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Jovana Drinjakovic

Jovana Drinjakovic is a science writer with a background in cell and developmental biology. After completing her PhD in Cambridge (the old one) and a postdoc at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Jovana decided to switch gears and enrolled into a journalism course at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs. Her writing appeared in the Globe and Mail, the National Post, Dallas Morning News and U of T Magazine. Most days Jovana writes about discoveries at U of T’s Donnelly Centre, where she works as a communication specialist.

Posts by: Jovana

Canadian immunotherapy holds promise for patients with brain cancer

In 2015, Jason Moffat walked into Sheila Singh’s office at McMaster University and gave her a small vial of clear liquid. The vial contained ten milliliters, or two teaspoons, of an injectable antibody, created in Moffat’s lab in Toronto, with a street value of around $100,000. “You better be careful with that,” Singh remembers Moffat […]

Could stem cells be enlisted to battle COVID-19?

Earlier this month, Chinese media reported that doctors in Yunnan cured a patient from coronavirus with a stem cell transplant. But did they really and do stem cells actually hold promise against the new virus wreaking havoc across the world? The global pandemic has sent scientists racing to find a cure. There are more than […]

Study reveals large differences at the molecular level between stem cells grown on different biomaterials

This article was first published here. It is reprinted with permission of the Donnelly Centre. Depending on the type of surface they adhere to in a lab dish, stem cells can exhibit vast differences at the molecular level with implications for research and therapy. The genes required for growth and survival of stem cells are […]

How manmade liver pieces could help patients with cystic fibrosis

As the most common fatal genetic disorder, cystic fibrosis (CF) has been at the forefront of genetic research since the gene responsible for it was discovered 40 years ago. But with more than 300 known disease-causing mutations, or variants of the CF gene, disease severity and treatment options can vary a great deal from one […]

How CRISPR is democratizing genetic testing

Scientists have enlisted the gene editing tool CRISPR in a hunt for cancer causing mutations, releasing into the open valuable data that could help doctors better advise their patients. A new study lists almost 4,000 individual “misspellings,” or variants, in the “breast cancer gene” BRCA1 and how likely each one is to cause disease. The […]