Turning Back the Clock on Aging Muscles?
A study co-published in Nature Medicine this week by University of Toronto researcher Penney Gilbert has determined a stem cell based method for restoring strength to damaged skeletal muscles of the elderly.
Skeletal muscles are some of the most important muscles in the body, supporting functions such as sitting, standing, blinking and swallowing. In aging individuals, the function of these muscles significantly decreases.
“You lose fifteen percent of muscle mass every single year after the age of 75, a trend that is irreversible,” cites Gilbert, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) and the Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research (CCBR). The study originates from Gilbert’s postdoctoral research at Stanford University’s Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology.
Through tracing the signaling pathways of the cells, the researchers – including lead author, Professor Helen Blau, and postdoctoral researcher Ben Cosgrove – determined that during aging, a subpopulation of stem cells begin to express a modification of a protein that inhibits their ability to grow and make new stem cells.
“But if we instead treated those cells outside the body with a drug that prevented that protein modification from occurring, in combination with culturing the cells on something soft that is reminiscent of soft skeletal tissue, like a hydrogel biomaterial, the combination allowed the aged cells to grow and make more copies of themselves,” Gilbert describes.
The rejuvenated cell cultures were then transplanted into injured and aged tissues, with remarkable results: the transplanted cells returned strength to the damaged and aged tissues to levels matching a young, healthy state.
“We’ve now shown that muscle stem cells progressively lose their stem cell function during aging,” Cosgrove said in a statement. “This treatment does not turn the clock back on dysfunctional stem cells in the aged population. Rather, it stimulates stem cells from old muscle tissues that are still functional to begin dividing and self-renewing.”
“An important thing to stress here is that this is not a panacea for aging in general,” warns Dr. Blau. The stem cell treatment would only be used to repair localized defects in relatively small muscles found in the hip area, the throat, or the muscles in the eye.
One of the significant challenges to elderly individuals who receive hip transplants, for instance, is the challenge of repairing skeletal muscles around the hip joint injured during surgery. The study points to the potential for future post-surgery therapies that could leave elderly hip replacement patients spry in a fraction of the time.
“Even a small, localized transplantation could have a huge impact on quality of life,” Blau argues, and adds, “One big advantage is that because the cells would come from the person’s own muscles there would be no problem with an immune response.”
“It’s a really new, exciting field,” says Gilbert, who argues that the muscle stem cell field, which only began to isolate muscle stem cells for study within the last five years, is especially “wide open” in Toronto where “there are really impassioned clinician researchers who are interested in restoring strength in aging and disease.
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Preparing Future Medical Leaders
Advocate, actor, comedian and author Rob Hawke led a Dynamic Speaking for Leadership workshop for students in the Leadership in Medicine Elective (LiME) on February 4.
Hawke — who is an alumnus of Second City — is a respected patient advocate who draws upon his own experience as a cancer patient. His one-man show, “Norm versus Cancer: A Terminally Funny One Man Show,” was nominated for a 2011 Canadian Comedy Award.
One of LiME’s central messages to students by bringing in Hawke is that they could learn about being leaders in medicine from other professionals — not just other doctors.
Physicians who are leaders and role models teach students every day at U of T, but other professionals can provide a fresh perspective. As the field of medicine becomes more interprofessional and patient-centred, it is important medical students learn from individuals in other fields. Hawke, who has worked with medical professionals in a variety of setting for a number of years now, understands this.
In the workshop, Hawke and the students began with reviewing key concepts in public speaking, including the need for effective leaders to convey their ideas confidently. The workshop allowed participants to practice their public speaking skills through group games and activities in addition to individual solo mini-speeches. Students received helpful critiques following their speech from both Hawke and the group.
The workshop is part of LiME — a preclerkship elective run by second year medical students for their first and second year peers. The elective focuses on developing leadership skills through a variety of workshops, as well as small and large group seminars and lectures. This is the second year in a row Hawke has spoken to LiME students.
“This session was the perfect start to LiME. Rob is engaging, friendly and knowledgeable, and he was able to create an environment that encouraged participation from students who have not worked with each other previously. It was an effective icebreaker and valuable lesson in personal development of leadership skills,” said organizer Jennifer Hunter.
“The activities really pushed me out of my comfort zone. It was really good, we don’t get pushed out of our comfort zone that often,” said Liza Abraham, first year medical student,
Another student, second year Davis Holmes, was also glad he attended Hawke’s workshop. “His feedback was very insightful and clearly based on a wealth of experience,” said Holmes.
For more information about the Leadership in Medicine Elective, contact lime.uoft@gmail.com.
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Dean's Message: Achieving International Leadership and Engagement
The Vision for this Faculty is clear: “International leadership in improving health through innovation in research and education.” To achieve international leadership, we cannot simply wait for the world to sit up and take notice of the important work of our faculty, students and staff. At all levels, our Faculty takes action to collaborate with communities locally and globally by sharing our knowledge and innovations.
The rationale for international engagement is based on our experience that strategic partnerships with colleagues around the world enhance our education and research endeavours through the opportunity to exchange and share new knowledge and insights. These bilateral and multilateral collaborations build synergistic research and learning networks, provide exciting cultural opportunities for our students and can attract new resources — all aligned with mutual commitment to improving health.
Our Faculty currently enjoys sustained and meaningful relationships across the globe, notably in Australia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East and South Asia. These have included long-standing partnerships in Ethiopia with Addis Ababa University, Moi University in Kenya, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, Cambridge University in the UK and in China with Fudan University, Peking University Health Sciences Centre and Hong Kong University. Outreach visits and hosting delegations from many foreign institutions have built and strengthened our presence in the European Union, Australia, China and Brazil. We are establishing long-term institutional commitments that will give our faculty members, students and programs a solid foundation for success.
In recent months, delegations from our Faculty have visited with colleagues abroad to develop and strengthen these strategic partnerships. Allow me to quickly highlight some of our recent activities:
Brazil — On the heels of three major research meetings co-hosted by University of São Paulo (USP) and the University of Toronto that focused on neurosciences, oncology and cardiovascular health, a delegation led by Deputy Dean Sarita Verma visited USP last fall to review their undergraduate medical education curriculum and medical program. We were approached by USP because they wanted to measure themselves against the “gold standard” and turned to U of T Medicine for our advice and insights to modernize their school’s curriculum. Our landmark report has led to many new collaborative projects with USP and has deepened the relationship between our two institutions, which will only expand in the coming years.
China — Last November, I led my fourth delegation to China to continue strengthening our relationships there. Among the highlights: we met with officials from the Health Human Resources Development Center (HHRDC) of the Chinese Ministry of Health to discuss developing a health leadership program. We also developed specific plans for collaboration with Peking Union Medical College and Shantou University Medical College and built upon our close relationship with Hong Kong University. Several of our Departments (Family and Community Medicine, Molecular Genetics, Immunology, the Donnelly Centre) are deeply engaged in nurturing existing partnerships in China where the needs for health care professional education and capacity-building in health and biomedical research are tremendous.
Australia — Following my trip to China, I had the opportunity to visit with colleagues at the University of Sydney last November. That was shortly followed by Professor Alison Buchan, Vice Dean Research and International Relations, who conducted meetings at the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne. Both of these visits were important steps in identifying opportunities for collaboration and expanding current collaborations into lasting relationships. We are now identifying point-people who can further investigate these opportunities and have tentative plans to return to Australia with a delegation of our faculty members in September of this year.
These are just three examples in a sea of extensive international leadership involving our faculty, staff and students. Our students are traveling and learning, undertaking research projects in global health and disciplines spanning the four CIHR pillars. By establishing our partnerships across the globe and strategically developing sustained and successful international partnerships, we are establishing the lasting relationships necessary to realize our vision for international leadership. I want to thank all of the members of our Faculty who are making this possible, particularly Alison Buchan and Sarita Verma.
Catharine Whiteside
Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Vice-Provost, Relations with Health Care Institutions
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“On-demand” 3D micro gels offer new potential for cell research, the future of personalized medicine
Stars, diamonds, circles.
Rather than your average bowl of Lucky Charms, these are three-dimensional cell cultures generated by an exciting new digital microfluidics platform, the results of which have been published in Nature Communications this week by researchers at the University of Toronto. The tool, which can be used to study cells in cost-efficient, three-dimensional micro gels, may hold the key to personalized medicine applications in the future.
“We already know that the microenvironment can greatly influence cell fate,” says Irwin A. Eydelnant, recent doctoral graduate from IBBME and first author of the publication. “The important part of this study is that we’ve developed a tool that will allow us to investigate the sensitivity of cells to their 3D environment.”
“Everyone wants to do three-dimensional (3D) cell culture,” explains Aaron Wheeler, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Bioanalytical Chemistry at the Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME), the Department of Chemistry, and the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (DCCBR) at the University of Toronto. “Cells grown in this manner share much more in common with living systems than the standard two-dimensional (2D) cell culture format,” says Wheeler, corresponding author of the study.
But more naturalistic, 3D cell cultures are a challenge to grow. “The reagents are expensive, the materials are inconvenient for automation, and 3D matrices break down upon repeated handling,” explains Wheeler, named an Inventor of the Year by the University of Toronto in 2012.
Eydelnant was able to address these difficulties by adapting a digital microfluidics platform first created in the Wheeler lab. Cells, caught up in a water-based hydrogel material, are gently flowed across a small field that, on a screen, looks much like a tiny chessboard. The cells are strategically manipulated by a small electric field until they flow across a sticky cutout shape on the top plate of the system, made from indium in oxide, and become fixed.
“When we grew [kidney] cells in these micro gels, the cultures grew into hollow spheres within three to four days,” Eydelnant claims, “very much like a primitive kidney.”
The tool allows a great deal of flexibility in terms of the number of different kinds of cells that can be incorporated into the shapes, as well as the shapes and size of the microenvironments: whimsical, like the stars, diamond and circles of Lucky Charms, or they can be designed to mimic living 3D niches, offering researchers a glimpse into how these factors all affect cell fate decisions.
What’s more, according to Eydelnant, the platform permits researchers to run, “32 experiments at the same time, automatically, and all on something the size of a credit card.”
“[This new] system allows for hands-free assembly of sub-microlitre, three-dimensional microgels. Each gel is individually addressable, fluid exchange is gentler than macro-scale alternatives, and reagent use is reduced more than 100-fold,” Wheeler says.
“We believe that this new tool will make 3D cell culture a more attractive and accessible format for cell biology research,” he adds.
Although the researchers can foresee numerous possible applications for this platform, the team is “particularly excited” about its potential for personalized medicine.
Wheeler argues, “We may be able to collect small tissue samples from patients, distribute them into 3D gels on digital microfluidic devices, and screen for conditions to identify individually tailored therapies. This is in the ‘dream’ stages for now, but we think the methods described here will be useful for these types of applications in the future.”
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Recent Appointments
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Academy Director, Scarborough Academy of Medicine
Dr. Caroline Chan has been appointed Director, MD Program, Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Integrated Health (SAMIH) effective May 13, 2024, for a five-year term.
The Academy Director is responsible for academic and administrative matters pertaining to the Academy and its educational programs at SAMIH and will work collaboratively with the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus and at Scarborough Health Network (SHN) to advance undergraduate medical education in Scarborough.
At SHN, Chan is the simulation co-lead for faculty development of emergency physicians as well as clinical operations research co-lead. She is an MD Council member at SHN emergency department and faculty mentor. She has taught medical education at various levels from undergraduate medicine to faculty development. In 2023, she received the DFCM Early Career Excellence in Teaching Emergency Medicine and DFCM Excellence in Quality Improvement in Emergency Medicine Award in 2022.
Chan graduated from U of T's MD Program in 2010. She completed her family medicine residency at SHN before doing an emergency medicine fellowship at Western University before returning to Scarborough for a point-of-care ultrasound fellowship.
Executive Assistant to the Dean
Marcella Fiordimondo will join the Office of the Dean, Temerty Medicine, as the Executive Assistant to the Dean starting February 1, 2024.
With close to two decades of experience at Temerty Medicine, Marcella brings a wealth of administrative expertise and operational proficiency to our team. She has held key roles supporting several decanal portfolios including PGME, Post MD Education, Inclusion & Diversity, and most recently, the Vice Dean, Strategy & Operations.
Interim Chair and Graduate Chair, Department of Physical Therapy
Professor Kara Patterson has been appointed Interim Chair and Graduate Chair, Department of Physical Therapy, from January 1 to June 30, 2024, or until a new chair is appointed. She takes over from Professor Susan Jaglal, who concluded her term as Chair on December 31, 2023.
Professor Patterson received her PhD in Rehabilitation Science from the University of Toronto in 2010, having earned her master’s degree in 2006. She joined U of T in 2013 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020. She is also a Senior Scientist at KITE – Toronto Rehabilitation Institute at UHN.
Chair, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Professor Kellie Murphy has been appointed Chair of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology for a five-year term beginning January 1, 2024.
Murphy is a Professor and Vice Chair of Research & Innovation in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Temerty Medicine and is cross-appointed to the Institute of Health Policy Management & Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She is Head of Clinical Research for the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Mount Sinai Hospital and a Clinician Scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute.
Murphy obtained an MD at the University of Wisconsin - Madison before completing her residency in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed a fellowship in maternal fetal medicine at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and an MSc in epidemiology at the Graduate School of Public Health of Columbia University. She completed additional maternal-fetal medicine residency training at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. As a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, Murphy is internationally recognized for her life-saving antenatal corticosteroid therapy research.
Director, Integrated Physician Scientist Training Program
Professor Nicola Jones has been re-appointed Director, Integrated Physician Scientist Training Program for a second five-year term.
Jones was first appointed to the role in 2018, with responsibility for recruiting, training, retaining, and sustaining the next generation of physician scientists across the continuum of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Medical Education in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. The Director of IPSTP leads the MD/PhD program and the Royal College of Physician and Surgeons of Canada Clinician Investigator Program and provides academic oversight for the Comprehensive Research Experience for Medical Students (CREMS) program and the Graduate Diploma program.
She is a Professor of Paediatrics and Physiology at the University of Toronto, Senior Scientist in the Cell Biology Program and staff physician in the Division of GI/Hepatology and Nutrition at SickKids. Jones is also the Director of Education for the McLaughlin Centre whose goal is to advance genomic medicine through research and education, and is the inaugural Founder and Director, of the CIHR-funded Training the Next Generation of Researchers in GI and Liver (TRIANGLE).
Chair, Decanal Promotions Committee
Professor Upton Allen has been appointed Chair of the Decanal Promotions Committee effective September 1, 2023. Allen is a Professor in the Department of Paediatrics and Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), where he is also a Senior Associate Scientist in the Research Institute. In addition to being a general infectious diseases specialist, he is actively involved in clinical and research activities relating to immunocompromised patients, notably those who have undergone organ and stem cell transplantation. He leads research studies addressing different aspects of COVID-19 including vaccine responses and the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among African Canadians.
The Governing Council has approved the appointment of Trevor Young as Vice-President and Provost for a five-year term, effective January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2028. Professor Young — an internationally recognized scholar on bipolar disorder and the molecular basis of mood disorders — is currently the Dean of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and Vice-Provost, Relations with Health Care Institutions at the University of Toronto.
Interim Dean of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine
Professor Patricia Houston has been appointed Interim Dean of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine from September 1 to December 31, 2023, while Professor Trevor Young is on administrative leave prior to taking up the role of Vice-President & Provost as of January 1, 2024. Houston is currently the Vice Dean, Medical Education and a Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine. She has served in a number of leadership roles both in the University and at St. Michael’s Hospital (Unity Health Toronto).
University Professor Daniel Drucker is one of three new University Professors appointed for 2023. The title is the University’s highest and most distinguished academic rank. The University recognizes unusual scholarly achievement and pre-eminence in a particular field of knowledge through this designation. The number of such appointments does not generally exceed two per cent of the tenured faculty. Its very exclusivity stands to underline the highly prestigious nature of the University Professor designation.
Chair, Department of Medical Imaging
Professor Michael N. Patlas has been appointed Chair of the Department of Medical Imaging for a five -year term beginning July 1, 2023. He succeeds Professor Alan Moody who completes his second term as Chair on June 30, 2023.
Patlas joins the University of Toronto from McMaster University, where he currently serves as Professor and inaugural Director of the Division of Emergency / Trauma Radiology in the Department of Radiology. He is also a radiologist for the Ontario Breast Screening Program and a staff radiologist at Hamilton General Hospital. An emergency and abdominal radiologist, Patlas is internationally recognized for his research.
Chair, Department of Medical Biophysics
Professor Laurie Ailles has been appointed Chair of the Department of Medical Biophysics for a five-year term beginning July 1, 2023. She succeeds Professor Thomas Kislinger who completes his term as Chair on June 30, 2023.
Ailles is an Associate Professor and Chair of Admissions in the Department of Medical Biophysics. She is a Senior Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC), UHN where she chairs the Princess Margaret Cancer Biobank steering committee and is a member of the PMCC Senior Advisory Group. Her cross-disciplinary cancer research program centres around patient-derived tissues and models, which have led to the establishment of resources that are now shared with laboratories around the world.
Professor Jen Gommerman has been appointed Chair of the Department of Immunology for a 5-year term beginning October 1, 2023. She succeeds Professor JC Zúñiga-Pflücker who completes his second term as Chair on September 30, 2023.
Gommerman received her PhD in Immunology from the University of Toronto in 1998 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School in 2000. She worked as a staff scientist in industry at Biogen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before joining the University of Toronto as an Assistant Professor in 2003. She was promoted to Professor in 2015, and has previously served as the department’s Associate Chair of Graduate Studies, and Acting Chair.
Professor Gommerman, who currently holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Tissue-Specific Immunity, has (co)authored more than 110 journal articles and has received grants from CFI, CIHR and the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, among others. Her research is in the field of Neuroimmunology - how the nervous and immune systems interact in both health and disease.
Acting Chair, Dept. of Nutritional Sciences
Professor Richard Bazinet has been appointed Acting Chair of the Department of Nutritional Sciences from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, while Professor Deborah O’Connor is on administrative leave.
Bazinet received his PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Toronto in 2003 and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (Brain Physiology and Metabolism Section). He joined the Department of Nutritional Sciences as Assistant Professor in 2006, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2012 and Professor in 2020. He currently serves as the Department’s Associate Chair, Research and Innovation, and holds the Canada Research Chair in Brain Lipid Metabolism.
Dr. Molly Zirkle has been appointed as the Director, SAMIH Medical Education Expansion as of June 1, 2023
The Director, SAMIH Medical Education Expansion will work collaboratively with internal U of T partners and with hub hospital leadership in developing and implementing plans for all academic and administrative matters regarding the medical educational programs (MD/PGME) associated with SAMIH.
Zirkle graduated cum laude from Yale University School of Medicine and completed her residency at the Harvard Combined Otolaryngology Training Program. She is a staff surgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital and an Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Toronto. Zirkle holds a Master’s in Education from OISE and served as Director of the FitzGerald Academy from 2010-2021. Currently, she is the Acting Director of Career Advising Services for the MD program. Zirkle has an appreciation of the shaping influences of medical education on future doctors and strives to create a constructive and welcoming space for all learners, patients, and colleagues.
Chair, Dept. of Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences
Professor Peter Kertes has been appointed Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences for a five-year term beginning July 1, 2023.
Kertes is a Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences and an Associate member in the Institute of Medical Science at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. He is an affiliate scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute and served as Ophthalmologist-in-Chief at the John and Liz Tory Eye Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre from 2010 to 2021. He also holds appointments at The Hospital for Sick Children and Kensington Health. Kertes obtained his MD at McGill University before completing residency at the University of Ottawa and a 2-year vitreo-retinal surgical fellowship at Louisiana State University in New Orleans. He also holds an AB in molecular biology from Princeton University.
Chair, Dept. of Pharmacology & Toxicology
Professor Ali Salahpour has been appointed Chair and Graduate Chair of the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, for a five-year term, effective May 1, 2023.
Salahpour is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and has served as Interim Chair since July 1, 2022. He previously served as both Associate Chair and Acting Chair. He completed his BSc and PhD in Biochemistry at University of Montreal, and a post-doctoral fellowship at Duke University.
Medical Education Black Health Theme Lead
Professor Mireille Norris has a been appointed Medical Education Black Health Theme Lead effective March 1.
Norris is an Internist and Geriatrician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is the Education Director for the Sunnybrook Hospitalist Training program which she created and implemented at Sunnybrook in 2005. She was appointed Faculty Lead for Black and Indigenous medical learners by the department of medicine and is also the site lead for postgraduate geriatric medicine at Sunnybrook.
Associate Dean, Learner Affairs
Professor Tony Pignatiello has been reappointed Associate Dean, Learner Affairs for a five-year term effective February 1, 2023.
Pignatiello was appointed as Associate Dean, Health Professions Student Affairs in in 2018. In 2021, in his expanded role as Associate Dean, Learner Affairs, Pignatiello assumed responsibility for oversight of an integrated Office of Learner Affairs (OLA). Pignatiello is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. For the last 20 years, Pignatiello has also been the Medical Director of the Provincial Pediatric Tele-Mental Health Services with the Ministry of Health, administered out of the Hospital for Sick Children where he is on staff.
Executive Director, Advancement, Temerty Medicine and AVP, Advancement Relations with Health Care Institutions
Darina Landa, Executive Director, Advancement at Temerty Medicine, has been named the inaugural Assistant Vice President, Advancement Relations with Health Care Institutions for the University.
As Executive Director, Advancement for Temerty Medicine and AVP, Advancement Relations with Health Care Institutions, Landa will continue to lead Temerty Medicine’s ambitious advancement programs, while taking on increasing responsibility for management of the University’s relations with TAHSN partner foundations, providing leadership and professional advice to senior advancement and other University leaders with respect to hospital foundation relationships and engagement strategies.
Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology
Professor Laura Dawson has been appointed Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology, effective January 1, 2023.
Dawson is a Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology and the Institute of Medical Science. She is a radiation oncologist and upper gastrointestinal cancer multi-disciplinary site lead at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, UHN. She is a member of the palliative radiation oncology program. She previously served as a radiation oncologist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dawson obtained her MD at the University of Toronto before completing a fellowship in conformal radiation at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is the immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and previously served as the society’s President.