Department of Molecular Genetics

Jennifer Dorrington Award

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Zoe Clark

Zoe Clarke, a third-year graduate student in the computational biology program in the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, has received a Jennifer Dorrington Graduate Research Award for 2022.

"I am so grateful to the Dorrington family for their support of science, and specifically my project,” said Clarke, who previously won a Cecil Yip Doctoral Research Award. “Receiving this kind of support really inspires me to work to the best of my ability, and reminds me how much of an impact my research can have on the community.”

Clarke is working to identify cellular processes by which healthy liver cells become cancerous in a bid to shed light on how liver cancer develops from start to finish and to identify targets for future treatments. She is using single cell sequencing to analyze the molecular makeup of individual liver cells following infection with Hepatitis B virus, which causes inflammation of the liver that can develop into cancer.

Clarke is supervised by the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research’s Gary Bader, a professor of molecular genetics and computer science whose team helped produce the world’s first map of the human liver at the molecular level.

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Sagi Abelson, Kim Tsoi and Alanna Weisman win 2020 Banting Discovery Awards

lanthierj — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 20:05:45 +0000

Sagi Abelson, Kim Tsoi and Alanna Weisman win 2020 Banting Discovery Awards

lanthierj Fri, 07/09/2021 - 16:05

Banting Research Foundation Discovery Awards

Insulin 100

Women in STEM

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Three UUֱ�� professors are among the winners of the 96^th annual Banting Research Foundation Discovery Awards.

The prizes, announced by Mitacs and the Banting Research Foundation, support investigators at universities and research institutes in Canada with seed funding within the first three years of their first academic appointment.

The winners are:

Sagi Abelson, assistant professor of molecular genetics and principal investigator, computational biology, at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, for his project using large, publicly available single-cell datasets to build a comprehensive single-cell classifier, to detect cancer and measure changes associated with chemotherapy.
Kim Tsoi, assistant professor in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, orthopaedic surgeon in the Sinai Health System and research clinician-investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, for her work developing a treatment for soft tissue sarcomas, a rare, aggressive type of cancer.
Alanna Weisman, assistant professor in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, clinical scientist in the Sinai Health System and University Health Network and scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute and ICES, for her study using anonymized provincial health-care data to determine whether factors such as sex, income, and socioeconomic factors are barriers to insulin pump use for people with type 1 diabetes and the impact that has on people living with the disease.

“The UUֱ�� congratulates Alanna Weisman, Kim Tsoi and Sagi Abelson on this important recognition from Mitacs and the Banting Research Foundation,” said Professor Leah Cowen, associate vice-president, research.

“They are building on the legacy of discovery, innovation and collaboration at UUֱ�� sparked a century ago with the discovery of insulin – and their bold ideas will make a real difference in the health of Canadians and people around the world.”

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Donnelly Centre graduate students recognized with Jennifer Dorrington Award

lanthierj — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 13:31:15 +0000

Donnelly Centre graduate students recognized with Jennifer Dorrington Award

Academic Achievement

lanthierj Thu, 04/08/2021 - 09:31

Institute for Biomedical Engineering

Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomedical Research

Jennifer Dorrington Award

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(L-R) Shubham Gupta, Jamie Wu, Jessica Knox

Three students working on doctoral research in the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research have received Jennifer Dorrington Graduate Research Awards for 2021.

The annual award recognizes students enrolled in graduate programs at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine who are doing research in a Donnelly Centre lab. Established by the Dorrington family in 2006, the award celebrates late UUֱ�� Professor Jennifer Dorrington who did pioneering research on ovarian cancer at the iconic Banting and Best Department for Medical Research which was succeeded by the Donnelly Centre.

The students, whose research holds potential for global food security, early disease detection and better cancer treatments, are:

Jessica Knox, department of molecular genetics, supervised by Professor Peter Roy
Shubham Gupta, department of molecular genetics, supervised by Assistant Professor Hannes Röst
Jamie Wu, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, supervised by Professor Warren Chan

“On behalf of everyone on the Dorrington award committee, I would like to offer warmest congratulations to the winners. We were really impressed by the exceptionally strong pool of candidates this year,” says Gary Bader, professor of computational biology and molecular genetics in the Donnelly Centre and chair of the award committee whose members are Donnelly Centre investigators Liliana Attisano, Henry Krause and Fritz Roth.

“Jessica, Shubham and Jamie have made amazing progress, especially during this challenging year, and their research will have an important impact on peoples’ lives,” said Bader.

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Leah Cowen elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

lanthierj — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 19:23:52 +0000

Leah Cowen elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

lanthierj Tue, 11/24/2020 - 14:23

AAAS Fellows

Women in STEM

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(Photo courtesy of NSERC)

Leah Cowen, a professor in the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

In a statement, the AAAS praised Cowen’s “distinguished contributions in the field of microbial genomics, particularly for using functional and chemical genomic analyses to identify vulnerabilities in fungal pathogens.”

Cowen, who was recently named the UUֱ��'s first associate vice-president, research, is also a Canada Research Chair in Microbial Genomics and Infectious Disease. She has developed an innovative research program that uses genome-scale analyses to identify and explore the genes responsible for fungal infections and drug resistance by defining its underlying functional relationships. By mapping out a genetic network, this information holds the potential to discover and design new medicines for infectious diseases.

“The UUֱ�� is proud of Leah Cowen and her exceptional leadership in the biomedical field,” said University Professor Ted Sargent, vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. “Her work on the biology of fungal pathogens, the mechanisms through which microbes cause disease and ways to counter microbes’ drug resistance, will lead to the development of safe and effective treatments for infectious diseases.”

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John Dick elected to National Academy of Medicine

lanthierj — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 15:30:50 +0000

John Dick elected to National Academy of Medicine

lanthierj Mon, 10/19/2020 - 11:30

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

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(photo by imagesbydelmar)

Dr. John Dick, a professor in the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and senior scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, has been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

The NAM is one of three academies that comprise the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in the United States. Each year, the NAM elects up to 100 members, including 10 international members, recognized for their achievements in health and medicine.

A Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Biology, Dick is globally recognized for his discovery of leukemia stem cells, made possible by an assay he developed. The assay involves transplanting cells from human adult bone marrow, normal or cancerous, into an experimental model to gauge cancer initiation. Using this approach, he revealed that only a small subset of these cells was capable of initiating leukemia and was the main cause of disease relapse. These contributions have helped shape the understanding of cancer and reveal new strategies for curing the disease.

“The UUֱ�� congratulates Professor John Dick on this richly deserved recognition,” said University Professor Ted Sargent, vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. “He has revolutionized our understanding of leukemia.”

Scott Gray-Owen receives Minister of College and Universities Award of Excellence

lanthierj — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 21:18:37 +0000

Scott Gray-Owen receives Minister of College and Universities Award of Excellence

Community

lanthierj Fri, 10/09/2020 - 17:18