Canada Research Chairs

From building bone to children’s literacy: 36 U of T researchers awarded Canada Research Chairs

lanthierj — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 17:51:06 +0000

From building bone to children’s literacy: 36 U of T researchers awarded Canada Research Chairs

lanthierj Tue, 08/29/2023 - 13:51

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Karina Carneiro, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Dentistry, is one of 36 researchers at U of T and its partner hospitals to receive a new or renewed Canada research chair (photo by Jeff Comber)

Topic

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Canada Research Chairs

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Computer Science

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Economics

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Faculty of Arts & Science

Faculty of Dentistry

Geography and Planning

Hospital for Sick Children

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Research & Innovation

U of T Scarborough

University Health Network

Subheadline

The new and renewed chairs at U of T and its hospital partners were part of a broader research funding announcement by the federal government

At the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Dentistry, Karina Carneiro and her team are working on developing new treatments to regenerate bone with DNA-based biomaterials.

Karina Carneiro (photo by Jeff Comber)

The researchers are exploring ways to use synthetic materials, created using DNA nanotechnology, to help bones regenerate and support the body’s efforts to heal them naturally.

That’s in contrast to current bone repair treatments, which involve taking bone tissue from another part of the body and breaking it into little pieces that can be inserted into the defect.

“Using a DNA-gel for this purpose could be an effective treatment option as it can be injected to fill the defect size fully,” says Carneiro, an assistant professor in the faculty.

“What we believe to be the difference between our DNA gel and other materials being developed is that over time, the DNA can degrade into molecules that promote our own body’s healing mechanism to further regenerate the bone.”

Carneiro is one of three researchers at the Faculty of Dentistry to be awarded a new or renewed Canada Research Chair in the latest round – and one of 36 across U of T’s three campuses and hospital partners (see list below).

Established in 2000, the prestigious federal program aims to recruit and retain top researchers and scholars in the country. It invests more than $300 million annually to enable world-class researchers to reach new heights in disciplines spanning engineering, health sciences, humanities and social sciences.

“Congratulations to all the researchers at the University of Toronto who received new or renewed Canada Research Chairs in the latest round,” says Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“From using AI to improve medicine and health care to better understanding Indigenous geographies and environmental dispossession, the work by U of T investigators supported by this important federal program is pushing the boundaries of research and innovation – and promises to have a big impact in Canada and around the world.”

Anil Kishen (photo by Jeff Comber)

Professor Anil Kishen, who is also at the Faculty of Dentistry, will use the funding associated with his Tier 1 Canada Research to advance his work in oral health nanomedicine.

He and his colleagues in the Kishen Lab are using multifunctional bioactive nanoparticles to study how cells communicate with each other and how wounds heal – in particular, how nanoparticles can be used to help save infected natural teeth and treat wounds and ulcers in individuals with diabetes.

Kishen says one of the reasons chitosan-based nanoparticles, which are optimized for different therapeutic applications, are so promising is because they’re derived from a naturally occurring molecule that is readily available.

“Affordability is important when developing a treatment to reach the masses,” Kishen says.

Massieh Moayedi (photo by Jeff Comber)

Massieh Moayedi, an associate professor in the Faculty of Dentistry, is receiving funding to pursue research in pain neuroimaging as a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair.

“There’s tenuous evidence that body image might be involved in some types of chronic pain,” Moayedi says, adding that his end goal is to understand how pain works so he can improve patient outcomes.

He’s already shown that people with arthritic hands who see the limb looking healthier through a special device experience improvements in pain, so he’s now trying to understand which brain regions are involved.

“This chair will give me funding and the capacity to allow me to investigate these questions, and to really understand the relationship between pain and body image.”

Randy Boissonnault, minister of employment, workforce development and official languages, announced the CRCs at a press conference on Aug. 29 on behalf of François-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and industry, and Mark Holland, minister of health.

He also revealed the researchers and projects receiving funding through a diverse array of programs administered by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI).

They include the recipients of the SSHRC’s Partnership Grants, Partnership Development Grants and Insight Grants, as well as the recipients of the CFI’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF), which helps institutions to recruit and retain outstanding researchers, and provide them with the necessary tools and technology to perform their work. Named after a former U of T president, JELF supports projects that deal with a range of pressing issues. This year’s recipients include 35 researchers at U of T and its hospital partners sharing a total of more than $11 million for projects ranging from an assessment of plant responses to environmental change to the development of an ultra-sensitive cryogenic detector for dark matter and neutrino experiments.

“The federal government’s ongoing support for research through all of these programs – from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund, to the NSERC and CFI grants and the Canada Research Chairs – is critical to supporting the kind of research that ultimately improves lives through new knowledge and innovations,” Cowen said.

Here is the full list of new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at U of T:

New Canada Research Chairs

Stephanie Ameis at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and in the department of psychiatry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in neuroimaging of autism and mental health in youth
Yvonne Bombard at Unity Health and in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Tier 2 in genomics health services and policy
Karina Carneiro in the Faculty of Dentistry, Tier 2 in DNA-based biomaterials
Jesse Chao at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and in the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in precision cancer diagnostics and artificial intelligence
Xi (Becky) Chen-Bumgardner in the department of applied psychology and human development in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Tier 1 in literacy development of bilingual and multilingual children
Mark Chiew at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and in the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in computational biomedical imaging
Sarah Crome at University Health Network and in the department of immunology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in tissue-specific immune tolerance
Michelle Daigle in the department of geography and planning in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tier 2 in Indigenous geographies and environmental dispossession
Karen Davis at University Health Network and in the department of surgery in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in acute and chronic pain research
Rahul Gopalkrishnan in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science and department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in computational medicine
Housheng (Hansen) He at University Health Network and in the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in RNA medicine
Margaret Herridge at University Health Network and in the department of medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in critical illness outcomes and the recovery continuum
Anil Kishen in the Faculty of Dentistry, Tier 1 in oral health nanomedicine
Bowen Li in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, Tier 2 in RNA vaccines and therapeutics
Iacovos Michael at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and in the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in tumor biology and precision oncology
Massieh Moayedi in the Faculty of Dentistry, Tier 2 in pain neuroimaging
Faiyaz Notta at the University Health Network and in the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in pancreatic cancer and cancer evolution
Valeria Rac at the University Health Network and in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Tier 2 in health system and technology evaluation
Fahad Razak at Unity Health Toronto and in the department of medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in health-care data and analytics
Clinton Robbins at the University Health Network and in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in cardiovascular immunology
Lena Serghides at the University Health Network and in the department of immunology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in maternal-child health and HIV
Catriona Steele at the University Health Network and in the department of speech language pathology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in swallowing and food oral processing
Bo Wang in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science and department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier 2 in artificial intelligence for medicine

Renewed Canada Research Chairs

Angela Cheung at University Health Network and in the department of medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in musculoskeletal and postmenopausal health
Xi Huang at the Hospital for Sick Children and in the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in cancer biophysics
Cendri Hutcherson in the department of psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough, Tier 2 in decision neuroscience
Joanne Kotsopoulos at Women’s College Hospital and at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Tier 2 in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer prevention
Arthur Mortha in the department of immunology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in mucosal immunology
Kelly O’Brien in the department of physical therapy in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in episodic disability and rehabilitation
Trevor Pugh at the University Health Network and in the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in translational genomics
Diego Restuccia in the department of economics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tier 1 in macroeconomics and productivity
David Sinton in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, Tier 1 in energy and fluids
Olivier Trescases in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, Tier 2 in power electronic converters
Joel Watts in the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in protein misfolding disorders
Michael Widener in the department of geography and planning in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tier 2 in transportation and health
Stephen Wright in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tier 1 in population genomics

From Africana development to decarbonization: 34 U of T researchers awarded Canada Research Chairs

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 19:01:13 +0000

From Africana development to decarbonization: 34 U of T researchers awarded Canada Research Chairs

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 11/16/2022 - 14:01

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Scott Gray-Owen, Caroline Hossein and Marianne Hatzopoulou are three of 34 scholars at U of T who were awarded new or renewed Canada Research Chairs (photos by Nick Iwanyshyn, courtesy of Caroline Hossein, by Johnny Guatto)

Scott Anderson

Topic

Our Community

Leah Cowen

Sunnybrook Health Sciences

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Unity Health

Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research

Cell and Systems Biology

Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

Astronomy & Astrophysics

Canada Research Chairs

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Computer Science

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Faculty of Arts & Science

History

Hospital for Sick Children

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Research & Innovation

Rotman School of Management

Sociology

U of T Scarborough

University Health Network

Thirty-four scholars at the University of Toronto have been awarded new or renewed Canada Research Chairs in fields ranging from artificial intelligence to health and history.

Many of the Canada Research Chairs are working on topics related to complex global challenges – advancing knowledge that will help accelerate the transition to clean energy, for example, achieve more equitable societies or develop new treatments for cancer and other debilitating diseases.

François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s minister of innovation, science and industry, announced the chairs at the Canadian Science Policy Conference on Nov. 16, along with funding for a range of research programs and projects across the country – including the containment level 3 lab at U of T's Temerty Faculty of Medicine that enables researchers to study certain high-risk pathogens.

Among the 19 new chairs at U of T is Caroline Hossein, an associate professor in global development studies at U of T Scarborough. Named a tier two chair in Africana development and feminist political economy, Hossein studies “solidarity economies,” a movement that emphasizes social benefit over financial gain. She is writing a book about “rotating savings and credit associations” in Canada. These are small groups of immigrants, usually from Africa and the Caribbean, who often lack access to bank capital and come together to help each other financially.

Scott Gray-Owen, a U of T professor in the department of molecular genetics, was named a new tier one chair in infectious immunopathogenesis. His research aims to understand how pathogens such as bacteria and viruses infect their hosts and evade the immune response. In 2021, Gray-Owen was named the inaugural director of a new, forward-looking initiative at U of T called the Emerging and Pandemic Infections Consortium (EPIC), which seeks to combat new infectious diseases and prevent the rise of future pandemics. In that role, he also oversees U of T’s Combined Containment Level 3 Unit, a biosafety facility at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine that enables researchers to conduct research on certain pathogens.

How cities affect our health is the research interest of Marianne Hatzopoulou, a professor in the department of civil and mineral engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. She was named a new tier one chair in transport decarbonization and air quality. Hatzopoulou creates models of emissions from road transportation and evaluates how this air pollution affects the local population. Not long ago, she was involved in a study that used low-cost sensors to measure carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, coarse particulate matter and other pollutants at nearly 70 sites across Beirut, identifying air pollution hot spots where people were most at risk. She also examined the effects of natural gas fracking in the northeast region of British Columbia. Another study examined the potential improvement in air quality resulting from the widespread adoption of electric vehicles.

Among the U of T faculty whose Canada Research Chairs were renewed is Jean Philippe Julien, senior scientist with the molecular research program of SickKids Research Institute and an associate professor in the department of biochemistry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. Julien also received support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF), which helps provide research infrastructure associated with the Canada Research Chairs program, for his project, “Molecular Biological Systems for the Study of Antibody-Antigen Complexes.” Named for late U of T President Emeritus John R. Evans, the fund helps institutions recruit and retain outstanding researchers and provide them with the necessary tools and technology to perform their work.

(See the full list of new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at U of T)

“I’d like to commend all University of Toronto researchers who were named new Canada Research Chairs or who had their chair renewed in this latest round,” said Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“The Canada Research Chair program provides critical support for researchers across our three campuses who are generating new knowledge, developing key innovations and helping to address some of the world’s most complex challenges.”

Established in 2000, the Canada Research Chair program invests up to $310 million annually to attract and retain top academic talent in disciplines spanning engineering, the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities and social sciences.

Here is the full list of new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at U of T:

New Canada Research Chairs

Aimy Bazylak in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, Tier 1 in clean energy.

Denise Belsham in the department of physiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in neuroendocrinology.

Maged Goubran at the Sunnybrook Health Science Centre and the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in artificial intelligence and computational neuroscience.

Scott Gray-Owen in the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in infectious immunopathogenesis.

Robin Hayeems at the Hospital for Sick Children and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Tier 2 in genomics and health policy.

Marianne Hatzopoulou in the department of civil and mineral engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, Tier 1 in transport decarbonization and air quality.

Caroline Hossein in the department of global development studies at U of T Scarborough, Tier 2 in Africana development and feminist political economy.

Muhammad Husain at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the department of psychiatry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in treatment innovation in mood disorders.

Courtney Jones at the University Health Network and the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in leukemia stem cell metabolism.

Andrea Knight at the Hospital for Sick Children and the department of paediatrics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in mental health and chronic disease of childhood.

Sushant Kumar at the University Health Network and the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in genomic medicine.

J. Rafael Montenegro Burke in the Donnelly Centre in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in functional metabolomics and lipidomics.

Deborah O'Connor in the department of nutritional sciences in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in human milk and infant nutrition.

Vijay Ramaswamy at the Hospital for Sick Children and the department of paediatrics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in pediatric neuro-oncology.

Gregory Schwartz at the University Health Network and the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in bioinformatics and computational Biology.

Jay Shaw in the department of physical therapy in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in responsible health innovation.

Anastasia Tikhonova at the University Health Network and the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in stem cell niche biology.

Burton Yang at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in cardiac remodeling.

Darren Yuen at Unity Health Toronto and the department of medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in fibrotic injury.

Renewed Canada Research Chairs

John Calarco in the department of cell and systems biology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tier 2 in neuronal RNA biology.

Myron Cybulsky at the University Health Network and the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in arterial wall biology and atherogenesis.

David Duvenaud in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tier 2 in generative models.

Julie Forman-Kay in the Hospital for Sick Children and the department of biochemistry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in intrinsically disordered proteins.

Bryan Gaensler in the David A. Dunlap department of astronomy and astrophysics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tier 1 in radio astronomy.

Alec Jacobson in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tier 2 in geometry processing.

Jean-Philippe Julien at the Hospital for Sick Children and the department of biochemistry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in structural immunology.

Kang Lee in the department of applied psychology and human development at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Tier 1 in moral development and developmental neuroscience.

David Levin in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tier 2 in simulation-driven graphics and fabrication.

Jed Meltzer at Baycrest Hospital and the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tier 2 in interventional cognitive neuroscience.

Sean Mills in the department of history in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tier 2 in Canadian and transnational history.

Kimberly Pernell-Gallagher in the department of sociology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tier 2 in economic sociology.

Arun Ramchandran in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, Tier 2 in engineered soft materials and interfaces.

Andras Tilcsik at the Rotman School of Management, Tier 2 in strategy, organizations, and society.

Haley Wyatt in the department of biochemistry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in mechanisms of genome instability.

U of T researchers awarded 20 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 15:31:30 +0000

U of T researchers awarded 20 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 06/02/2022 - 11:31

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(Photo by Daria Perevezentsev)

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

Our Community

Institute of Biomedical Engineering

Leah Cowen

Sinai Health

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

Canada Research Chairs

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Faculty of Arts & Science

Hospital for Sick Children

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Psychology

Research & Innovation

U of T Mississauga

U of T Scarborough

University Health Network

From neuroimaging of aging to Indigenous methodologies with youth and communities, the University of Toronto’s 20 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs are working to address key global challenges and advance knowledge across a wide range of fields.

Among the nine new chairs at U of T are Elizabeth Buckner, an assistant professor at U of T’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). As tier two chair in higher education for sustainable development, Buckner is focused on examining how post-secondary institutions can promote sustainable development by integrating the concept into the fabric of universities. Her findings are expected to inform governments, NGOs and the post-secondary sector. (See the full list of new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at U of T)

Chloe Hamza, also of OISE, was named a tier two chair in stress and coping in post-secondary contexts. The assistant professor of applied psychology, who studies the development of mental health and wellbeing in children and young adults, aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the processes through which university students cope with distress.

In the realm of public health, Amaya Perez-Brumer, an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, was named a tier two chair in global health intervention justice. Perez-Brumer studies how infectious disease prevention efforts and clinical trials are executed to gauge their impact on marginalized communities and improve public trust.

“My warmest congratulations go out to all U of T researchers who were named Canada Research Chairs, or who had their chair renewed, in the latest round,” said Leah Cowen, vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“Through the Canada Research Chair program, the federal government is supporting U of T researchers who are investigating some of the grand challenges the world faces and are shaping the innovations of tomorrow.”

Established in 2000, the Canada Research Chair program represents an investment of roughly $310 million per year to attract and retain top talent in disciplines spanning engineering, the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities and social sciences.

Here are the new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at U of T:

New Canada Research Chairs

Elizabeth Buckner in the in the department of leadership, higher and adult education in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, tier two in higher education for sustainable global development.
James Ellis in the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in stem cells models of childhood disease.
Astrid Guttmann in the department of paediatrics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in applied child health services and policy.
Chloe Hamza in the department of applied psychology and human development in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, tier two in stress and coping in post-secondary contexts.
Donald Mabbott in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in white matter plasticity and cognitive development.
Tatyana Mollayeva in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and University Health Network, tier two in Neurological Disorders and Brain Health.
Amaya Perez-Brumer in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, tier two in global health intervention justice.
Micheal Shier, in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, tier two in social innovation and social entrepreneurship in the human services.
John Sled in the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in biomedical imaging.
Carolyn Steele Gray at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Sinai Health, tier two in implementing digital health innovation.
Kim Tsoi, in the department of surgery in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Sinai Health, tier two in translational sarcoma research.

Renewed Canada Research Chairs

Jean Chen in the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Baycrest Hospital, tier two chair in neuroimaging of aging.
Rodrigo Fernandez-Gonzalez, in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two chair in quantitative cell biology and morphogenesis.
Ran Kafri, in the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two chair in quantitative cell biology.
Kagan Kerman in the department of physical and environmental sciences at U of T Scarborough, tier two in bioelectrochemistry of proteins.
Joel Levine in the department of biology at U of T Mississauga, tier one chair biological determinants of social networks.
Rhonda McEwen in the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology at U of T Mississauga, tier two chair in tactile interfaces, communication and cognition.
Jeehye Park in the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two chair in molecular genetics and neurodegenerative diseases.
Peter Roy in the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier one chair in chemical genetics.
Eve Tuck in the department of social justice education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, tier two in Indigenous methodologies with youth and communities.

The good life: Felix Cheung – who studies well-being – among U of T's 33 new or renewed Canada Research Chairs

mattimar — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 21:41:11 +0000

The good life: Felix Cheung – who studies well-being – among U of T's 33 new or renewed Canada Research Chairs

mattimar Wed, 01/12/2022 - 16:41

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Felix Cheung, an assistant professor of psychology who studies population well-being, is one of the 33 U of T faculty members to receive a new or renewed Canada Research Chair in the most recent round of appointments (photo courtesy of Felix Cheung)

Mariam Matti

Topic

Our Community

Institute of Biomedical Engineering

Leah Cowen

Sunnybrook Health Sciences

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Unity Health

Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research

Canada Research Chairs

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Faculty of Arts & Science

Hospital for Sick Children

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Physics

Psychology

Research and Innovation

U of T Scarborough

University Health Network

Women's College Hospital

Does economic growth contribute to happiness? With his research project on population well-being, the University of Toronto’s Felix Cheung hopes to find out.

An assistant professor in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Cheung calls the economic-happiness question one of the longest standing debates in his field.

He cites, as an example, previous research he did on Hong Kong that found relatively low levels of life satisfaction despite high per capita GDP and long life expectancies – two common measures of well-being used by governments. And he notes the same may be increasingly true in Canada after nearly two years battling COVID-19.

“At minimum, our well-being is not improving,” he says. “That is enough to consider: Is our policy aligned with what Canadians want in life?”

Cheung also wants to explore how governments can “can actually spend our economic growth to buy happiness,” noting that it’s not economic prosperity so much as the way it’s distributed that may be most important.

“One of the chords behind the rallying cry of defund the police, I think, is asking us as a community to rethink how we spend government expenditure to promote collective well-being for everyone.”

Cheung is one of the 33 U of T faculty members to receive a new or renewed Canada Research Chair in the most recent round of appointments announced Wednesday (see the full list below). The program supports exceptional work across a wide variety of fields. At U of T, that includes everything from marine epidemiology and precision medicine to research into sustainable bioproducts.

At the same time, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) – in collaboration with the CRC program – announced support for Cheung and one other U of T researcher through its John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF), which helps universities pay for laboratories and equipment. The second researcher, Ji Young Youn, is an assistant professor in the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and a scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Professor Shaf Keshavjee of the University Health Network and the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, also received $24 million in support through the New Frontiers in Research Fund for his project, The Next Frontier in Transplantation: Ex vivo Strategies to Repair and Rebuild Organs.

“I want to extend my congratulations to all the U of T researchers who were selected as a new chair or had their chair renewed – as well those who received funding from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund and the New Frontiers in Research Fund,” says Leah Cowen, vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“The federal government’s ongoing support of important work through the Canada Research Chairs and other programs plays a key role in allowing our researchers to advance knowledge and foster innovation across a wide variety of fields.”

The CRC program, established in 2000, invests up to $295 million annually to recruit and retain top minds in Canada. It supports research in engineering, natural sciences, health sciences, humanities and social sciences.

In Cheung’s case, he plans to use tier-two Canada Research Chair funding to study the determinants, consequences and policy relevance of population well-being by using a multidisciplinary approach. He plans to explore three lines of research: What contributes to population well-being and what can be done to create a more satisfying life for a given population? What are the desirable consequences of having a more satisfied society? And, finally, does the public support the idea of using well-being as a major policy indicator?

He says his work was inspired by observations he made while living in Hong Kong, where he noted that high per capita GDP and a long life expectancy didn’t appear to be making people happy.

“I could see people were living life without necessarily having a purpose,” he says. “This observation was later confirmed by my own data analysis.”

In fact, he found that people in the region lived the least satisfying life in the developed world. “Hong Kong is a cautionary tale for the rest of the world,” he says. “A long and prosperous life is not necessarily a good life.”

Cheung joined U of T in July 2020 and continued his research on the topic. “There are so many world-class experts here from different disciplines,” he says. “I benefit from this a lot because [the concept of] well-being is so multifaceted.”

His proposal for the Canada Research Chairs Program spans not only Ontario, but the whole country. He adds that the program’s support will allow him to take the first step in tackling his long-term goal: reimagining the way we measure societal progress.

“We need buy-in from different sectors – the public, government, businesses and non-government organizations,” he said. “This award is that initial buy-in that gives me hope that this is doable.”

He hopes his research can be used to measure well-being and how it’s distributed across age groups, gender, sexual orientation, as well as racial and ethnic groups.

“Only if we measure it can we make further decisions on how we want to allocate resources,” says Cheung, adding that such research can help identify populations where current policies aren’t increasing happiness.

“There is nothing stopping population well-being from becoming a major policy indicator in the next century because it reflects equality in our community that’s not currently being captured by existing policy indicators.”

Here are the new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at U of T:

New Canada Research Chairs

Benjamin Blencowe of the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomedical Research in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier one in RNA biology and genomics
David Burnes of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, tier two in older adult mistreatment prevention
Felix Cheung of the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in population well-being
Lihi Eder of the department of medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Women’s College Hospital, tier two in inflammatory rheumatic diseases
Anna Heath of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two in statistical trial design
Omar F. Khan of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in nucleic acid therapeutics
Thomas Kislinger of the department of medical biophysics in the in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the University Health Network, tier one in cancer precision medicine
Heather MacLean of the department of civil and mineral engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier one in sustainable systems and technology assessment
Sonya MacParland of the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the University Health Network, tier two in liver immunobiolog
Kristin Musselman of the department of physical therapy in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier two in multi-morbidity and complex rehabilitation
Daniel I. Posen of the department of civil and mineral engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in system-scale environmental impacts of energy and transport technologies
Milica Radisic of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier one in organ-on-a-chip engineering
Chao Wang of the department of immunology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier two in immunometabolism in neuroinflammation
Tania Watts of the department of immunology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier one in anti-viral immunity
Ning Yan of the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier one in sustainable bioproducts
Ji-Young Youn of the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two in membraneless organelle proteomics

Renewed Canada Research Chairs

Ana Andreazza of the department of pharmacology and toxicology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier two in molecular pharmacology and mood disorders
Daniel Bender of the department of historical and cultural studies at U of T Scarborough, tier one in food and culture
Robert Bonin of the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, tier two in sensory plasticity
Brian Connelly of the department of management at U of T Scarborough, tier two in integrative perspectives on personality
Shelley Craig of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, tier two in sexual and minority youth
Daniel De Carvalho of the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the University Health Network, tier two in cancer epigenetics and epigenetic therap
Elizabeth Edwards of the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier one in anaerobic biotechnology
Barbara Fallon of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, tier two in child welfare
Penney Gilbert of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in endogenous repair
Martin Krkosek of the department of ecology and evolutionary biology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in marine epidemiology
Warren Lee of the department of medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Unity Health Toronto, tier two in mechanisms of endothelial permeability
Jeffrey Meyer of the department of psychiatry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, tier one in the neurochemistry of major depressive disorder
John Rubinstein of the department of biochemistry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in electron cryomicroscopy
Mikko Taipale of the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomedical Research in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier two in functional proteomics and proteostasis
Bebhinn Treanor of the department of biological sciences at U of T Scarborough, tier two in spatially-resolved biochemistry
Andrea Tricco of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Unity Health Toronto, tier two in knowledge synthesis
Amar Vutha of the department of physics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in precision atomic and molecular physics

In fields ranging from math to medicine, U of T researchers awarded 27 Canada Research Chairs

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 13:29:50 +0000

In fields ranging from math to medicine, U of T researchers awarded 27 Canada Research Chairs

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 06/15/2021 - 09:29

Cutline

Brenda Andrews, a pioneer of functional genomics, is one of 27 U of T researchers to be awarded a new or renewed Canada Research Chair (photo by Michael Schertzberg)

Jovana Drinjakovic

Topic

Our Community

Sunnybrook Health Sciences

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research

Canada Research Chairs

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Chemistry

Computer Science

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Faculty of Art & Science

Faculty of Law

Hospital for Sick Children

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Mathematics

Mount Sinai Hospital

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Philosophy

Psychology

Research & Innovation

St. Michael's Hospital

U of T Mississauga

University Health Network

In Brenda Andrews’s lab at the University of Toronto, researchers are working toward understanding why cells with the same errors in their genetic codes don’t always develop the same defects.

Known as incomplete penetrance, the phenomenon is familiar to those with a history of genetic disorders, since people with the same disease-causing gene variant can experience different disease symptoms and severity.

“We are beginning to appreciate that any kind of genetic perturbation can have a highly variable penetrance and there’s a large cell-to-cell variability,” says Andrews, a University Professor of molecular genetics in the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research and the Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

“That has implications for understanding the mechanisms of disease, and for thinking about potential treatments.”

Andrews is one of 27 researchers at U of T awarded new or renewed Canada Research Chairs today. The prestigious federal appointment aims to recruit and retain top researchers and scholars in the country.

At the same time, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) – in collaboration with the CRC program – announced support for two U of T researchers through its John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF), which helps universities pay for laboratories and equipment. They are Kelsie Thu of the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital, and Daniel Schramek of the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System.

Researchers at U of T were also awarded more than $37 million in funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Discovery Grants program and more than $20 million in funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council programs.

“I want to personally congratulate all of the researchers at the University of Toronto who were either named new Canada Research Chairs or had their existing chairs renewed – as well as those who received funding through other programs,” says Professor Leah Cowen, U of T’s associate vice-president, research.

“Your inspired work in critical fields, ranging from mathematics and medicine to engineering and human development, is expanding knowledge and developing innovative new ideas that will ultimately benefit Canadians and people around the world.”

Andrews, for one, is a pioneer of functional genomics and has dedicated her career to studying cells as dynamic systems composed of a multitude of components whose roles need to be co-ordinated to sustain health. Using Baker’s yeast cells as a model, her lab has shown how thousands of genes engage in interactions with each other, and that it’s these webs of interactions that hold the clues to health and disease.

Her tier one chair in systems genetics and cell biology includes seven years of funding (renewable once). It is the latest among many honours recognizing her leadership in the field. Andrews is a Companion to the Order of Canada, the highest national honor which can be held by a civilian. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a foreign member of the American National Academy of Sciences, among other honours and appointments.

As well as running her lab, Andrews also served as inaugural director of the Donnelly Centre through three successive five-year terms. During that time, the centre became globally renowned for its multidisciplinary research, education and innovation in biomedical science.

Now, Andrews’s interdisciplinary team are working to find out how cell-to-cell variability arises and may contribute to severity of a genetic disorder. Co-supervised by Andrews and her long-term collaborator Charles Boone, a professor of molecular genetics and interim director of the Donnelly Centre, they are collecting measurements from millions of individual cells in a mixed population.

“By looking at all kinds of different mutant scenarios and by measuring how that affects cellular traits at the single cell level, we can begin to [decipher] the mechanisms behind disease penetrance,” Andrews says.

The entire process – from cell culture to image acquisition and data analysis – is automated and took about a decade to develop. It includes some of the first machine-learning tools for computer vision applications in cellular biology.

“This is an exciting time for research thanks to the range of new technologies and endless possibilities they present,” Andrews says. “When you have people collaborating across scientific fields, the potential to do important work is just extraordinary.”

Here are the new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at U of T:

New Canada Research Chairs

Brenda Andrews of the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, tier one in systems genetics and cell biology
Isabelle Boileau of the department of psychiatry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, tier two in endocannabinoid imaging in mental illness
Grant Brown of the department of biochemistry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier one in genome integrity
Yaron Finkelstein of the department of paediatrics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in pediatric drug safety and efficacy
Spencer Freeman of the department of biochemistry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and SickKids Research Institute, the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two in immune surveillance
Stephen Girardin of the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier one in intestinal inflammation
Linda Hiraki of the department of paediatrics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and SickKids Research Institute, the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two in genetics of rare systemic inflammatory diseases
Michael Laflamme of the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and McEwen Stem Cell Institute, University Health Network, tier one in cardiovascular regenerative medicine
Robert McCann of the department of mathematics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier one in mathematics, economics and physics
Padmaja Subbarao of the department of paediatrics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in pediatric asthma and lung health
Walter Swardfager of the department of pharmacology and toxicology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Research Institute, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier two in clinical pharmacology of cognitive neurovascular disorders
Kelsie Thu of the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital, tier two in lung cancer therapy response

Renewed Canada Research Chairs

Ya-Huei (Cathy) Chin of the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in advanced catalysis for sustainable chemistry
Yasmin Dawood of the Faculty of Law, tier two in democracy, constitutionalism and electoral law
Abby Goldstein of the department of applied psychology and human development in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, tier two in the psychology of emerging adulthood
Prabhat Jha of the division of epidemiology in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Centre for Global Health Research, St. Michael’s Hospital, tier one in global health
Gillian King of the department of occupational science and therapy in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, tier one in optimal care for children with disabilities
Loren Martin of the department of psychology at U of T Mississauga, tier two in translational pain research
Aleksandar Nikolov of the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in algorithms and private data analysis
Elizabeth Page-Gould of the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in social psychophysiology
Keith Pardee of the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, tier two in synthetic biology and human health
Elodie Passeport of the department of civil and mineral engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in environmental engineering and stable isotopes
Tarek Rajji of the department of psychiatry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, tier two in neurostimulation in cognitive disorders
John Ratcliffe of the department of biology at U of T Mississauga, tier two in neuroethology
Sophie Rousseaux of the department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in organic chemistry
Daniel Schramek of the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System, tier two in functional cancer genomics
Nicholas Stang of the department of philosophy in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in metaphysics and its history

From astrophysics to literature: 29 researchers at U of T awarded Canada Research Chairs

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 17:15:54 +0000

From astrophysics to literature: 29 researchers at U of T awarded Canada Research Chairs

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 12/16/2020 - 12:15

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Twenty-nine U of T researchers are among 259 in Canada to receive new or renewed Canada Research Chairs, which support exceptional work across a wide variety of fields (U of T file photo)

Alison Kenzie

Topic

Our Community

Institute of Biomedical Engineering

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Pediatrics

Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research

Cell and Systems Biology

Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute

Astronomy & Astrophysics

Canada Research Chairs

Chemical Engineering

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Electrical & Computer Engineering

English

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Faculty of Arts & Science

St. Michael's Hospital

Sunnybrook Hospital

Ted Sargent

U of T Mississauga

University Health Network

Vasanti Malik’s research into the dietary and lifestyle risk factors for chronic diseases has far-reaching implications – for both individuals and the world.

By considering risk factors for type 2 diabetes across the lifespan – including in utero exposures, maternal health and childhood obesity – the assistant professor of nutritional sciences in the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine intends to develop a “dietary environmental index.”

The index would allow health practitioners and the public to understand how food and lifestyle choices can affect their own health as well as the health of the planet.

“What we eat has an impact on greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use and so on,” says Malik, adding that she can envision a smartphone app that helps underscore such connections for Canadians.

Soon, she will also be working with pregnant women in Chennai, India to study how reducing refined carbohydrate intake (for instance, substituting brown rice for white rice) can prevent gestational diabetes. This data could not only improve maternal health, but also potentially reduce childhood obesity, a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

Malik is one of 29 researchers at U of T – and among 259 nationwide – to receive new or renewed Canada Research Chairs, which support exceptional work across a wide variety of fields. (See the full list below.)

“I would like to congratulate all the University of Toronto researchers who received a new chair or had their chair renewed in this round,” says University Professor Ted Sargent, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“This important federal support and recognition will enable our leading researchers to pursue critical research across a number of fields, helping generate new knowledge and innovative ideas that could ultimately change the way we live here in Canada and around the world.”

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Canada Research Chairs program, established by the federal government to attract and retain top Canadian researchers working in a variety of disciplines – from engineering, the natural sciences and health sciences to the humanities and social sciences. The investment is significant: up to $295 million each year.

With 315 chairs total, U of T receives more than $46 million annually in funding from the Canada Research Chairs program.

At the same time, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) – in collaboration with the CRC program – announced support for two U of T researchers through its John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF), which helps universities pay for cutting edge laboratories and equipment. The two U of T researchers are Kieran Campbell and Hartland Jackson, both of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute in the Sinai Health System.

As for Malik, her tier two Chair in Nutrition and Chronic Disease Prevention brings with it five years of funding (renewable once) and the chance to pursue an ambitious three-part research project that will span Canada and India and involve collaboration with experts from nutritional science, environmental science and economics.

She says the award seemed “unattainable” during her many years of graduate and post-doctoral training, which she began at U of T and completed at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.

Malik adds that being situated within the Temerty Faculty of Medicine is an asset, allowing her to collaborate with clinicians working in partner hospitals and giving her a front row seat to how her research might impact clinical care guidelines.

“My ultimate goal is to create evidence for policy – evidence that links diet and lifestyle choices to chronic disease prevention,” Malik says.

Malik says she is looking forward to the opportunity to collaborate with economists and other researchers at U of T and beyond. She has many questions: Would a plant-based diet be feasible for low-income Canadian households? Would brown rice be easily accessible to Indian families living in poverty? Can governments here and abroad afford not to invest in chronic disease prevention, given the high costs of an unhealthy population?

While COVID-19 has put her travel plans on pause, Malik is excited to prepare for teaching her first class at U of T, a fourth-year international and community nutrition course that aligns with her research interests. As she strategizes how to make the course as interactive as possible, Malik looks forward to the energy generated by her students as they learn and discuss new ideas.

“We’re all figuring this out together,” she says.

Here are the new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at U of T:

New Canada Research Chairs

Jennifer Adese of the department of sociology at U of T Mississauga, tier two in Métis women, politics, and identity
Gillian Booth of the department of medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, tier one in policy solutions for diabetes prevention and management
Kieran Campbell of the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System, tier two in machine learning for translational biomedicine
Angela Colantonio of the department of occupational science and occupational therapy in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier one in traumatic brain injury in underserved populations
Herbert Gaisano of the department of medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, tier one in diseases of endocrine and exocrine pancreas
Jennifer Gommerman of the department of immunology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier one in tissue-specific immunity
Ali Hooshyar of the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in electric power systems
Timothy Hughes of the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier one in decoding gene regulation
Hartland Jackson of the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System, tier two in systems pathology
Hae-Young Kee of the department of physics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier one in theory of quantum materials
David Lie of the department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier one in secure and reliable systems
Radhakrishnan Mahadevan of the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier one in metabolic systems engineering
Vasanti Malik of the department of nutritional sciences in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier two in nutrition and chronic disease prevention
Stephen Matthews of the department of physiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier one in early development and health
Nick Reed of the department of occupational science and occupational therapy in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier two in pediatric concussion
Lisa Robinson of the department of paediatrics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in vascular inflammation and kidney injury
John Rogers of the department of English in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier one in early modern literature and culture
Shoshanna Saxe of the department of civil and mineral engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in sustainable infrastructure
Greg Stanisz of the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Research Institute, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier one in cancer imaging
Harindra Wijeysundera of the department of medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Research Institute, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier two in structural heart disease policy and outcomes
Hannah Wunsch of the department of anesthesiology and pain medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Research Institute, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier two in critical care organization and outcomes
Azadeh Yadollahi of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and University Health Network, tier two in cardiorespiratory engineering

Renewed Canada Research Chairs

Jo Bovy of the David A. Dunlap department of astronomy and astrophysics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in galactic astrophysics
Birsen Donmez of the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in human factors and transportation
Lisa Forman of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, tier two in human rights and global health equity
Alan Moses of the department of cell and systems biology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in computational biology
Anthony Niblett of the Faculty of Law, tier two in law, economics and innovation
Laura Rosella of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, tier two in population health analytics
Arjumand Siddiqi of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, tier two in population health equity

From exploring immigrant identities to treating cancer: U of T awarded 31 Canada Research Chairs

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 16:02:28 +0000

From exploring immigrant identities to treating cancer: U of T awarded 31 Canada Research Chairs

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 08/10/2020 - 12:02

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Neda Maghbouleh, an associate professor at U of T Mississauga, is one of 31 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at U of T. She is studying how borders, wars and other geopolitical forces influence immigrants' identities (photo by Romi Levine)

Carla DeMarco

Topic

Our Community

Astronomy & Astrophysics

Canada Research Chairs

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Chemistry

Computer Science

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Faculty of Arts & Science

Faculty of Law

Faculty of Medicine

History

Hospital for Sick Children

Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing

Management

Molecular Genetics

Psychology

Research & Innovation

Sociology

St. Michael's Hospital

Ted Sargent

U of T Mississauga

U of T Scarborough

University Health Network

The University of Toronto’s Neda Maghbouleh seeks to better understand how borders, wars and other geopolitical forces influence the formation of immigrants’ identities.

“My work is fundamentally motivated by unresolved questions about integration, assimilation, and racialization,” says Maghbouleh, an associate professor in U of T Mississauga’s department of sociology.

“Through a strategic focus on Syrian refugees and others from the Middle Eastern/North African region, I am building a multilevel analysis of the evolving identities of newcomers to Canada and the U.S. today.

“The goal is to advance new theories that explain the influence of geopolitics, borders, war, sanctions and surveillance on everyday people’s racial identifications and attachments.”

An international expert on the formation of racial identity, Maghbouleh is one of 31 new or renewed Canada Research Chairs at U of T. Her tier two chair in migration, race and identity will allow her to further expand her scholarship on how racial identities traffic across borders and categories.

The Canada Research Chair Program was established in 2000 to fund outstanding researchers in this country. It provides approximately $295 million annually to universities to help retain and attract top minds, spur innovation and foster training excellence in Canadian post-secondary institutions.

“Congratulations to the University of Toronto’s new and renewed Canada Research Chairs,” says University Professor Ted Sargent, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. “This investment will further strengthen and build on the exceptional research environment at U of T.

“The Canada Research Chairs Program enables our nation’s researchers to make ground-breaking discoveries, create new knowledge and attract talent that ultimately benefits all Canadians.”

Maghbouleh is among those emerging researchers who are making their mark. Her 2017 award-winning book The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian Americans and the Everyday Politics of Race explored the culture and identity of Iranian Americans as well as the discrimination they face. It has been adopted in courses at over 30 universities in North America and the U.K.

Since she became a faculty member at U of T Mississauga in 2015, Maghbouleh’s research has received consistent funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), including a major Insight Grant for the project “Settlement, Integration, & Stress: A 5-Year Longitudinal Study of Syrian Newcomer Mothers & Teens in the GTA.” She recently presented early findings from the project to the research and evaluation branch of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Maghbouleh says the research chair will help fuel her ambitious research program and further communicate her findings.

“The CRC will turbo-charge my work,” she says. “And most excitingly, it solidifies the status of UTM, U of T and the Greater Toronto Area as a premier North American hub for research on migration and race.”

Kent Moore, U of T Mississauga’s vice-principal, research, said he was thrilled with the campus’s success in securing three Canada Research Chair designations. In addition to Maghbouleh, they include Sonia Kang in the department of management, who is a newly named tier two chair in identity, diversity, and inclusion, and Iva Zovkic in the department of psychology, who is a tier two chair in behavioural epigenetics.

“This recognition exemplifies the innovative work being undertaken by our researchers,” says Moore.

“With the impressive and exceptional breadth of work Professors Kang, Maghbouleh and Zovkic are doing, they continue to forge new ground in many areas of research and elevate UTM to a higher level of excellence. This support and validation of their work by the Canada Research Chair program demonstrates the outstanding caliber of their scholarly leadership.”

Here are the new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at U of T:

New Canada Research Chairs

Jeffrey Ansloos, in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, tier two in critical studies in Indigenous health and social action on suicide
Isabelle Aubert, in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier one in brain repair and regeneration
Gisele Azimi, in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in urban mining innovations
Hilary Brown, in the Interdisciplinary Centre for Health & Society at U of T Scarborough, tier two in disability and reproductive health
Ann Burchell, in the department of family and community medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Unity Health Toronto, tier two in sexually transmitted infection prevention
Arthur Chan, in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in atmospheric chemistry and health
Maria Drout, in the David A. Dunlap department of astronomy and astrophysics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in time-domain and multi-messenger astrophysics
Katherine Duncan, in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two memory modulation
Benjamin Haibe-Kains, in the department of medical biophysics in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier two in computational pharmacogenomics
Björn Herrmann, in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science and Baycrest Centre, tier two in auditory aging
Sonia Kang, in the department of management at U of T Mississauga, tier two in identity, diversity, and inclusion
Neda Maghbouleh, in the department of sociology at U of T Mississauga, tier two in migration, race, and identity
Maryam Mehri Dehnavi, in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in parallel and distributed computing
Sharmistha Mishra, in the department of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Unity Health Toronto, tier two in mathematical modeling and program science
Michelle Murphy, in the department of history in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier one in science and technology studies and environmental data justice
Catherine O'Brien, in the department of surgery in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier two in translational research in colorectal cancer
Myrna Simpson, in the department of physical and environmental sciences at U of T Scarborough, tier one in integrative molecular biogeochemistry
Janet Smylie, at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Unity Health Toronto, tier one in advancing generative health services for Indigenous populations in Canada
Darrell Tan, in the department of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Unity Health Toronto, tier two in HIV prevention and STI research
Paaladinesh Thavendiranathan, in the department of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier two in cardiooncology
Teresa To, at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in asthma
Kimberley Widger, in the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, tier two in pediatric palliative care
Andrei Yudin, in the department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier one in medicine by design
Iva Zovkic, in the department of psychology at U of T Mississauga, tier two behavioural epigenetics

Renewals of Canada Research Chairs

Morgan Barense, in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in cognitive neuroscience
Anver Emon, in the Faculty of Law, tier two in Islamic law and history
Larissa Katz, in the Faculty of Law, tier two in private law theory
Julie Lefebvre, in the department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two in developmental neural circuity
Matthew Roorda, in the department of civil and mineral engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in freight transportation and logistics
Leonardo Salmena, in the department of pharmacology and toxicology in the Faculty of Medicine, tier two in signal transduction and gene regulation in cancer
Aristotle Voineskos, in the department of psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, tier two in neuroimaging of schizophrenia

From AI to immigrant integration: 56 U of T researchers supported by Canada Research Chairs Program

geoff.vendeville — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 18:56:08 +0000

From AI to immigrant integration: 56 U of T researchers supported by Canada Research Chairs Program

geoff.vendeville Fri, 06/14/2019 - 14:56

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Three of U of T's 56 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs (from left to right): Jonathan Kelly, Marzyeh Ghassemi and Vincent Kuuire (photos courtesy of Jonathan Kelly and Marzyeh Ghassemi, and by Blake Eligh)

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

Our Community

Pediatrics

Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research

Cell and Systems Biology

Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

Artificial Intelligence

Biochemistry

Canada Research Chairs

Chemistry

Computer Science

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Drama

Economics

Electrical & Computer Engineering

English

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Faculty of Arts & Science

Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education

Faculty of Medicine

Geography

Hospital for Sick Children

Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering

Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

Molecular Genetics

Mount Sinai Hospital

Occupational Therapy

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Research & Innovation

University Health Network

UTIAS

Vector Institute

Visual Studies

Women's College Hospital

Survey after survey show doctors face burnout from heavy workloads. But what if they could use a machine learning algorithm to shoulder some of the burden?

Marzyeh Ghassemi (left), the first University of Toronto faculty member to be cross-appointed to the departments of computer science and medicine, is looking to lighten the load on health practitioners – and, by extension, improve patient health – by developing algorithms that can estimate the length of a person's hospital stay, need for intensive care or mortality risk.

“We have a really good body of clinical research that suggests patients respond better to all manner of treatments when it’s provided with compassion and with focus, and with an understanding of where they come from,” she said.

“So I think we should use machine learning to let doctors do the doctoring, to actually interface with patients and make decisions about care.”

Ghassemi is one of 56 U of T faculty members awarded new Canada Research Chairs, or whose chairs were renewed, as part of a double, fall-spring cohort announced Friday by the federal government. Established in 2000, the federal program invests about $295 million annually to recruit and retain top minds in Canada. It supports research in engineering, natural sciences, health sciences, humanities and social sciences.

U of T’s total allotment of research chairs in the program is 315, making it the largest in the country.

“I want to extend my warmest congratulations to U of T's new and renewed research chairs,” said Vivek Goel, U of T's vice-president of research and innovation.

“The work supported by the Canada Research Chairs Program benefits all Canadians by advancing our shared knowledge and fostering innovation.”

The new and renewed research chairs at U of T focus on fields ranging from artificial intelligence, or AI, to studies of immigrant integration and well-being.

Ghassemi, who was named a tier-two chair in machine learning and health, is continuing work she began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during her PhD studies. That includes developing an algorithm to help physicians determine the best possible patient treatments by predicting the onset of acute conditions and the need for intervention. Part of her research involved tagging along with doctors and nurses at a Boston hospital during their morning rounds to get a better sense of their daily routines and determine where AI could offer assistance.

Also a faculty member at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Ghassemi said her research chair will allow her to expand the scope of her research beyond acute cases. In fact, she said her research is increasingly focused not on sickness, but on being in good health.

“The majority of the research we’re able to do looks at people when they’re at their very sickest, and then tries to understand whether there are small differences in outcome that we can have at these very, very sick moments,” she said.

“We don’t really know what it means for a person to be healthy.”

She sees her tier-two chair, a five-year award reserved for “exceptional emerging scholars,” as a vote of confidence in her work.

“It’s recognizing that this area of research is one that Canadians care about,” she said.

Jonathan Kelly (left), an assistant professor at U of T’s Institute for Aerospace Studies, or UTIAS, is putting artificial intelligence to work for a different purpose. The new tier-two chair in collaborative robotics designs the software brain for machines with a wide variety of applications, from self-driving wheelchairs to robotic space explorers.

One focus of Kelly’s research is on warehouse-dwelling “cobots” – short for collaborative robots – that are intended to work side-by-side with people in logistics, packaging and assembly. The machines would be sophisticated enough to respond to a worker’s movements without being told explicitly what to do.

“In a manufacturing scenario, maybe both of you are working on adjusting a bolt on a part, but you need the robot to help support the piece so a bolt can be tightened,” Kelly said.

“We’ve actually looked at trying to program the robot to interpret forces that are applied to the part by the person, because that can guide the machine as to what the person’s intent is.”

Kelly sees cobots in the warehouse as a first step toward a Jetsons-like future where robots are interacting with humans in more unpredictable environments – including on the street or in the home.

The Canada Research Chairs Program, Kelly said, provides an advantage when trying to recruit top research talent.

“We want to attract really great students,” he said, “and when you’re in the pool with the MITs, the Stanfords and Berkeleys and Carnegie Mellons, anything you can do to enhance your visibility is extremely valuable.”

At U of T Mississauga, health geographer Vincent Kuuire (right) said his tier-two chair in immigrant well-being and global health gives him more resources to explore health and well-being among newcomers to Canada.

The assistant professor in geography is presently focused on Greater Toronto’s Eritrean and Nigerian communities, which are among the fastest growing groups in Canada. He relies on both census data and information painstakingly gathered by visiting local churches and grocery stores, where he explains his research purpose and looks for volunteers.

He considers himself a “serial migrant,” having lived in seven different regions of his native Ghana before coming to Canada for graduate studies.

Kuuire said the goal of his research is to better understand Canadian immigration, which has been pursued as a population growth strategy for over three decades in response to an aging population and low fertility rates. In one recent paper in the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, he traces the relationship between an experience of “childhood adversity” – such as physical and sexual trauma before age 15 – to psychosocial health outcomes among immigrants later in life.

“It’s important to be able to understand the factors that are related to their (immigrants) general wellbeing and integration,” Kuuire said.

“Those findings can contribute to broader policies that may enhance or promote a more cohesive Canada.”

Here is the full list of new and renewed Canada Research Chairs:

New Canada Research Chairs (applied fall of 2018)

Jennifer Campos, in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science and University Health Network, tier two in multisensory integration and aging
Sabine Cordes, in the department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and Sinai Health System, tier one in molecular mechanisms of mood and mind
Ken Croitoru, in the department of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Sinai Health System, tier one in inflammatory bowel diseases
William Derry, in the department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in genetic models of human disease
Natalie Enright Jerger, in the department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in computer architecture
Michael Garton, in the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering in the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in synthetic biology
Marzyeh Ghassemi, in the department of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in machine learning for health
Maria Hupfield, in the department of visual studies and the department of English and drama at U of T Mississauga, tier two in transdisciplinary Indigenous arts
Noah Ivers, in the department of family and community medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Women’s College Hospital, tier two in implementation of evidence-based practice
Zhengping Jia, in the department of physiology in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in synaptic plasticity and brain disorders
Brian Kavanagh, in the department of anesthesia in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in acute lung injury
Jonathan Kelly, at University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in collaborative robotics
Heather McFarlane, in the department of cell and systems biology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in plant cell biology
JoAnne McLaurin, in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier one in Alzheimer’s disease therapeutics
Aleixo Muise, in the department of paediatrics and department of biochemistry in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease
Emily Nalder, in the department of occupational science and occupational therapy in the Faculty of Medicine, tier two in resiliency and rehabilitation
Patricia O'Campo, at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Unity Health Toronto, tier one in population health intervention research
Meaghan O'Reilly, in the department of medical biophysics in the Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier two in biomedical ultrasound
Christopher Pearson, in the department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in disease-associated genome instability
Beate Sander, at the Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and University Health Network, tier two in economics of infectious diseases
Bojana Stefanovic, in the department of medical biophysics in the Faculty of Medicine and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, tier one in neuroimaging
Sandra Styres, in the department of curriculum, teaching and learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, tier two in Iethi’nihsténha Ohwentsia’kékha (land), resurgence, reconciliation and the politics of education
Lillian Sung, in the department of paediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in pediatric oncology supportive care
Wendy Ungar, at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in economic evaluation and technology assessment in child health
Lu-Yang Wang, in the department of physiology in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in brain development and disorders
Ding Yuan, in the department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in systems software
Gang Zheng, in the department of medical biophysics in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier one in cancer nanomedicine

Renewals of Canada Research Chairs (applied fall of 2018)

Evdokia Anagnostou, in the department of paediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, tier two in translational therapeutics in autism

Michael Baker, in the department of economics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier one in economics and public policy
Timothy Chan, in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier 2 in novel optimization and analytics in health
Brendan Frey, in the department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier one in machine learning for genome biology and therapeutics
Marney Isaac, in the department of physical and environmental sciences at U of T Scarborough, tier two in agroecosystems and development
Catherine Sabiston, in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, tier two in physical activity and mental health
Bianca Schroeder, at the department of computer and mathematical sciences at U of T Scarborough, tier two in data centre technologies
Wei Yu, in the department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier 1 in information theory and wireless communications

New Canada Research Chairs (applied spring of 2018)

Isabella Caniggia, in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology in the Faculty of Medicine and Sinai Health System, tier one in placental biology in pregnancy and disease
David Curtin, in the department of physics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in theoretical particle physics
Shiphra Ginsburg, in the department of medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Sinai Health System, tier one in health professions education
Tara Gomes, in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and Unity Health Toronto, tier two in drug policy research and evaluation
Annie Huang, in the department of paediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier one in rare childhood brain tumors
Mohit Kapoor, in the department of surgery and department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier one in the mechanisms of joint degeneration
Vincent Kuuire, in the department of geography at U of T Mississauga, tier two in immigrant well-being and global health
Tony Lam, in the department of physiology in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier one in diabetes and obesity
Hyun Lee, in the department of biochemistry in the Faculty of Medicine, tier two in biomolecular phase transitions in cellular repair
Philipp Maass, in the department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two in non-coding disease mechanisms
Julien Muffat, in the department of molecular genetics in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two in stem cell bioengineering and synthetic neuro immunology
Navindra Persaud, in the department of family and community medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Unity Health Toronto, tier two in health justice
Hannes Röst, at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research in the Faculty of Medicine, tier two in mass spectrometry-based personalized medicine
Adam Shlien, in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Faculty of Medicine and the Hospital for Sick Children, tier two in childhood cancer genomics
Valerie Wallace, in the department of ophthalmology and vision sciences in the Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network, tier one in retina regeneration
Wendy Wong, in the department of political science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in global governance and civil society

Renewals of Canada Research Chairs (applied spring of 2018)

Aimy Bazylak, in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in thermofluidics for clean energy
Gustavo Bobonis, in the department of economics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in the political economy of development
Goldie Nejat, in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, tier two in robots for society
Scott Schieman, in the department of sociology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier one in social contexts of health
Dvira Segal, in the department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science, tier two in theoretical chemistry

U of T in focus: The year in pictures

geoff.vendeville — Wed, 19 Dec 2018 05:00:00 +0000

U of T in focus: The year in pictures

geoff.vendeville Wed, 12/19/2018 - 00:00

Cutline

Mason Godkewitsch, 8, makes shadow puppets on the walls of the “cell cave” in the student lounge in the McLennan building on the downtown Toronto campus (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

Topic

Canada Research Chairs

Faculty & Staff

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Research & Innovation

STEM

U of T Mississauga

U of T Scarborough

Undergraduate Students

University College

In the lab, classrooms and at a variety of events on the three University of Toronto campuses, U of T News photographers captured moments that made this year special.

Staff photographer Nick Iwanyshyn selected some of the highlights of 2018.

Axel Guenther, scientific director of the Centre for Microfluidic Systems, inspects microfluidic devices in a cleanroom. This fall, U of T partnered with Canada’s National Research Council to create a national innovation hub focused on microfluidics (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Students line up before making a grand entrance at the second student-led Black graduation ceremony in June at Hart House. In 2017, U of T became the first Canadian university to host a Black graduation (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland looks on during a service of remembrance at the University of Toronto's downtown campus (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Alán Aspuru-Guzik, who came to U of T from Harvard University to become a Canada 150 Research Chair, delivered the keynote address at the University of Toronto-Tsinghua University Entrepreneurship and Innovation Forum in May (photo by Chris Sorensen)

Elspeth Arbow, an undergraduate student with cystic fibrosis recovering from her second double-lung transplant, gets ready for physiotherapy at Toronto General Hospital on May 4 (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

Wearing matching maple leaf socks, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt chat on the main stage at the Elevate technology conference in Toronto, on Sept. 26 (photo by Chris Sorensen)

Your mind isn't playing tricks on you. Students go up the stairs at U of T Scarborough (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Kirsty Duncan, minister of science and sport, watches a demonstration during a Nov. 13 announcement about new and renewed chairs in the Canada Research Chairs program, including 21 at U of T (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Cranes in the colours of the rainbow hang from a window at Hart House's reading room in June to mark Pride (photo by Romi Levine)

Students gather to study and chat at U of T Mississauga (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Enakshi Shah, who earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at U of T, found there were lots of opportunities after graduating (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

A girl adds to a poster about what it means to be a woman in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) at Science Rendezvous on May 12 (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville).

Hundreds of people in a rainbow of colours filled the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport at the University of Toronto for the Indigenous Studies Students' Union's powwow on March 11 (photo by Laura Pedersen)

For Remembrance Day and the 100^th anniversary of the armistice ending the First World War, U of T News staff photographer Nick Iwanyshyn juxtaposed archival campus photos with present-day pictures at the same location. Above, a Sopwith Camel plane appears in front of University College in 1918 (photo illustration includes a U of T Archives photograph)

Members of the U of T community gather outside of University College on Oct. 30 for a vigil for victims of the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh (photo by Romi Levine)

Astrophysicist Matt Russo makes music using the movements of objects in space. The music was featured in Our Musical Universe, an audio-focused planetarium show that debuted at U of T in January (photo by Romi Levine)

Drummers welcome delegates during a Spiritual Opening Ceremony for the Parliament of the World’s Religions around the Sacred Fire in Olympic Park, on Nov. 2 (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Rose Patten, centre, U of T's 34th chancellor, was installed in a ceremony in November (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

At the 25th annual Bring Our Children to Work Day on April 26, kids got to see a soda geyser made of Mentos and cola spraying 12 feet above the courtyard near Lash Miller Chemical Laboratories (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

'Research in action': U of T awarded 21 Canada Research Chairs

noreen.rasbach — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 21:06:04 +0000

'Research in action': U of T awarded 21 Canada Research Chairs

noreen.rasbach Tue, 11/13/2018 - 16:06

Cutline

Kirsty Duncan, the federal science minister, talks to U of T Assistant Professor Angela Schoellig (right) and one of her students (left) about the self-flying drones created in Schoellig's lab (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Chris Sorensen

Topic

Our Community

Canada Research Chairs

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Faculty of Arts & Science

Faculty of Medicine

Institute for Aerospace Studies

Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing

Meric Gertler

Research & Innovation

U of T Mississauga

Flying robots. New breast cancer treatments. Better health outcomes for sexually diverse groups. They are all examples of work by University of Toronto researchers who were today awarded new Canada Research Chairs.

In an announcement made at U of T, Kirsty Duncan, the federal science minister, revealed the university will be home to 21 new and renewed chairs as a result of the program’s most recent competition.

The total value of the funding associated with the U of T chairs is $19 million.

“It’s a source of great pride that the University of Toronto boasts so many great researchers who lead on discoveries that range from the microscopic to the galactic,” said Duncan, who was formerly a U of T researcher herself in health studies.

Created two decades ago, the Canada Research Chairs program is the centrepiece of the federal government’s strategy to make Canada a leader in research and development. The program seeks to attract and retain researchers in engineering and the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities and social sciences.

U of T holds the largest allocation of research chairs in the country, with some 275 chairs awarded to the university and its partner hospitals. Of the 21 new and renewed chairs awarded to U of T, half went to women and nearly 60 per cent supported emerging researchers.

Duncan thanked U of T and other post-secondary institutions for taking meaningful steps to boost the numbers of underrepresented groups in the federal program, citing numbers from the most recent competition.

“U of T supports this initiative wholeheartedly,” said U of T President Meric Gertler, adding the university is implementing the recommendations of an equity, diversity and inclusion working group that was struck last year to evaluate U of T’s research apparatus.

“We hold these principles as central to our public mission and our commitment to academic excellence.”

Duncan also used today’s U of T event to announce a plan to invest $210 million over the next five years to add 285 additional chairs to the federal program. That includes an additional supplement of up to $20,000 per chair to assist researchers who are in the early stages of their careers.

Angela Schoellig is one of 14 researchers from U of T who was awarded a new chair. An assistant professor at the U of T Institute for Aerospace Studies, Schoellig’s work is focused on meshing artificial intelligence and advanced robotics to create self-driving cars, self-flying vehicles and robotic arms, among other things.

“Robotics promises to connect the virtual world with the real world,” Schoellig said at the event.

Schoellig will use the funding from her Canada Research Chair to tackle fundamental problems associated with machine learning and robotics control in devices like this miniature drone (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

There’s just one problem. The real world is an unpredictable place. Self-driving cars, for example, must cope with everything from reckless drivers to jaywalking pedestrians. Hence, Schoellig said the funding associated with her Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning for Robotics and Control will be used to tackle fundamental problems associated with machine learning so robots can better respond to unfamiliar situations.

To give attendees a taste of what goes on in her lab, Schoellig showed a video that included footage of a swarm of miniature drones flying in a vortex – a project created by one of her students.

Vivek Goel, U of T’s vice-president of research and innovation, said Schoellig’s presentation served as a reminder that investing in fundamental research doesn’t only benefit researchers themselves.

“The research is really for the benefit of Canadians and the training opportunities it provides for students,” he said. “In less than two decades, the Canada Research Chairs program has transformed research in this country.”

From left to right: SSHRC President Ted Hewitt, Assistant Professor Angela Schoellig, Federal Science Minister Kirsty Duncan, Professor Rama Khokha, U of T President Meric Gertler and U of T Vice-President, Research and Innovation Vivek Goel (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Rama Khokha’s research certainly qualifies as work that could benefit Canadians. A professor in the Faculty of Medicine and a senior scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Khokha said her Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Adult Tissue Stem Cell Niches will be used to “fuel new ideas, especially around the prevention of breast cancer and how to create novel therapies for women with breast cancer.”

Not all of U of T’s new research chairs are working in laboratories.

With a focus on the sexual and mental health of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, Assistant Professor Daniel Grace was awarded a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Sexual and Gender Minority Health for his work at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health on understanding epidemics related to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Despite significant advancements in prevention and treatment in recent years, Grace said there remains a pressing need for research on how these advancements are actually being adopted in the real world.

“My research is really about understanding the everyday experiences of diverse, gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men – how they take up and use services and information, including persistent barriers to access, as well as the role of health-care providers,” Grace said.

He also studies the social and economic drivers of what he dubs a “mental health crisis” among sexual and gender diverse groups, and said the funds associated with his chair would also support collaborations with community groups to improve access to sexual and mental health information and services.

“I’m deeply committed to research in action,” he said, “asking questions that have real implications for the communities that I work with on the ground.”

In total, the federal government invested $156 million in 187 new and renewed research chairs through its most recent competition. They were awarded to 49 institutions across the country.

New U of T Canada Research Chairs

Brian Ciruna, professor, Faculty of Medicine, department of molecular genetics and Hospital for Sick Children – Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Developmental Genetics and Disease Modelling
Alan Davidson, professor, Faculty of Medicine, department of molecular genetics - Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Bacteriophage-Based Technologies
Daniel Grace, assistant professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health - Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Sexual and Gender Minority Health
Rayjean J. Hung, associate professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Mount Sinai Hospital – Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Integrative Molecular Epidemiology
Marc Johnson, associate professor, U of T Mississauga, department of biology – Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Urban Environmental Science
Rama Khokha, professor, Faculty of Medicine, department of medical biophysics and University Health Network – Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Adult Tissue Stem Cell Niches
Carmen Logie, associate professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work – Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Global Health Equity and Social Justice with Marginalized Populations
Dana Philpott, professor, Faculty of Medicine, department of immunology – Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Microbe-host Interactions in Intestinal Homeostasis
Martine Puts, associate professor, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing – Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Care of Frail Older Adults
Pierre Savard, professor, Faculty of Arts & Science, department of physics – Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Experimental High Energy Physics
Angela Schoellig, assistant professor, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, U of T Institute for Aerospace Studies – Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning for Robotics and Control
Daniel Simpson, assistant professor, Faculty of Arts & Science, department of statistical sciences – Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Bayesian Spatial Modelling
Lisa Strug, associate professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Hospital for Sick Children – Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Genome Data Sciences
Mei Zhen, professor, Faculty of Medicine, department of molecular genetics and Mount Sinai Hospital – Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Neural Circuit Development and Function

Renewals of U of T Canada Research Chairs

Richard Bazinet, associate professor, Faculty of Medicine, department of nutritional sciences – Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Brain Lipid Metabolism
Daniel Durocher, professor, Faculty of Medicine, department of molecular genetics and Mount Sinai Hospital – Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Molecular Genetics of the DNA Damage Response
Jason Fish, associate professor, Faculty of Medicine, department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology and University Health Network – Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Vascular Cell and Molecular Biology
Patrick Gunning, professor, U of T Mississauga, department of chemical and physical sciences – Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Medicinal Chemistry
Elizabeth Johnson, associate professor, U of T Mississauga, department of psychology – Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Spoken Language Acquisition
Rosemary Martino, professor, Faculty of Medicine, department of speech-language pathology – Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Swallowing Disorders
Piero Triverio, associate professor, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, department of electrical and computer engineering – Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Computational Electromagnetics