck.</p> <p>If you’re using a spray, you have to rub it in, or you might end up with lines of protected and unprotected skin.</p> <p>Forgetting to reapply is another issue. The FDA and Health Canada both advise reapplying sunscreen every two hours. Other research shows that the best time to reapply is 20 minutes after the first time&nbsp;to make up for the mistakes and missed spots during the first application.</p> <p><strong>When should we take extra precautions?</strong></p> <p>Medical conditions are one reason to take extra precautions. Solid organ transplant patients have a markedly higher rate of skin cancer because they take medication that suppresses the immune system. They should be careful in the sun, as should people with systemic lupus erythematosus, or those who are taking certain drugs that cause photosensitivity to UVA.</p> <p>People with melasma develop darker patches on the face. These people need to use sunscreen during the day to prevent further darkening of the melasma, and may use a medicated cream at night which can help fade the patches. If you’ve had a facial procedure that’s healing, such as laser therapy, you also should avoid the sun or you’ll be left with darker areas.</p> <p><strong>How does the sun affect people with darker skin?</strong></p> <p>For people with skin of colour, the risk of skin cancer caused by the sun is very low because melanin, the pigment that gives skin its colour, is a very good source of protection. What can be an issue is increased pigmentation from the sun, such as patches of darker colour. Sun protection can help with that.</p> <p>Mineral sunscreens can leave a white cast. One trick I’ve learned is to add a little bit of foundation to your sunscreen and really blend it in, so it’s closer to your skin tone.</p> <p><strong>Should we be worried about chemicals in sunscreen formulations?</strong></p> <p>Some studies have reported concerns about particular sunscreen ingredients, such as benzophenone. There are reports of benzophenone being an endocrine disruptor, but another study found that reproductive hormone levels were normal in humans using sunscreen on a regular basis.</p> <p>Sunscreens have been used for years and have not shown any signal that they cause a problem. As dermatologists, we have to keep looking at the studies reported in the literature.</p> <p><strong>What tips can you share on coping with a sunburn?</strong></p> <p>Typically, people don’t come to see me about sunburns. The pain and redness will fade in a few days. There may be some skin damage, such as DNA damage in the skin cells. A cool compress or a moisturizer that’s been in the fridge can be soothing. A non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication might help ease the pain.</p> <p>Prescription retinoids, such as tretinoin, may reverse some sun damage. It can be applied as a cream to an area that might eventually show fine lines and wrinkles, or to try to reverse these changes once they have appeared.</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> Fri, 06 Aug 2021 15:15:09 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 169968 at How are cancer patients cared for during COVID-19? U of T's Fei-Fei Lu on the changes at Princess Margaret /news/how-are-cancer-patients-cared-during-covid-19-u-t-s-fei-fei-lu-changes-princess-margaret <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">How are cancer patients cared for during COVID-19? U of T's Fei-Fei Lu on the changes at Princess Margaret</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/UofT5401_20140807_PrincessMargaretCancerCentre_5552.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=FFqGOzrW 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/UofT5401_20140807_PrincessMargaretCancerCentre_5552.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=VVa5KCEd 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/UofT5401_20140807_PrincessMargaretCancerCentre_5552.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=92_ou7-k 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/UofT5401_20140807_PrincessMargaretCancerCentre_5552.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=FFqGOzrW" alt="Exterior of Princess Margaret hospital in Toronto"> </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="2020-08-18T09:45:38-04:00" title="Tuesday, August 18, 2020 - 09:45" class="datetime">Tue, 08/18/2020 - 09:45</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">(photo by Blaise Calaycay)</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/ciara-parsons" hreflang="en">Ciara Parsons</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/coronavirus" hreflang="en">Coronavirus</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/princess-margaret-cancer-centre" hreflang="en">Princess Margaret Cancer Centre</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cancer" hreflang="en">Cancer</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/institute-medical-science" hreflang="en">Institute of Medical Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/princess-margaret-hospital" hreflang="en">Princess Margaret Hospital</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Like many other aspects of society, the way doctors care for cancer patients has been transformed in the face of COVID-19.&nbsp;</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/ff_liu_headshot_astro_crop.jpg" alt>&nbsp;<strong>Fei-Fei Liu</strong>&nbsp;is the chair of the department of radiation oncology at the Ƶ’s Faculty of Medicine.&nbsp;She is also a professor in the departments of medical biophysics, otolaryngology, the Institute of Medical Science and the department of radiation oncology, and is&nbsp;the chief of the radiation medicine program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>She also served as the chair of the medical advisory committee at the University Health Network from 2018 to 2020.</p> <p>Liu recently spoke to Faculty of Medicine writer <strong>Ciara Parsons</strong> about how the pandemic has affected patients with cancer and how the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre has responded.</p> <hr> <p><strong>Can you tell me about your role as the chief of radiation medicine at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre?</strong><br> <br> As the chief, I help to manage and operate one the world’s largest single-site radiation departments. We have a team of about 350 highly dedicated professionals, and the world’s largest collection of cutting-edge equipment for radiation therapy.</p> <p>At the Princess Margaret, we deliver more than 11,000 courses of radiation to patients each year.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>How has cancer care changed in the face of COVID-19?&nbsp;</strong><br> <br> The way we deliver radiation therapy to patients has changed.&nbsp;Traditionally, radiation therapy is delivered to patients over several weeks.&nbsp;The patient comes in every single working day to receive their treatment.&nbsp;</p> <p>However, when COVID-19 hit, we started to think about how we could change this process so that patients have less exposure to hospital settings, especially for our older patients.</p> <p>Emerging research&nbsp;has shown that we can actually treat patients using a much shorter radiation regimen, reducing the total time from the traditional five weeks, down to three weeks, or even one week&nbsp;in some instances.</p> <p>Our team at the Princess Margaret worked extremely hard on modifying the processes in switching to this shorter delivery method, and have pivoted rapidly because of the pandemic. In mobilizing this approach, we are ensuring that we can still deliver the safest and highest quality radiation care for our cancer patients, but in a much shorter time period.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>What are some ways COVID-19 has impacted patients with cancer?&nbsp;</strong><br> <br> One of the major ways COVID-19 has impacted patients receiving cancer care is the deferral of radiation and other treatments. This was done so that we could limit patients’ visits to the hospital and keep them at home, unless it was absolutely necessary for them to come in.&nbsp;</p> <p>As part of our role, we look closely at the window of time that we have between patients’ surgery and the time when we must start the radiation treatments&nbsp;and try to optimize that interval.&nbsp;We need to ensure that care is delivered safely. We also need to make sure it’s done within the appropriate time frame&nbsp;and that it will ensure the best clinical outcome for our patients.</p> <p>This can be challenging sometimes&nbsp;because some patients do not wish to defer their radiation treatments, even if it’s safe to do so.&nbsp;I remember having a challenging conversation with a patient who wanted to have all of her radiation treatments over with&nbsp;and was upset at the idea of having to defer her care despite COVID-19.&nbsp;</p> <p>However, when patients need treatment urgently, we will treat them immediately.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>What has your experience with virtual care been like?&nbsp;</strong><br> <br> Since we are trying to avoid asking patients to come into the hospital for appointments, we have rapidly switched much of our care to a virtual format, and are now having these appointments either through video or phone calls. Right now, approximately 50 per cent of the activities we perform in our clinics are being done virtually. To deliver virtual care, we have been using the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN).&nbsp;<br> <br> The OTN has been around for a long time, but with COVID-19&nbsp;there has been a massive shift in our use of this platform.&nbsp;When we first switched to virtual care, there were a few technical issues to work through, but we have now landed on other solutions that also work well for our group of providers.&nbsp;<br> <br> Virtual care is a good solution to delivering cancer care under the right circumstances.&nbsp;However, there are some aspects of in-person care that it cannot replace.&nbsp;<br> <br> For instance, seeing new patients whom I have never met before and explaining radiation treatment to them is different when this meeting is now being conducted over the phone or on video calls. You cannot see the patients’ body language or have as acute a sense of their anxiety or fear.&nbsp;<br> <br> I think this is difficult because the rapport that we have built with our patients over time has been developed based on face-to-face connections&nbsp;and this type of virtual interaction, particularly with new patients who have never met us, might potentially impact their sense of trust in us as physicians.&nbsp;<br> <br> There can be benefits, though.&nbsp;For patients with whom I already have established relationships, virtual care is proving to be very effective&nbsp;and follow-up clinics are a lot easier for these patients since they no longer have to come down to the hospital.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br> <br> <strong>What have you learned during the pandemic?&nbsp;</strong><br> <br> Pre-COVID-19, we used virtual care mostly for patients who lived far away from the hospital.</p> <p>Our use of virtual care has increased during the pandemic –&nbsp;in a good way. Everyone sees value in continuing with virtual care and integrating it as part of our routine workflow in a post-pandemic setting. This approach streamlines a lot of the care we deliver, and is definitely easier for patients.&nbsp;</p> <p>Of course, there are limitations to virtual care in that phone calls and video visits do not replace the type of in-person care that patients would normally receive. There is no question that for patients who are sick or who need to be examined, in-person care is the only way to properly assess and care for them.</p> <p><strong>Do you think the pandemic has highlighted any specific issues?&nbsp;</strong><br> <br> I think the pandemic has underscored the harsh realities of health disparities.&nbsp;</p> <p>With data showing that specific populations have been more affected by COVID-19, it’s clear that socio-economic status and geography play a large role in health outcomes.&nbsp;</p> <p>In cancer care as well, we sometimes see that patients who are economically disadvantaged&nbsp;might experience more distress as they may not have access to the necessary supports or resources they need.&nbsp;</p> <p>Fortunately, at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, we do provide access to social supports for our patients who require these services. As a health-care leader, it is really important to me that we address these gaps successfully&nbsp;and ask what we can do to help.&nbsp;<br> <br> I also believe the pandemic has shone a light on the racism that exists in our society.&nbsp;At the beginning of the pandemic, we heard a lot of concerns about how COVID-19 had spread globally, which led to a lot of anti-Asian racism.&nbsp;</p> <p>As an Asian physician, I want people to know that there are a lot of Asian health-care leaders and front-line providers who have been working extremely hard in treating patients during these very challenging COVID-19 times&nbsp;and trying our best to mitigate the effects of this pandemic on all of our patients.</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, 18 Aug 2020 13:45:38 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 165500 at Researchers at U of T Faculty of Dentistry explore rapid, low-cost COVID-19 test /news/researchers-u-t-faculty-dentistry-explore-rapid-low-cost-covid-19-test <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Researchers at U of T Faculty of Dentistry explore rapid, low-cost COVID-19 test</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-1216924482.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Jn7MAYZC 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/GettyImages-1216924482.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=zxtpR51a 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/GettyImages-1216924482.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=AZGHbxCq 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-1216924482.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Jn7MAYZC" alt="person in full protective equipment swabs a woman's mouth"> </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="2020-05-04T12:42:11-04:00" title="Monday, May 4, 2020 - 12:42" class="datetime">Mon, 05/04/2020 - 12:42</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">Researchers at U of T and local hospitals are looking to develop a mouth-based test for COVID-19 that would be quick and easy to administer to patients (photo by iStockphoto 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/erin-vollick" hreflang="en">Erin Vollick</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/coronavirus" hreflang="en">Coronavirus</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-dentistry" hreflang="en">Faculty of Dentistry</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/princess-margaret-hospital" hreflang="en">Princess Margaret Hospital</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/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 simple mouth swab and rinse with testing technology adapted from a common viral detection method&nbsp;– the pap smear – could provide an easy, low cost and rapid diagnostic tool for COVID-19 infections, according to researchers at the Ƶ.</p> <p><strong>Michael Glogauer</strong>, professor at the university’s&nbsp;Faculty of Dentistry and head of dental oncology at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, is working with&nbsp;partners at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, North York General Hospital, Sinai Health Systems and the University Health Network to research the viability of the platform.</p> <p>The novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 infections invades epithelial cells, such as those lining the lungs. But these epithelial cells are also prevalent in large numbers in the mouth, and especially on the tongue, where respiratory droplets are expelled. COVID-19 binds to the body’s epithelial cells through ACE-2 receptors – and, as Glogauer notes, “It just so happens that the tongue expresses extremely high levels of ACE-2 receptors.”</p> <p>That makes the mouth, which is also one of the most easily accessible sites on the body – requiring no needles, and, unlike the nose, causing no pain when swabbed – an ideal place from which to cull samples.</p> <p>“The tongue is a big net,”&nbsp;says Glogauer. “It will always be positive if an infection is present.” &nbsp;</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/Glogauer%2C%20Michael-vertical.jpg" alt>Recently, Canada has launched a number of detection platforms to help with the fight against COVID-19. Some proposed detection methods&nbsp;require specialized technology or equipment. Others, like the common nasopharyngeal swab method, utilize certain chemicals for testing that are currently in short supply around the world.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>But Glogauer says there’s a testing platform already in use which could make a significant difference in making COVID-19 testing more widely available: the pap smear.</p> <p>“Pap smears show viral changes and inflammation in epithelial cells,” he says, adding that’s what technicians are on the hunt for with COVID-19. &nbsp;</p> <p>The test is also routine and simple: epithelial cells are scraped, mounted onto slides, stained and viewed under a microscope. The cost? Approximately $30 per test.</p> <p>Glogauer adds that laboratories across Canada could rapidly employ the platform.</p> <p>“All labs are set up to do pap smears,” he says.</p> <p>The process of adapting the test would be virtually painless, too. Samples could be easily collected by giving subjects an oral rinse and brushing their tongue. Results can be returned in a matter of hours. Importantly, the smear test could represent an easy ally for COVID-19 detection in developing nations, where lab technology is limited.</p> <p>“If it works, it will be a real game changer for everyone,” Glogauer says.</p> <p>While&nbsp;Glogauer cautions that the technology needs to be fine-tuned in order&nbsp;to prevent false positives, he says there’s significant potential to develop a&nbsp;fast and relatively inexpensive tool in the arsenal to find and detect COVID-19.</p> <p>“Ideally, you want different testing modalities,” says Glogauer. “This could be one of them.”</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, 04 May 2020 16:42:11 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 164419 at Leukemia drugs may help patients with treatment-resistant lung cancer: U of T researchers /news/leukemia-drugs-may-help-patients-treatment-resistant-lung-cancer-u-t-researchers <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Leukemia drugs may help patients with treatment-resistant lung cancer: U of T researchers</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/Lung_cancer_in_xray%20no%20writing.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=XyHJJ2DI 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Lung_cancer_in_xray%20no%20writing.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=zMvYsJ-d 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Lung_cancer_in_xray%20no%20writing.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ozFgpDYT 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/Lung_cancer_in_xray%20no%20writing.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=XyHJJ2DI" alt="photo of a chest x-ray"> </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="2020-02-24T11:42:25-05:00" title="Monday, February 24, 2020 - 11:42" class="datetime">Mon, 02/24/2020 - 11:42</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">Lung cancer poses a major challenge for new targeted therapies because of drug resistance, but a new study involving U of T researchers suggests leukemia drugs could offer new treatment options (photo via Wikimedia Commons)</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/biochemistry" hreflang="en">Biochemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cancer" hreflang="en">Cancer</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/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/pharmacology" hreflang="en">Pharmacology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/princess-margaret-hospital" hreflang="en">Princess Margaret Hospital</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/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>Two recently approved leukemia drugs could be enlisted against treatment-resistant lung cancer, with a clinical trial for one of them expected to launch later this year&nbsp;in Toronto and Zagreb, Croatia.</p> <p>Researchers at the Ƶ, led by&nbsp;<strong>Igor Stagljar</strong>, a professor of molecular genetics and biochemistry at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, made the findings using a new live cell-based method developed by his team for identifying small molecules that target specific mutations in cancer cells.</p> <p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-020-0484-2">The findings were published</a> in the&nbsp;journal&nbsp;<em>Nature Chemical Biology.</em></p> <p>“Drug resistance is a big problem for lung cancer patients,” says Stagljar. “Our new technology allows us to find molecules that could be used against cancers for which no other treatment options are available.”</p> <p>The researchers identified gilteritinib and midostaurin&nbsp;– two drugs already approved for patients with a particular form of leukemia&nbsp;– as potential treatments for lung cancer patients with triple mutant epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). The tumours in these patients are highly resistant to available therapy.</p> <p>The Toronto team hopes to demonstrate the efficacy of these drugs in patient trials, with the gilteritinib trial to launch first. If it proves successful, gilteritinib could in a few years become a new standard-of-care treatment for an estimated 60,000 lung cancer patients worldwide who have triple mutant EGFR.</p> <p>“We already have a sense of gilteritinib doses that are safe to give to humans,” says Dr.&nbsp;<strong>Adrian Sacher</strong>, an oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, at University Health Network, and an assistant professor of immunology at U of T who will lead the trial. “We only need to demonstrate efficacy and hopefully make them a novel treatment option for lung cancer patients that have developed resistance to current targeted therapies.”</p> <p>Lung cancer remains a leading cause of death from cancer in Canada and the world. Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type of the disease, with about one fifth of cases in North America caused by EGFR mutations.</p> <p>EGFR is a cell surface receptor that regulates cell proliferation and belongs to a class of proteins known as receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). Oncogenic mutations make the receptor overactive, spurring on cell division.</p> <p>There are dozens of approved kinase inhibitor drugs that target specific mutations in the receptor’s catalytic domain, but tumours quickly gain new mutations and become drug resistant. A third of lung cancer patients on osimertinib, a last resort drug approved in 2017 against the double mutant EGFR, will develop the treatment-resistant C797S mutation within six to nine months.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/Igor%202019%20landscape%20%28Sam%20Motala%29.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>“Our new technology allows us to find molecules that could be used against cancers for which no other treatment options are available,”&nbsp;says&nbsp;Igor Stagljar, a professor of molecular genetics and biochemistry at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research&nbsp;(photo by Sam Motala)</em></p> <p>In a bid to stay one step ahead of the disease, scientists seek to identify drugs that can target the mutations which arise in response to treatment. However, most methods are test tube-based and focus on finding new kinase inhibitors. Consequently, promising drug candidates are often not suitable as therapeutics because they don’t penetrate the cells well or because their effects are altered by other cellular factors.</p> <p>The tool developed by Stagljar’s team overcomes these hurdles by testing potential drug molecules directly in living cells. Named MaMTH-DS, for Mammalian Membrane Two-Hybrid Drug Screen, the all-in-one method allows identification of drug candidates that both enter the cells and target the receptors in their natural environment.</p> <p>“The advantage of our method is that we are doing it in living cells, where we have all the other molecular machineries present that are important for signal transduction,” says Stagljar. “Also, the compounds are fished at very low dose, which allows us to test for both permeability and toxicity at the same time.”</p> <p>MaMTH-DS allows identification of drug molecules that target not only the receptor’s kinase activity, but also its interactions with other cellular proteins.</p> <p>In a proof of principle study, the team looked for small molecules that can target the resistance-conferring C797S mutation in the triple mutant EGFR. A screen of almost 3,000 molecules revealed four promising compounds that had no effect on the normal receptor, meaning the drugs would be less likely to harm healthy cells.</p> <p>In addition to midostaurin and gilteritinib, the latter of which will be tested in a pilot trial of about 20 lung cancer patients whose tumours harbor the C797S mutation, the study also revealed two more promising molecules.</p> <p>One of these molecules, known as EMI1, acts on the mutant EGFR in a completely new way – not by inhibiting its kinase activity, but by targeting the receptor for degradation with the help of other molecular machineries. The researchers think that EMI1’s more complex mechanism of action will make it more difficult for tumours to develop resistance to it.</p> <p>Stagljar is working with&nbsp;<strong>Rima Al-awar</strong>, an associate professor in U of T's department of pharmacology and toxicology, and the head of therapeutic innovation and drug discovery at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), and her medicinal chemistry team&nbsp;to create an improved version of the EMI1 molecule before its ability to shrink tumours can be evaluated in animal cancer models and eventually patients.</p> <p>"The unbiased screening approach by the Stagljar's group has the merit of identifying small molecule inhibitors that could act via new mechanisms of action that would otherwise escape detection by conventional drug development strategies, as shown in this proof of principle study, " says&nbsp;Marino Zerial, the managing director of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany. Zerial is one of Stagljar’s collaborators.</p> <p>The research also included collaborators from the Hospital for Sick Children and Sinai Health System’s Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, as well as Utrecht University in the&nbsp;Netherlands, the Department for Lung Diseases Jordanovac in Zagreb, Croatia, Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences in Split, Croatia and Yale Cancer Center.</p> <p>The research was supported by funding from the Canadian Institute of Health Research, Genome Canada and the Ontario Research Fund, among others</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, 24 Feb 2020 16:42:25 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 162975 at Three U of T faculty appointed members of the Royal Society of Canada’s college for new scholars /news/three-u-t-faculty-appointed-members-royal-society-canada-s-college-new-scholars <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Three U of T faculty appointed members of the Royal Society of Canada’s college for new scholars</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/Untitled-1_12.jpg?h=3fcbca33&amp;itok=XdxlU6L9 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Untitled-1_12.jpg?h=3fcbca33&amp;itok=qefH7aj5 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Untitled-1_12.jpg?h=3fcbca33&amp;itok=_vMuAzmj 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/Untitled-1_12.jpg?h=3fcbca33&amp;itok=XdxlU6L9" alt="From left to right Daniel de Carvalho, david evans, and jean-philippe julien"> </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="2019-09-10T12:31:36-04:00" title="Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 12:31" class="datetime">Tue, 09/10/2019 - 12:31</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: U of T researchers Jean-Philippe Julien, David Evans and Daniel De Carvalho are being recognized for demonstrating a high level of achievement in their careers to date (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/awards" hreflang="en">Awards</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/biochemistry" hreflang="en">Biochemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ecology-environmental-biology" hreflang="en">Ecology &amp; Environmental Biology</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/hospital-sick-children" hreflang="en">Hospital for Sick Children</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/immunology" hreflang="en">Immunology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/princess-margaret-hospital" hreflang="en">Princess Margaret Hospital</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-ontario-museum" hreflang="en">Royal Ontario Museum</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>One researcher wants to beat cancer. Another is developing a better malaria vaccine. Yet another is one of Canada’s leading paleontologists.</p> <p>The three Ƶ faculty members –&nbsp;<strong>Daniel De Carvalho</strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Jean-Philippe Julien&nbsp;</strong>and&nbsp;<strong>David Evans</strong> – have been named to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.</p> <p>The college recognizes up-and-coming researchers who have demonstrated a high level of achievement in their careers to date.</p> <p>“Daniel De Carvalho, Jean-Philippe Julien and&nbsp;David Evans are leaders in their respective fields who exemplify the important work that takes place at the Ƶ every day across a wide range of disciplines,” says&nbsp;<strong>Vivek Goel</strong>, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.</p> <p>“We’re extremely proud of their admission to the college and look forward to seeing their research make an impact in Canada and beyond. U of T congratulates them for this impressive appointment.”</p> <p>Established in 2014, the college seeks to recognize and foster academic leadership and collaboration among those who have received their PhD within the last 15 years. The appointment honours excellence and appointees are granted a seven-year membership. Up to 80 members may be elected each year.</p> <h3><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/0J5A0964.jpg" alt></h3> <h4>Daniel De Carvalho</h4> <p>An associate professor in the department of medical biophysics at the Faculty of Medicine and a senior scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, De Carvalho is being named to the college the same year that he becomes a Canadian citizen.</p> <p>“It’s a big honour,” says De Carvalho, who joined U of T in 2012. “I feel like it’s a really exciting welcome to Canada. I’m really happy.”</p> <p>The Brazil-born researcher’s work focuses on epigenetics, or the changes brought on by modification of gene expression, and better understanding the mechanisms behind tumour growth and translating this knowledge into more efficient approaches for therapy.</p> <p>Some of his research has&nbsp;<a href="/news/research-uncovers-possible-drug-treatment-incurable-brain-cancer">uncovered possible cancer treatments</a>.</p> <p>“When we’re thinking about cancer in general, [we’re thinking about] how can we beat cancer – make new therapies and so on,” De Carvalho says.</p> <p>His lab is focused on early detection since cancers evolve, cell mutations occur within patients and, in some cases, can become metastatic. His team wants to get ahead of such threats.</p> <p>“If you detect early, it’s much easier to treat. But&nbsp;it’s very difficult to detect. Later on, it’s very easy to detect but it’s very difficult to treat,” says De Carvalho. “We’re trying to break this in a way that can be more useful to the patient.”</p> <p>The opportunity to work with researchers across multiple disciplines, from immunology to computational biology, helps keep De Carvalho motivated.</p> <p>“I have to trust and believe everyone here,” he says. “I’m really hands off so it gives space to trainees – post-docs, visiting scientists, PhD students – so they’re all working together.”</p> <p>As he joins the Royal Society of Canada, De Carvalho wants to spread the idea that curiosity-driven research like his needs broad support.</p> <p>“We need to figure out ways … to create an ecosystem in Canada where science can move faster from basic science to the clinical side.”</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/0J5A0974.jpg" alt></p> <h4>Jean-Philippe Julien</h4> <p>Julien, an assistant professor in the departments of biochemistry and immunology in the Faculty of Medicine and a scientist at the SickKids Research Institute, studies how the immune system works and harnesses that information to design interventions, including vaccines.</p> <p>In particular, Julien investigates B cells, which produce antibodies that neutralize invading pathogens like bacteria, viruses and parasites.</p> <p>With a focus on infectious diseases – in recent years, his team has been unpacking the complexities of malaria and HIV – his lab seeks to understand health at an atomic scale.</p> <p>“We think that if you understand the molecular basis of immune responses, you can intervene more precisely,” says Julien.</p> <p>His lab, which has recently been leading several research fronts toward the development of a malaria vaccine, partners with numerous collaborators. They include research sites with unique samples from individuals exposed to infectious disease, and from clinical trial sites that offer opportunities for researchers to learn how humans respond to vaccine candidates.</p> <p>“We learn from the human response as much as we can – natural settings, but also in testing new technologies and interrogating them at the molecular level,” says Julien, who received his PhD from U of T in 2010.</p> <p>Julien says his membership in the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists is a reflection of his team’s success – not only his own. He also sees it as an opportunity to grow as a thought leader.</p> <p>“The biggest aspect to it, for me, is the ability to be part of an organization that mentors junior colleagues – not just in science and research but also in leadership and outreach,” he says. “I really look forward to that.”</p> <p>As for the future, Julien says he’s focused on gaining a better understanding of the molecular basis of disease to guide the development of next-generation biomedical interventions.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/0J5A0982.jpg" alt></p> <h4>David Evans</h4> <p>An associate professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science who oversees dinosaur research at the Royal Ontario Museum, Evans studies the Cretaceous Period to understand Earth’s biodiversity crisis today.</p> <p>The paleontologist is trying to build the fossil record from that “data-rich” period – the one before the mass extinction event 66 million years ago wiped out over 75 per cent of species on Earth, including all the non-avian dinosaurs.</p> <p>Speaking at his office at the ROM, Evans says his work focuses on fundamental questions about life on Earth at that time. In turn, the data contributes to ecological models that test the resilience of different organisms to extinction, and ecosystems to collapse.</p> <p>Such work will help us understand the “causes and consequences of mass extinctions,” Evans says. His work takes into account what makes a robust ecosystem, what species are more likely to survive an extinction event and what happens to ecosystems as a result of habitat destruction and sea level and climate change.</p> <p>“We have a lot of these particular scenarios that have played out in Earth’s history that we can go back to and study to see what the particular consequences of those types of changes have been on the Earth’s biota through time,” says Evans, who joined the ROM in 2007.</p> <p>From “boots on the ground” fossil digs to collaborations with global research teams, Evans has personally been involved with the discovery of 11 new dinosaur species in the last six years, including&nbsp;<a href="/news/u-t-paleontologists-uncover-76-million-year-old-armoured-dinosaur-skull">a 76-million-year-old armoured dinosaur in 2017</a>.</p> <p>But there is still work to be done. Only about 900 dinosaur species have been verified in the 150 million years of recorded dinosaur history, says Evans. That pales in comparison to the number of known bird, mammal and reptile species in the present day.</p> <p>“That’s what I tell a lot of the up-and-coming young paleontologists that I see here at the museum and around the world – that dinosaur discoveries are not running out anytime soon,” Evans says.</p> <p>“There will be generations and generations of new discoveries to be made and they can make them. We’re not even close to knowing everything.”</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, 10 Sep 2019 16:31:36 +0000 perry.king 157944 at From healthy babies to green energy storage: U of T researchers share $9 million in new funding /news/healthy-babies-green-energy-storage-u-t-researchers-share-9-million-new-funding <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">From healthy babies to green energy storage: U of T researchers share $9 million in new funding </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/oconnor-bazinet-wallpaper.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=sNitI8ET 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/oconnor-bazinet-wallpaper.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=YskroS2x 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/oconnor-bazinet-wallpaper.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=9H6xfEN2 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/oconnor-bazinet-wallpaper.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=sNitI8ET" alt="Richard Bazinet and Deborah O'Connor"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>rahul.kalvapalle</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-09-03T15:12:30-04:00" title="Tuesday, September 3, 2019 - 15:12" class="datetime">Tue, 09/03/2019 - 15:12</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">Deborah O’Connor (right) is one of 32 U of T researchers to receive Canada Foundation for Innovation funding. She's working with Richard Bazinet (left) and others to develop new technologies to process donor milk for babies (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)</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/rahul-kalvapalle" hreflang="en">Rahul Kalvapalle</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/cell-and-systems-biology" hreflang="en">Cell and Systems Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/munk-school-global-affairs-public-policy-0" hreflang="en">Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/biochemistry" hreflang="en">Biochemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/centre-addiction-and-mental-health" hreflang="en">Centre for Addiction and Mental Health</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/chemistry" hreflang="en">Chemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/factor-inwentash-faculty-social-work" hreflang="en">Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work</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-dentistry" hreflang="en">Faculty of Dentistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-kinesiology-physical-education" hreflang="en">Faculty of Kinesiology &amp; Physical Education</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/hospital-sick-children" hreflang="en">Hospital for Sick Children</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/leslie-dan-faculty-pharmacy" hreflang="en">Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy</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/molecular-genetics" hreflang="en">Molecular Genetics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/munk-school-global-affairs-public-policy" hreflang="en">Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nutritional-sciences" hreflang="en">Nutritional Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/pharmacology" hreflang="en">Pharmacology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physics" hreflang="en">Physics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/princess-margaret-hospital" hreflang="en">Princess Margaret Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/psychiatry" hreflang="en">Psychiatry</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/st-michael-s-hospital" hreflang="en">St. Michael's Hospital</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/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">U of T Scarborough</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>Babies born very prematurely face a serious nutritional challenge&nbsp;since their mothers are often unable to produce sufficient breast milk, a problem the Ƶ's&nbsp;<strong>Deborah O’Connor</strong>&nbsp;is looking to tackle by testing cutting-edge technologies for processing&nbsp;pasteurized donor milk.&nbsp;</p> <p>O’Connor, a professor and interim chair of the department of nutritional sciences in the Faculty of Medicine, is one of 32 U of T faculty members who are sharing $9.1 million in federal funding via the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund.</p> <p>The fund, named for U of T President Emeritus&nbsp;<strong>John R. Evans</strong>, aims to support&nbsp;researchers' infrastructure and equipment needs.</p> <p>“Donor milk really helps with babies’ early hospital course, but the technology used to process this milk is very old,” said O’Connor. “This award will help us replace that technology with new equipment so we can evaluate its impact on retaining important nutrients and bioactive components in human milk.”</p> <p>O’Connor’s research, carried out in collaboration with Professor&nbsp;<strong>Harvey Anderson</strong>&nbsp;and Associate Professor&nbsp;<strong>Richard Bazinet</strong>, both&nbsp;from the department of nutritional sciences, also explores the impact of sugar-sweetened beverages, plant-based beverages and cow’s milk on children’s appetite regulation and body composition as part of a broader investigation into how milk can be leveraged to improve the health of Canadians.</p> <p><strong>Vivek Goel</strong>, vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives,&nbsp;emphasized the impact the funding could have on projects like O’Connor’s, and on the university as a whole.</p> <p>“We are incredibly proud that U of T had so many important research&nbsp;projects funded by the John R. Evans Leaders Fund,” Goel said.&nbsp;“The support from the federal government will ensure that our researchers have access to research facilities that enable them to continue tackling the most pressing challenges of the day, and support us to attract diverse scholars from around the world.”</p> <p>“Researchers in Canada know that cutting-edge tools and labs are necessary to make discoveries and innovate,” said federal Minister of Science and Sport <strong>Kirsty Duncan</strong>. “That is why our government is announcing funding for the infrastructure needs of Canadian researchers.</p> <p>“Their groundbreaking contributions to science and research have an enormous impact on the breakthroughs that help make our visions for a better future a reality.”</p> <p>For&nbsp;<strong>Linda Trinh</strong>, that means exploring how exercise can manage the cognitive health of cancer survivors, who often experience impairments in memory, information processing and executive functioning long after their treatment has ended.</p> <p>“There has been research, especially in aging literature with healthy adults, which shows positive effects of exercise for increasing cognitive function,” says Trinh, an assistant professor of exercise and cancer survivorship at the Faculty of Kinesiology &amp; Physical Education.</p> <p>“We’re hoping this might apply to cancer survivors and patients as well, given that cognitive impairment is largely underdiagnosed and there are no proven treatments beyond symptom management.”</p> <p>The&nbsp;award will enable Trinh’s Exercise Oncology Lab to expand its work on exercise-based strategies to support the long-term health and well-being of cancer survivors.</p> <p>At U of T Scarborough, <strong>Oleksandr Voznyy</strong>&nbsp;is focusing his efforts on developing next-generation technologies for low-cost, large-scale storage of renewable energy.</p> <p>Voznyy’s&nbsp;funding will support his Clean Energy Lab’s high-throughput design, synthesis and testing of novel materials that could facilitate an affordable transition towards cleaner energy.</p> <p>“It was recently calculated that the cost of energy storage needs to go down by 10 times in order for us to be able to completely switch to renewable energy,” says Voznyy, an assistant professor of chemistry in the department of physical and environmental sciences.</p> <p>His lab incorporates machine learning to optimize experimental design, allowing for on-the-fly learning with fewer experiments.</p> <p>“Machine learning is making the high-throughput smarter, and not just by brute-forcing it,” says Voznyy.</p> <p>“Really, it’s like high-throughput on steroids.”</p> <p><strong>Laura Niemi</strong>’s CFI award will go towards studying how morality unfolds in language and thought, and how this connects to behaviour on the global stage.</p> <p>“I believe that research that investigates the psychology behind social conflict and diverse moral values can help us figure out practical solutions to conflict,” says Niemi, an assistant professor at the Trudeau Centre for Peace, Conflict and Justice at the Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy.</p> <p>Niemi’s Applied Moral Psychology Lab maintains a dual focus, investigating an array of basic concepts in moral and social psychology while exploring how these topics manifest in the real world.</p> <p>“On one level, we want to understand the basic science of moral psychology … that’s the part that deals with detailing patterns in language and cognition, and how they relate to people having these diverse moral values,” says Niemi.</p> <p>“The other leg of the lab is focused on how we can apply these findings to things people care about such as&nbsp;pro-sociality, charitable giving and violence.”</p> <hr> <p><strong>Here’s the full list of 32 U of T experts who have received funding from the Canada Foundation of Innovation's John R. Evans Leaders Fund:</strong></p> <p><strong>Andrew Advani</strong>, department of medicine and St. Michael’s Hospital: Exploration of pathophysiological mechanisms underlying diabetes and its related complications</p> <p><strong>Joyce Chen</strong>, Faculty of Kinesiology &amp; Physical Education and Sunnybrook Hospital:&nbsp;Optimizing motor learning through music-based behavioural interventions</p> <p><strong>Sarah Crome</strong>, department of immunology and Toronto General Hospital: Harnessing regulatory immune cells to promote transplantation tolerance</p> <p><strong>Carolyn Cummins</strong>, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy: Regulation of whole-body metabolism by nuclear hormone receptors</p> <p><strong>Michael Garton</strong>, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering: Expanding cell capabilities to sense their environment for therapeutic applications</p> <p><strong>Sergio Grinstein</strong>, department of biochemistry and the Hospital for Sick Children: Investigation of organelle dynamics and remodeling using lattice light-sheet microscopy</p> <p><strong>Frank Gu</strong>, department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry:&nbsp;Automation and intelligent design of nanostructured materials</p> <p><strong>Shane Harding</strong>, department of medical biophysics and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre: DNA damage and cellular physiology: rewiring for a cure</p> <p><strong>Tony Harris,</strong> department of cell and systems biology: Spinning disk confocal microscope to probe molecular networks of cell and tissue morphogenesis</p> <p><strong>Boris Hinz</strong>, Faculty of Dentistry: Slide scanner system to study and develop novel diagnostic tools for oral fibrosis and cancer</p> <p><strong>Rama Khokha</strong>, department of medical biophysics and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre: Developing new interventions for breast and lung cancer</p> <p><strong>Patrick Lee</strong>, department of mechanical and industrial engineering:&nbsp;Multi-material characterization system for developing and testing micro-/nano-layered composites and foams</p> <p><strong>Fa-Hsuan Lin,</strong> department of medical biophysics and Sunnybrook Hospital:&nbsp;Multi-modal functional brain technology</p> <p><strong>Xinyu Liu</strong>, department of mechanical and industrial engineering:&nbsp;Infrastructure for advanced microfluidic nanobiosensing</p> <p><strong>Philipp Maass</strong>, department of molecular genetics and the Hospital for Sick Children:&nbsp;Live-cell imaging of inter-chromosomal contacts by confocal super-resolution microscopy</p> <p><strong>Andreas Mandelis</strong>, department of mechanical and industrial engineering:&nbsp;Facility for advanced non-destructive testing/imaging instrumentation development</p> <p><strong>Rebecca Neel</strong>, department of psychology:&nbsp;A functional approach to stigmatization, motivation, and social judgment</p> <p><strong>Peter Newman</strong>, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work: MFARR-Asia computer-assisted survey interview and participatory video production lab</p> <p><strong>Laura Niemi</strong>, Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy:&nbsp;Moral psychology and global affairs</p> <p><strong>Justin Nodwell</strong>, department of biochemistry: Platform for antibiotic discovery and investigation</p> <p><strong>Deborah O’Connor</strong>, department of nutritional sciences and the Hospital for Sick Children: Maximizing milk in a changing food environment</p> <p><strong>Alison Olechowski</strong>, department of mechanical and industrial engineering: Design Observation Studio</p> <p><strong>Stephanie Protze</strong>, department of molecular genetics and McEwen Stem Cell Institute: Generation of stem cell-derived pacemaker cells for biological pacemaker applications</p> <p><strong>Amy Ramsey</strong>, department of pharmacology and toxicology:&nbsp;Study of disease-causing mutations in NMDA receptor genes</p> <p><strong>Jessica Sommerville</strong>, department of psychology: The origins of social learning and behaviour</p> <p><strong>Yu Sun</strong>, department of mechanical and industrial engineering: Infrastructure for image-guided magnetic micromanipulation of cells and tissues</p> <p><strong>Margot Taylor</strong>, departments of medical imaging, paediatrics, psychology and the Hospital for Sick Children:&nbsp;It’s all about time: Optimising infrastructure for functional brain imaging in children</p> <p><strong>Linda Trinh</strong>, Faculty of Kinesiology &amp; Physical Education: Exercise Oncology and Cognition Lab</p> <p><strong>Neil Vasdev</strong>, department of psychiatry and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health:&nbsp;Automated apparatus for PET radiopharmaceuticals to image the living human brain&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Oleksandr Voznyy</strong>, department of physical and environmental sciences, U of T Scarborough:&nbsp;High-throughput facility for design, synthesis and characterization of novel materials for large-scale energy storage</p> <p><strong>Kaley Walker</strong>, department of physics: Measurements of atmospheric gases using a deployable infrared interferometer</p> <p><strong>Scott Yuzwa</strong>, department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology: Extrinsic control of neural precursor cells: molecular mechanisms of brain development and repair</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, 03 Sep 2019 19:12:30 +0000 rahul.kalvapalle 157898 at Christine Allen appointed U of T's first associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives /news/christine-allen-appointed-u-t-s-first-associate-vice-president-and-vice-provost-strategic <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Christine Allen appointed U of T's first associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives</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/christine-allen.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=LfS9dQKI 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/christine-allen.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=_iJC3sa9 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/christine-allen.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=So8hsXHJ 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/christine-allen.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=LfS9dQKI" alt="Photo of Christine Allen"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>rahul.kalvapalle</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-07-05T12:31:38-04:00" title="Friday, July 5, 2019 - 12:31" class="datetime">Fri, 07/05/2019 - 12:31</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">In her new role, Christine Allen will serve as the university’s point person for cross-divisional initiatives and will foster collaboration among experts spread across U of T’s various faculties and departments (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)</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/rahul-kalvapalle" hreflang="en">Rahul Kalvapalle</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/resarch-innovation" hreflang="en">Resarch &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/schwartz-reisman-institute-technology-and-society" hreflang="en">Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/school-cities" hreflang="en">School of Cities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cheryl-regehr" hreflang="en">Cheryl Regehr</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation-entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/leslie-dan-faculty-pharmacy" hreflang="en">Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy</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/princess-margaret-hospital" hreflang="en">Princess Margaret Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/vivek-goel" hreflang="en">Vivek Goel</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Christine Allen</strong>, a world-renowned researcher in nanomedicine and image-guided drug delivery, has been appointed the Ƶ’s first-ever associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives.</p> <p>In the newly created role, Allen will work with academic and administrative bodies across the university’s three campuses to seed and scale interdisciplinary initiatives.</p> <p>Examples of such endeavours include the School of Cities, Medicine by Design and, most recently, the <a href="/sr-institute">Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society</a>, which draws on U of T’s strength in the sciences, humanities and social sciences to explore the benefits and challenges of AI, biotechnology and other technological advances on society.&nbsp;</p> <p>“The idea is to help foster collaboration so that we can move big, cross-disciplinary, multi-unit ideas forward,” said Allen, who is a professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and served as the faculty’s interim dean in the most recent academic year.</p> <p>“That means breaking down silos that may exist and providing support where needed to ensure that we can take something – which might have grown to a certain extent – to the next level.”</p> <p>U of T created the new position following broad consultations over the past year that identified the need for a new role dedicated to forging cross-divisional initiatives to advance knowledge and produce solutions for complex problems. The new position will also have a key role in supporting cross‐divisional initiatives with expertise in areas such as budget and finance, human resources, proposal development, fellowship models, events and public engagement so that individual initiatives do not have to duplicate efforts at smaller scales.</p> <p>“Many of the world’s toughest problems can only be solved by working across disciplines – an approach U of T is uniquely equipped to undertake because of the scope of our world-class scholarship and our location in one of the most diverse and globally connected cities in the world,” said&nbsp;<strong>Vivek Goel</strong>, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.</p> <p>“Building and maintaining such collaborative initiatives with multiple partners is challenging, and particularly complex in the highly decentralized U of T environment. Nevertheless, our faculty and students expect to be able to develop and engage with such initiatives.”</p> <p>Allen is an internationally recognized pioneer in the research and development of novel delivery technologies for cancer detection and treatment. A successful entrepreneur, she co-founded Nanovista, a startup that is commercializing technology developed at U of T and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre to help surgeons identify and remove cancerous tumors. She was also appointed chief scientific officer of Avicanna, a company devoted to the development of plant-based cannabinoids for medical applications.</p> <p>Allen joined the Leslie Dan Faculty as an assistant professor in 2002 and went on to serve as the faculty’s associate dean, academic from 2011 to 2012, and as associate dean, graduate education from 2013 to 2015.</p> <p>“Our faculty leadership are looking forward to working with Professor Allen to harness our inter-disciplinary strengths and create innovative research and teaching programs,” said Vice-President &amp; Provost&nbsp;<strong>Cheryl Regehr</strong>.</p> <p>“Over the course of her career at U of T, Professor Allen has established herself as a world-leading researcher, a committed mentor to faculty and a passionate educator with a talent for fostering interdisciplinary research approaches.</p> <p>“Her leadership will help foster innovative research and teaching programs at the convergence of diverse fields, which, in turn, will provide extraordinary opportunities for faculty and students alike.”</p> <p>In her new role, Allen will serve as the university’s point person for cross-divisional initiatives and will work to foster collaboration between the vast pool of experts spread across U of T’s various faculties and departments. She will also coach and guide faculty members to oversee and champion interdisciplinary research initiatives themselves.</p> <p>“I see my office as being the one that will help bring these different people together,” she said.</p> <p>Allen added that the decision to create the&nbsp;position of Associate Vice-President and Vice-Provost, Strategic Initiatives demonstrates U of T isn’t keen to simply rest on its laurels.</p> <p>“U of T is getting ahead of the game,” she said. “We’re going to be one of the few universities with a position like this in place that’s truly focused on breaking down barriers and increasing collaboration.</p> <p>&nbsp;“We’re going to have the teams in place, we’re going to be scanning to see what opportunities are out there. We’re going to be ready.”</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> Fri, 05 Jul 2019 16:31:38 +0000 rahul.kalvapalle 157137 at U of T researchers improve classification of pancreatic cancer to better predict patient outcomes /news/u-t-researchers-improve-classification-pancreatic-cancer-better-predict-patient-outcomes <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">U of T researchers improve classification of pancreatic cancer to better predict patient outcomes</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/Sangeetha-Kalimuthu-colour-corrected-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=GRXZbHYR 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Sangeetha-Kalimuthu-colour-corrected-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=5GeZwzrf 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Sangeetha-Kalimuthu-colour-corrected-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=pfcI-1IZ 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/Sangeetha-Kalimuthu-colour-corrected-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=GRXZbHYR" alt> </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="2019-06-24T14:14:49-04:00" title="Monday, June 24, 2019 - 14:14" class="datetime">Mon, 06/24/2019 - 14:14</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">Sangeetha Kalimuthu, an assistant professor of laboratory medicine and pathobiology at U of T and a gastrointestinal pathologist at UHN, is the lead author of a study in the BMJ journal Gut (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/katie-sullivan" hreflang="en">Katie Sullivan</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/cancer" hreflang="en">Cancer</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/laboratory-medicine-and-pathobiology" hreflang="en">Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/princess-margaret-hospital" hreflang="en">Princess Margaret Hospital</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/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>Researchers at the Ƶ and University Health Network have found that standard pathology grading for the most common type of pancreatic cancer can be improved to better predict patient outcomes.</p> <p>The research shows that conventional, histological analysis of pancreatic tumours – based in part on morphology, or shape and structure – can better predict outcomes by taking into account particular tissue patterns that correlate to molecular analyses.</p> <p>The researchers were able to stratify the tumours into two groups. Those that showed 40 per cent or more aberrant, destructive patterns – such as cells with punched out spaces resembling swiss cheese – matched the molecular profiles of tumours from patients with poorer rates of survival. The BMJ journal <em>Gut </em><a href="http://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2019/06/14/gutjnl-2019-318217">recently published the </a><a href="https://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2019/06/14/gutjnl-2019-318217">findings</a><a href="http://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2019/06/14/gutjnl-2019-318217"> online</a>.</p> <p>“Although we have been aware of these patterns, putting them together with an established threshold indicating levels of aggressive tumour patterns is new and helpful for our clinicians,” says lead author <strong>Sangeetha Kalimuthu</strong>, an assistant professor of laboratory medicine and pathobiology at U of T and a gastrointestinal pathologist at UHN.</p> <p>The study involved over 800 tumour tissue slides from 86 patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The study group included senior author <strong>Runjan Chetty</strong>, a professor of laboratory medicine and pathobiology at U of T and a clinician-scientist at UHN, and colleagues at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.</p> <p>For decades, histological evaluation has been the gold standard for diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Recently, large-scale studies have shown that molecular&nbsp;subtypes of&nbsp;the cancer are associated with various prognoses.</p> <p>But molecular profiling is expensive and requires specialized equipment. With the new, easily applicable pathology classification, Kalimuthu and her colleagues believe that clinicians can obtain similar information using standard pathology stains, with a rapid turn-around time.</p> <p>“Any pathologist in any part of the world can do this,” says Kalimuthu. “It’s the bread and butter of what pathologists do. It’s fast, cheap and accessible.” The new classification should help clinicians better tailor treatments to patients, she adds.</p> <p>Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is one of the most lethal cancers, with a five-year survival rate of less than 10 per cent. Each year more than 350,000 people worldwide are diagnosed and more than 340,000 die of the disease. Some reports project a twofold increase in the number of new cases and deaths by 2030.</p> <p>“Pathologists have had a long, rich history in their vital roles to diagnose and stage pancreas cancer,” says <strong>Steven Gallinger</strong>, a co-author on the study who is a professor of laboratory medicine and pathobiology at U of T and a clinician-scientist at UHN.</p> <p>“This study is an elegant demonstration of the potential of personalized medicine, with the promise of improved outcomes for our patients.”&nbsp;</p> <p>The next step for the researchers is to carry out a multi-institutional validation study. They also hope to develop deep-learning algorithms to further reduce turn-around times and increase accuracy. The longer-term goal is to help pathologists accurately quantify even large amounts of data.</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, 24 Jun 2019 18:14:49 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 157096 at Honorary degree recipient Carlo Fidani made a lasting impact on local health care /news/honorary-degree-recipient-carlo-fidani-made-lasting-impact-local-health-care <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Honorary degree recipient Carlo Fidani made a lasting impact on local health care</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/7.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=vFbYrms7 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/7.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=XCebeaiL 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/7.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=85xcwm3f 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/7.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=vFbYrms7" alt="Carlo Fidani delivers his honorary degree speech"> </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="2019-06-05T13:46:38-04:00" title="Wednesday, June 5, 2019 - 13:46" class="datetime">Wed, 06/05/2019 - 13:46</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">Carlo Fidani, a U of T honorary degree recipient, has contributed generously to the Ƶ Mississauga and the Faculty of Medicine (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)</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/convocation-2019" hreflang="en">Convocation 2019</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/centre-addiction-and-mental-health" hreflang="en">Centre for Addiction and Mental 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/honorary-degree" hreflang="en">Honorary Degree</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/princess-margaret-hospital" hreflang="en">Princess Margaret Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">U of T Mississauga</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Carlo Fidani</strong>’s generosity is making a difference in education, health care and research.</p> <p>The chair of Mississauga, Ont.-based Orlando Corp., which owns, leases, and manages over 40 million square feet of industrial, office and retail property, has helped spearhead the growth of health care institutions throughout the Greater Toronto Area.</p> <p>In 2010, Fidani made a $10 million pledge – via the FDC Foundation, where he serves as president – to the Ƶ Mississauga and U of T’s Faculty of Medicine. The gift laid the foundation for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/programs-departments/mississauga-academy-medicine">Mississauga Academy of Medicine</a> and inspired broad support from the community, including a $12 million gift from philanthropist&nbsp;<strong>Terrence Donnelly</strong>&nbsp;to complete the project.</p> <p>“A well-placed gift made at the right time and to the right opportunity can have an exponential effect on donors and institutions,” Fidani told the <em>Ƶ Mississauga Magazine</em> (now <em>M Magazine</em>) in 2011.</p> <p>Fidani today receives a Doctor of Laws,&nbsp;<em>honoris causa</em>, from U of T “for his “outstanding service for the public good, through his impressive leadership and vision, in education, health care and the sciences.”</p> <h4>Watch Carlo Fidani deliver his remarks:</h4> <h4><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="422" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EieHvuONgWk" width="750"></iframe></h4> <p>Fidani’s leadership and vision was felt immediately when the Mississauga Academy of Medicine welcomed its first medical students in 2011. Considered the cornerstone of U of T Mississauga’s&nbsp;<a href="https://boundless.utoronto.ca/initiatives/the-terrence-donnelly-health-sciences-complex/">Terrence Donnelly Health Sciences Complex</a>, the academy adds about 54 doctors to Ontario with each graduating class. A 2013 economic impact report by consulting firm KPMG said the academy “addresses a pressing need for more physicians, including more family doctors, in the Region of Peel.”</p> <p>“It’s gratifying to be part of something that’s certain to have a direct impact on the community,” Fidani is quoted as saying on U of T’s Boundless campaign website.</p> <p>“The Academy will contribute to the growth of local hospitals and encourage young medical students to work where they trained.”</p> <p>Fidani’s philanthropic vision didn’t stop there. In 2015, Orlando Corp. launched a gift-matching initiative on behalf of the William Osler Health System. The following year, the company gifted another $7 million for cancer research at the U of T Mississauga campus.</p> <p>He’s also a major donor to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Princess Margaret Hospital and Credit Valley Hospital, where the cancer centre carries his name.</p> <p>Fidani’s philanthropic achievements are matched by his success in the corporate world. Orlando has a reputation for building quality and customer satisfaction, and is at the helm of a number of LEED-certified projects. Some of its clients include Amazon Canada, Walmart, Oracle Corporation and the Royal Bank of Canada.</p> <p>In 2017, Fidani was named to the Order of Canada for his contributions to medical research and service to the country.</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, 05 Jun 2019 17:46:38 +0000 perry.king 156801 at 'Discover everything there is': U of T's Tak Mak awarded prestigious Gold Leaf Prize for pioneering research /news/discover-everything-there-u-t-s-tak-mak-awarded-prestigious-gold-leaf-prize-pioneering-research <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">'Discover everything there is': U of T's Tak Mak awarded prestigious Gold Leaf Prize for pioneering research</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/Tak-Mak_courtesy-of-PMCC-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=7GpTUmFG 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Tak-Mak_courtesy-of-PMCC-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=sEvM0lPJ 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Tak-Mak_courtesy-of-PMCC-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=yIOIQWf4 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/Tak-Mak_courtesy-of-PMCC-weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=7GpTUmFG" alt="Photo of Tak Mak"> </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="2019-05-23T11:42:29-04:00" title="Thursday, May 23, 2019 - 11:42" class="datetime">Thu, 05/23/2019 - 11:42</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 Canadian Institutes of Health Research has named U of T's Tak Mak the recipient of its prestigious Gold Leaf Prize for Discovery, which recognizes groundbreaking health research (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/jim-oldfield" hreflang="en">Jim Oldfield</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/biochemistry" hreflang="en">Biochemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cancer" hreflang="en">Cancer</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/genetics" hreflang="en">Genetics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/immunology" hreflang="en">Immunology</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/princess-margaret-hospital" hreflang="en">Princess Margaret Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/stem-cells" hreflang="en">Stem Cells</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Tak Mak</strong> still recalls his surprise upon&nbsp;learning that Canada’s Medical Research Council had granted him more money than he requested. It was the early 1980s, and Mak was an assistant professor competing for funds with the other scientists pushing Canada into a global revolution in cell biology.</p> <p>“I applied for $50,000 and they gave me $67,000,” says Mak, a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards-funding/university-professors/">University Professor</a>&nbsp;of medical biophysics and immunology at the Ƶ and a senior scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre who is renowned for a career that has spanned biochemistry, virology, genetics, cancer metabolism and clinical therapy.</p> <p>“Over the years Canada’s granting agencies have really supported my work in a very paramount way.”</p> <p>That relationship has now come full circle after the Canadian Institutes of Health Research named Mak the recipient of its prestigious Gold Leaf Prize for Discovery, which recognizes groundbreaking health research and comes with&nbsp;$100,000.</p> <p>The award will support new research, but for Mak it’s also a recognition that CIHR’s investments in his work was money well spent. “We did all we could to achieve the scientific excellence and innovation CIHR wanted, and to some extent we have fulfilled that intention,” says Mak. “That is gratifying, because when a person or agency is really generous, you don’t want to disappoint them.”</p> <p>Mak has indeed given Canadians many reasons to be proud.</p> <p>Mak’s lab co-discovered the T-cell receptor in 1984 – a finding that fundamentally changed how scientists understood the immune system and led to major advances in T-cell biology, autoimmune disease and immunotherapy. His lab was also one of the first to generate knockout mice – genetically modified mice – that enabled scientists worldwide to study the effects of individual genes. And Mak co-founded Agios Pharmaceuticals, whose leukemia drug IDHIFA became the first clinically approved therapy to target cancer metabolism in 2017.</p> <p>Earlier this year, Mak’s group used genetics to show that the nervous system and immune system communicate through a molecule called acetylcholine. The discovery confirmed a long-suspected, but poorly understood, link between the two systems, and again opened several new avenues of research.</p> <p>Mak attributes these and other achievements in part to the co-operation of the Canadian scientific community.</p> <p>“One thing that makes Canada great is congenial and collaborative scientists across the land,” he says. “And looking back at the metamorphosis of our lab from field to field to field, it was in many cases through work with Canadian scientists.”</p> <p>To take two examples: the development of genetically altered mice, Mak says, would not have happened without close collaboration from stem cell biologist and U of T University Professor <strong>Janet Rossant</strong>. And when his lab shifted focus from immunology to cancer, Mak says the approach and vision of the late <strong>Anthony Pawson,</strong> a professor of molecular genetics, was invaluable.</p> <p>Mak has also benefitted from many talented trainees who have passed through his lab. That group now numbers over 130, and includes a university president, medical school deans and dozens of institute directors and departmental chairs. Mak often visits these former colleagues – most recently on a trip to the Technical University of Munich this week, where he received an honorary professorship – and he says that seeing this extended “family” succeed brings great gratification.</p> <p>“There’s no substitute for that. I am reminded of the Indian proverb, ‘All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.’”</p> <p>Mak offers special praise for the mentorship he received as a young researcher, including his time in the lab of Nobel laureate Howard Temin, and his early years in Toronto working with <strong>Ernest McCulloch</strong> and <strong>James Till</strong>, who discovered stem cells.</p> <p>“McCulloch taught me to think differently, to have original ideas and integrate my thoughts,” Mak says. “Till was a staunch, vigorous physicist, who insisted that all results be statistically significant and re-confirmed. The two together made an almost perfect mentorship for me.”</p> <p>Today, that oblique but rigorous approach to science still informs Mak’s thinking, which increasingly centres on inflammation, another frontier in medical science. Inflammation is essential to the immune system’s ability to fight germs, but it can create problems that result in autoimmune diseases. Researchers are recognizing the role of inflammation in neuro-degeneration, cardiac disease and many other conditions, and in our ability to fight cancer.</p> <p>“We need to understand that important yin and yang,” says Mak. “When the thermostat of inflammation needs to be up, and when certain aspects need to come down – this is where we need to focus.”</p> <p>Mak is still very engaged with these and other scientific questions. The “party,” he notes, is still going strong.</p> <p>“I have tremendous gratitude for the support I’ve received from the Canadian scientific community and from CIHR,” he says.</p> <p>“When you’re a kid you get to play with toys and figure things out, and you’re not supposed to do that as an adult. But science is like toys for adults, and we get to discover everything there is.”</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, 23 May 2019 15:42:29 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 156747 at