Emanuel Nazareth is a PhD student working with Professor Peter Zandstra
University of Toronto researchers have developed a method that can rapidly screen human stem cells and better control what they will become – a technology that could be used for regenerative medicine and drug development.
The findings are published in this week’s issue of the journal Nature Methods.
“The work allows for a better understanding of how to turn stem cells into clinically useful cell types more efficiently,” said Emanuel Nazareth, a PhD student at U of T’s Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME). The research comes out of the lab of Professor Peter Zandstra, Canada Research Chair in Bioengineering at U of T.
Professor Peter Zandstra is the 2013 Till & McCulloch Award recipient
A Canadian technology that has the potential to boost the number of stem cells given to patients undergoing transplants of the blood-forming system has been recognized as the most influential stem cell research paper authored by a Canadian in the past year.
The University of Toronto’s Peter Zandstra is the recipient of the prestigious 2013 Till & McCulloch Award in recognition of this contribution to global stem cell research.
Zandstra will accept the award and present a lecture entitled “Engineering pluripotent stem cell derived microtissues” as part of the Till & McCulloch Meetings, Canada’s premier stem cell event.
David Lee and Nika Shakiba open the StemCellTalks conference (Photo by Mario Moscovici)
What does a discussion among approximately 140 high school students, volunteers, teachers and world-leading scientists on the subject of stem cells sound like?
Oddly personal, important and revolutionary.
“A student was saying that one of his friends died of leukemia and asked whether cord blood would have made a difference,” relates Biomedical Engineering PhD student David Lee, co-organizer of StemCellTalks, an invite-only conference for high school students held at the MaRS Auditorium last week.
Lee joined fellow Biomedical Engineering PhD student Nika Shakiba in organizing the annual event. A collaborative effort between the national volunteer science organization Let’s Talk Science and the Stem Cell Network, the one-day symposium highlights important areas in the science and ethics of stem cells to an audience of students hand-picked by their high school science teachers.
Professor Peter Zandstra is chief scientific officer for the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine
An unassuming box sits on a table. One part is clear plastic, allowing you to see the empty chamber inside. One day, that empty chamber may hold a cell colony or even tissue generated from a patient’s own body, to help diagnose or treat diseases such as cancer.
It’s just one of many cutting-edge devices on display at the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering’s Tomorrow’s Technology Showcase, which was part of IBBME’s recent 50th anniversary celebration.
The showcase highlighted an area of major growth for the healthcare industry in years to come: regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine is a field of research to restore function in the body through the regeneration of cells, tissues and organs.
