Right Turn: Rare sighting of Macareindeer captured on video before holidays

by Stacey Johnson | Dec 23, 2016

Our story begins in a wondrous land called Torona, far from the North Pole, where mythical creatures – half human, half reindeer – have dedicated their adult years to the admirable pursuit of helping to treat patients around the world with “regenerative medicines,”...

Inaugural Medicine by Design Symposium – Engineering progress in regenerative medicine

by Nicole Kuchinsky | Dec 21, 2016

On November 28 local and international leaders of the regenerative medicine (RM) community gathered at the MaRS Centre in Toronto for the first ever Medicine by Design (MbD) Symposium. The event marked the first year of the MbD program at the University of Toronto (U...

Right Turn: The elements of a great story (courtesy of OIRM’s SciComms Workshop)

by Laine Bodnar | Dec 16, 2016

I joined graduate students and early-career researchers at OIRM’s first Science Communications Workshop, held November 24, 2016 in Toronto. Expert communicators from a variety of backgrounds provided a valuable introduction to the essentials of successful science...

Understanding how to hone your story for media – Tips from an expert

by Laine Bodnar | Dec 13, 2016

Last month, the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine (OIRM) hosted its first Science Communications Workshop. Expert speakers, who included journalists, communicators and social media specialists, educated the mostly graduate students and early-career...

Right Turn: WSCS has something for everyone, under the Florida sun

by Stacey Johnson | Dec 9, 2016

Have you been to the World Stem Cell Summit before? This meeting bills itself as the “original, translation-focused global meeting of stakeholders” that brings together leading scientists and clinicians, investors, customers, legal experts, funders, regulators and...

Crazy for CRISPR!

by Sara M. Nolte | Dec 5, 2016

On November 15th, my social media pages exploded with posts and comments regarding the latest news about how the gene-editing ‘CRISPR-Cas9’ technology had been used in the first human patient. The article, published by Nature, was entitled “CRISPR gene-editing tested...

Right Turn: Every damn swan – a note on the scientific hypothesis

by Guest | Dec 2, 2016

Malgosia Pakulska is a research associate in the Shoichet lab at the University of Toronto and a science writer for Research2Reality, a blog designed to engage the public in Canadian research. Malgosia wants to educate, entertain, and show people what science is...

Insights from CGTW16 – Part 3: Clinical trials, health economics and regulatory affairs

by Guest | Dec 1, 2016

Amin Adibi is a biomedical engineer and a research assistant at the University of British Columbia. His areas of interest include cell manufacturing and bioprocess optimization, clinical translation of cellular therapies, health outcomes and cost-effectiveness...

Right Turn: A proliferating list of popular podcasts

by Stacey Johnson | Nov 25, 2016

Podcasts have been around since the 1980s and with 250,000 unique podcasts in more than 100 languages, according to Apple, you can probably find one that covers any topic you care to search for. Back in 2014, Lisa Willemse encouraged Signals’ readers to tune in to The...

Insights from CGTW16 – Part 2: scale-up challenges and closed systems

by Guest | Nov 23, 2016

Amin Adibi is a biomedical engineer and a research assistant at the University of British Columbia. His areas of interest include cell manufacturing and bioprocess optimization, clinical translation of cellular therapies, health outcomes and cost-effectiveness...