Taming the unruly immune system: the risky stem cell transplant that changed the fate of some Canadian MS patients – Day 2 at TMM 2017

by Hamideh Emrani | Nov 16, 2017

  This year, Dr. Harold Atkins was honored with the Till & McCulloch Award. He and Dr. Mark Freedman led a clinical trial that used stem cells to reset the immune system as a treatment strategy for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and a few other neurodegenerative...

Right Turn: Dateline Mont-Tremblant – TMM 2017

by Stacey Johnson | Nov 10, 2017

November 5-8, 2017, Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. The ski resort town of Mont-Tremblant was awash in rain when many of us arrived on Sunday, but the warm and welcoming Fairmont Hotel made up for Nature’s inhospitality. By all measures, the parts we could control were very...

Ingenious methods to engineer cells to treat diabetes – Day 1 TMM 2017

by Hamideh Emrani | Nov 9, 2017

  Another interesting talk, on the first morning of the Canadian Till & McCulloch Meetings, was from Dr. Bruce Verchere who spoke about possible routes to prevent graft rejection in the case of human β-cell and islet cell transplants for diabetes through...

Novel technique used to study organ development – Day 1 of TMM 2017

by Hamideh Emrani | Nov 8, 2017

This year’s Till & McCulloch Meetings began with a rainy day on the beautiful mountainside in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. The morning talks started off with Dr. Matthias Lütolf. His lab at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, (EPFL) works on strategies to...

Seeing isn’t always believing: a cautionary tale when trying to restore vision – TMM 2017

by Guest | Nov 7, 2017

Samantha is a PhD Candidate studying neural stem cell biology in Dr. Derek van der Kooy’s lab at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on neural stem cell hierarchies in the developing mammalian brain, and activation of quiescent stem cells in the adult...

Right Turn: Considering a career in science or engineering?

by Stacey Johnson | Nov 3, 2017

Did you notice surprisingly young-looking employees at your workplace this week? If you’re suffering from that getting old syndrome where that kid at the cash looks 12, but is actually a 27-year-old mother of two, then you may be relieved to know that your eyes...

Engineered stem cell platform gives new insights into beginnings of human development

by Guest | Nov 1, 2017

Ann Perry is senior communications officer at Medicine by Design at the University of Toronto. She previously held strategic communications roles in the Ontario government and not-for-profit sector, and was an editorial writer, reporter and editor at the Toronto Star....

Right Turn: Unwrapping bubble boy disease

by Stacey Johnson | Oct 27, 2017

Before Jake Gyllenhaal starred in the 2001 comedy Bubble Boy, there was a 1976 version starring John Travolta called The Boy In The Plastic Bubble. Both movies were inspired by the lives of David Vetter, who had severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), and Ted DeVita,...

Screening and providing effective treatment for cancer. Are we there yet?

by Hamideh Emrani | Oct 24, 2017

At 2:20 am, I gave up my quest to try to sleep and decided to work on my post. When I opened my laptop, a picture of sweet Y, a really supportive former labmate and truly kind friend, was smiling at me. I had forgotten to close my Facebook page and a friend had shared...

Right Turn: Genes are this season’s hottest trend

by Stacey Johnson | Oct 20, 2017

In what feels like back-to-back news, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two gene therapies for cancer. The actual announcements happened seven weeks apart, but for patients, manufacturers, investors and shareholders, it’s like Christmas – over...