"I’m really interested in understanding why and how the heart fails, and how we can help the heart to regenerate itself. As a cardiologist who looks after patients with end-stage heart failure waiting for heart transplants and mechanical hearts, it’s really important to me to think outside the box about these questions."
“I've always been fascinated by the brain. I’m fascinated with questions of basic science, but I’d like my bigger impact to be teaching and educating young scientists.”
Using state-of-the art sequencing technology, Medicine by Design-funded scientists have revealed how stem cells are able to generate new blood cells throughout our life, and how these same cellular mechanisms can evade chemotherapy to survive and cause relapse many years later.
"What’s exciting to me is the development of new bio-informatic tools, and the interface of computational biology with basic science. The sky is the limit to what we can do now, even compared to when I was PhD student. We can re-ask questions that were asked in the 1990s or 2000s, or even the 2010s, and answer them in a different light."
"As scientists, we don’t want our research to sit on the shelf in a journal. We want to translate our discoveries and technologies as quickly and efficiently as possible so they can benefit society."
"I have two main ambitions. I want to democratize medicine so all these amazing breakthroughs in regenerative medicine, immunotherapy and synthetic biology are accessible to communities that need them. I also want to inspire a diverse generation of young people to pursue science and entrepreneurship."
“My proudest accomplishment is training the future generation of scientists. I see how creative they are and how much they’ve bridged the gap between different disciplines. I can’t wait to see what they discover.”
Discovery to provide insights into liver development and disease progression
A team of researchers led by scientists at the University of Toronto has delayed the onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in mice. They are cautiously optimistic that this research, which was funded in part by a Medicine by Design 2018 New Ideas Award, combined with other clinical advances, points to a potential treatment for ALS in humans.
Thirty-one research projects at U of T and its affiliated hospitals selected for funding to contribute to the global fight against the novel coronavirus.
