Gordon M. Keller, PhD
Director, McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine
Senior Scientist, Division of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology
Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI)
Research Interests
- Lineage specific differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells in culture
- Development of the hematopoietic, vascular, and cardiac lineages from ES cells
- Commitment of ES cells to endoderm-derived lineages
- Growth and differentiation of human embryonic stem cells
Mansoor Husain, MD, FRCPC
Director, Heart and Stroke Richard Lewar Centre for Excellence
Senior Scientist, Division of Cellular & Molecular Biology
Director, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute
Research Interests
- Molecular bases of vascular and cardiac diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, arrhythmias and heart failure
- Identifying therapeutic targets involved in the pathophysiology of mouse models of human cardiovascular diseases
- Cardiovascular gene regulation and pathobiology
- Optimizing in vitro systems for differentiation of functional smooth muscle cells and cardiac myocytes from embryonic stem cells
John E. Dick, PhD
Senior Scientist, Division of Cellular & Molecular Biology
Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI)
Research Interests
- Cancer stem cells: characterization and potential therapeutic targets
- Biology of normal and leukemia stem cells
- NOD/SCID mouse as a tool to study the development of the human blood system
Michael G. Fehlings, MD, PhD, FRCSC
Senior Scientist, Toronto Western Research Institute (TWRI)
University Health Network
Director, Krembil Neuroscience Centre
Research Interests
- Mechanisms sustaining self-renewal in normal and leukemic stem cells
- Regenerative medicine for spinal cord injury using stem cell and tissue engineering approaches
- Mechanisms of glial-axonal signaling using electrophysiological and imaging approaches
Norman N. Iscove, MD, PhD
Senior Scientist
Division of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology
Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI)
Research Interests
- Neuroprotection of the injured spinal cord
- Regenerative medicine for spinal cord injury using stem cell and tissue engineering approaches
- Mechanisms of glial-axonal signaling using electrophysiological and imaging approaches
Shaf Keshavjee MD, MSc, FRCSC, FACS
Surgeon-in-Chief, UHN
Program Medical Director, Surgical Services and Critical Care
Director, Toronto Lung Transplant Program
Director, Latner Thoracic Surgery Research Laboratories
Senior Scientist, McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine
Senior Scientist, Division of Experimental Therapeutics,
Toronto General Research Institute, UHN
Professor, Division of Thoracic Surgery
Professor, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering,
University of Toronto
Research Interests
- Understanding the mechanisms responsible for primary graft dysfunction, ischemia reperfusion injury and bronchiolitis obliterans - major areas which limit the successful application of lung transplantation
- Lung preservation techniques and lung repair for the improvement of lung function after transplantation
- Gene therapy strategies to improve the organ function and outcome after lung transplantation
Ren-Ke Li, MD, PhD
Senior Scientist, Division of Experimental Therapeutics
Toronto General Research Institute (TGRI)
Canada Research Chair in Cardiac Regeneration
Career Investigator of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada
Research Interests
- Cell transplantation into myocardial scar tissue to regenerate damaged myocardium and restore cardiac function after myocardial infarction
- Tissue engineering to grow an autologous myocardial tissue to repair the damaged heart or heart defect
Freda Miller, PhD
Senior Scientist, Developmental & Stem Cell Biology
The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute
Professor, University of Toronto
Department of Molecular Genetics
Research Interests
- Neural stem cells
- Neurotrophin regulation of neuronal survival, growth and connectivity
- Role of p53 family in the nervous system
- Molecular regulation of neurogenesis
Andras Nagy, PhD
Senior Scientist, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute
Mount Sinai Hospital
Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics
University of Toronto
Canada Research Chair in Stem Cells and Regeneration
Research Interests
- Development of blood vessels under normal and pathological conditions
- Embryonic Stem cells as a genetic model for the mouse
- Stem cell biology
Molly Shoichet, PhD
Professor of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry,
University of Toronto
Canada Research Chair in Tissue Engineering
Research Interests
- Biology-inspired design: creating polymeric biomaterials that are designed with the biological tissue or injury site in mind. Specifically interested in the central nervous system (spinal cord injury repair and stroke), peripheral nervous system and breast cancer.
- Defining the cellular environment through biomimetic 3D scaffolds.
- Creation of polymeric hollow fiber membranes (i.e. porous tubes) for guided regeneration of nerve tissue across in a severed or transected injury model.
- Understanding the haptotactic and chemotactic cues of regeneration: designing 3D patterned hydrogel matrices of immobilized factors for cell guidance.
- Localized and targeted delivery: locally-injected hydrogels for controlled delivery and immunonanoparticles for targeted delivery in breast cancer
- Design and synthesis of biostable and biodegradable polymers for drug delivery, scaffold synthesis and peptide/protein modification
Derek van der Kooy, PhD
Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics
University of Toronto
Research Interests
- Development & Stem Cell Biology: from totipotent embryonic stem (blastocyst) cells to neural stem cells to more restricted neural progenitor cells that make neurons and glia
- The neurobiology of motivation
- Genes involved in Learning and Memory
Rüdiger von Harsdorf, MD, FRCPC
Senior Scientist, Division of Cellular & Molecular Biology
Toronto General Research Institute (TGRI)
Staff, Interventional Cardiology Programme,
Division of Cardiology, Toronto General Hospital
Robert McEwen Chair in Cardiac Regenerative Medicine
Research Interests
- Regulation of replicative capacity of cardiomyocytes
- Regulation of cell death in cardiomyocytes
- Regulation of cardiomyocyte hypertrophic growth
Thomas K. Waddell, MD, PHD, FRCSC
Head, Division of Thoracic Surgery, UHN
R. Fraser Elliott Chair in Transplantation Research, UHN
Senior Scientist, McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine
Senior Scientist, Division of Cellular & Molecular Biology, Toronto General
Research Institute
Professor and Chair, Division of Thoracic Surgery, University of Toronto
Research Interests
- Xenotransplantation
- Leukocyte-endothelial cell interactions
- Endothelial cell activation and apoptosis
- Bone marrow stem cells in lung regeneration
- Lung stem cells in epithelial regeneration and cancer
- EGFR in lung cancer
Richard D. Weisel, MD, FRCSC
Senior Scientist
Division of Experimental Therapeutics
Toronto General Research Institute
Cardiac Surgeon
Toronto General Hospital
Research Interests
- Cell transplantation to regenerate the heart and gene enhanced cell therapy
- Rejuvenation of the capacity of the bone marrow to regenerate the heart
- Imaging transplanted cells and effects of therapy
- Tissue-engineered autologous cell-seeded grafts to repair the damaged heart or repair congenital heart defects
- Myocardial protection from ischemic and reperfusion injury
- Preventing intimal hyperplasia and restoring normal endothelial function after coronary interventions
Peter Zandstra, PhD
Professor, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering
University of Toronto
Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Bioengineering
Research Interests
- Signaling dynamics regulating stem cell fate;
- Blood and cardiac tissue development;
- Cell population dynamics: understanding how interactions between stem cells and their progeny impact culture output;
- Design of bioreactors and devices to control the stem cell microenvironment with the goal of developing robust stem cell production systems.
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