LMP
lmp news
INVESTIGATING DISEASE.
IMPACTING HEALTH.
VOL. 17 NO. 1 – 2014
Comments from the Chair
Updating the LMP Strategic
Plan: It’s Our Future
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
3 | Feature Story
Greetings to everyone!
I trust you are enjoying an exciting fall term. One
of our important activities already underway is to
update the LMP Strategic Plan for 2015–2019.
Strategic planning is mandated by the Dean and
provides a rigorous means by which our academic
department can individually and collectively take
stock of its portfolio of activities, set priorities and work toward achieving
even greater levels of performance and distinction. This is all done in
alignment with the strategic plans of the Faculty of Medicine and the
University of Toronto.
A Steering Committee, that includes broad representation across LMP,
gathered information for our highly successful departmental retreat that
was held on October 16, 2014.
LMP ABROAD: SPOTLIGHT ON
PATHOLOGY
7
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9
12 | Inspirational Alumni
|Research
|Education
| Life at LMP
During the retreat we considered the following areas:
•
•
•
•
Education role and impact
Research impact
Differentiation and influence
Organizational capacity
As a hybrid basic science and clinical department, we face particular challenges
in meeting the education needs of diverse constituencies, and in determining
ways to enhance our impact in knowledge creation and translation.
(Cont’d on next page)
LMP ANNUAL BANQUET: AN EVENING OF
CELEBRATION AND ENTERTAINMENT
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| Awards & Honours
|Announcements
|Events
|Funding
|Publications
| Off the Clock at LMP
www.lmp.utoronto.ca
COMMENTS FROM THE CHAIR
Regarding differentiation, this is a golden opportunity for us to determine how to
distinguish LMP from similar departments elsewhere and increase our focus and
influence. Organizational capacity refers to having the structures and mechanisms
in place to attract and support outstanding faculty, students, trainees and staff. As a
major international player, LMP has high standards and high expectations.
LMP News
Vol. 17 No. 1 –­ 2014
LMP News is a communication of the
Department of Laboratory Medicine and
Pathobiology, Faculty of Medicine,
University of Toronto.
Please send your submissions to:
Katie Babcock, Newsletter Editor &
Web & Communications Coordinator
1 King’s College Circle, Rm 6221
Toronto, ON M5S 1A8
Tel:416-946-7707
Email:katie.babcock@utoronto.ca
I want to thank everyone who was involved in our retreat and for everyone’s
participation in this department-wide conversation. I would especially like to
thank our Steering Committee who worked tirelessly throughout this process.
We will be meeting with the Steering Committee and will publish our revised
strategic plan in December. I look forward to sharing our findings and shaping
our future together.
Richard G. Hegele, MD, FRCPC, PhD
Professor and Chair
FEATURE
LMP
ABROAD
According to the World Health Organization,
developing countries bear 93 percent of the
world’s disease burden, yet account for only 18
percent of world income and 11 percent
of global health spending.
Not only are these countries dealing with deadly
outbreaks such as Ebola virus, malaria, tuberculosis
and HIV, they’re also battling an increase in chronic
diseases including diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
With limited resources and often fragile infrastructures,
developing countries have difficulty training and
retaining health-care professionals, conducting
fundamental tests and often providing basic care.
Focusing on pathology within LMP, the following stories
highlight how some of our professors are leaders in
global health, sharing knowledge and improving the
health of patients abroad.
LMP News | Vol. 17 No. 1 – 2014
3
FEATURE
Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda — the largest hospital in East Africa
for pathologists to volunteer overseas. It’s highly rewarding and
it’s important to spread our knowledge. We can really have an
impact on the education of doctors-in-training and we need to
create some urgency for this.”
One of these leaders is Professor Brian Sheridan (MBBS,
FRCPath, FRCPC) who travelled to Kampala, Uganda, in
March 2014. After his recent retirement, he still felt he had
experience to offer and joined Health Volunteers Overseas — a
Also recognizing this urgency, Professor Rumina Musani
Washington-based charity dedicated to training local health-care (MD, FCAP, FASCP, FRCPC) will be developing and sharing
providers in developing countries.
online educational resources with Aga Khan University in
Prof. Sheridan visited Mulago Hospital, the teaching
Nairobi, Kenya. She visited the university in 2012 when she
hospital of Makerere University and
taught a hematopathology mini-curriculum
the largest hospital in East Africa.
to residents, fellows and lab technicians. “WE CAN REALLY HAVE AN
While there, he taught hematopaBased on her experience at University
IMPACT ON THE EDUCATION Health Network, she also shared its standard
thology to first- and second-year
residents. He presented lectures and
operating procedures.
OF DOCTORS-IN-TRAINING
slide tutorials and also delivered
But there were limitations. It was
AND WE NEED TO CREATE
lectures to senior technologists on
difficult to transport teaching slides and
SOME URGENCY FOR THIS.” some of Aga Khan University’s instrumentaquality management in clinical
laboratories.
tion was broken.
Prof. Brian Sheridan
Mulago Hospital faces many
To address this issue, she is now helping
challenges. “The hospital wasn’t able
the university to connect to U of T’s online
to carry out fundamental tests. We take these things for granted, learning program. “We can still teach and we don’t have to be
but they have limited public funds,” said Prof. Sheridan. “The
on-site to share knowledge. That is really rewarding because we
hospital had run out of funds, so the government wouldn’t
can actually materialize our global outreach and we can extend
release the reagents (chemicals used to analyze blood) to
this to other countries,” said Prof. Musani. “It wasn’t just a
conduct complete blood counts.” In addition, the hospital
one-time thing. It’s going to continue.”
lacked archived teaching slide sets.
Prof. Musani is also involved in another global outreach
Along with the residents, the lab technologists were
initiative with Gaman Modi, Manager, Quality and Risk
particularly eager to be taught. “It was really rewarding to teach
Management Systems at St. Michael’s Hospital. She recruited
the lab technologists there because nobody had previously
Modi to help Aga Khan University’s sister campus in Pakistan
considered their needs.”
to acquire accreditation from the College of American
Prof. Sheridan plans to take his own teaching slide sets if
Pathologists.
future visits can be arranged. “There is an immense opportunity
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Investigating Disease. Impacting Health.
PHOTO: BRIAN SHERIDAN
EAST AFRICA — Hematopathology
FEATURE
PHOTOS: JANE PHILPOTT AND JACOB PENDERGRAST
Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Addis Ababa
Like Kenya and Pakistan, Ethiopia faces many health-care
this past September.
challenges and has difficulty providing its 94 million people
Prof. Pendergrast, from University Health Network, has
with basic health care. Currently, the country has only two
been asked to develop a curriculum for transfusion medicine.
clinical hematologists and there is a desperate need for more.
“Clearly, when you look at the big picture, there’s so much
In response to this need, Professors Alden Chesney
that needs to be done. But it’s really inspiring when you can
(MD, FASCP) and Jacob Pendergrast (MD) are working
see progress happening in this resource-limited environment. I
with a team of U of T hematologists to develop a subspecialty
would encourage anyone to get involved in this type of project,”
training program in Ethiopia. This program is part of the
said Prof. Pendergrast.
Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration, which provides
in-country training to Ethiopian medical
MEXICO & GUATEMALA —
specialists. Pathology support is crucial
Renal Pathology
for this program, given the importance
of the discipline to clinical decisionmaking across all spheres of health care.
Across the Atlantic Ocean from East
Prof. Chesney, from Sunnybrook
Africa, Professor Carmen Avila-Casado
Health Sciences Centre, first visited
(MD, PhD) is improving the diagnosis,
Ethiopia in 2012 to present lectures
treatment and prevention of kidney
Prof. Pendergrast lecturing
and to participate in teaching rounds
disease in Guatemala and Mexico. A renal
at Black Lion Hospital
at Black Lion Hospital. This hospital is
pathologist at University Health Network,
affiliated with Addis Ababa University
she is also Educational Ambassador for the
and is the capital city’s largest hospital.
International Society of Nephrology.
The highlight of his trip was attending rounds with his
In March 2013, she visited Hospital San Juan de Dios
Ethiopian colleagues and using a multi-headed microscope,
Guatemala to present a transplant renal pathology workshop to
donated by Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, to teach
medical students, residents, fellows and nephrologists. During
morphology. “It was humbling and gratifying to observe the
her visit, she also reviewed and discussed difficult cases.
excitement of the residents and their eagerness to review their In addition to training on-site, Prof. Avila-Casado invited
patients’ bone marrow smears,” said Prof. Chesney.
Dr. Werner De Leon, a renal pathologist from Guatemala,
The results of the training program are impressive. Two of
to learn innovative transplant pathology techniques at
the three initial trainees are now practicing clinical hematoloToronto General Hospital. “It’s important to stay current with
gists in Ethiopia.
techniques, such as immunofluorescence, and Dr. De Leon has
After another visit in April 2013, with a team including successfully implemented these in Guatemala. Ultimately, this
Prof. Jacob Pendergrast, Prof. Chesney returned to Ethiopia will help to save lives,” said Prof. Avila-Casado.
LMP News | Vol. 17 No. 1 – 2014
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FEATURE
Prof. Shaw presenting at the workshop
This past March, Prof. Avila-Casado was invited to teach
renal pathology to transplant fellows and residents from the
Instituto Mexicano de Trasplantes.
In the future, she plans to return to this region. “Central
America is still developing their transplant programs and they
need help,” said Prof. Avila-Casado. She added, “Everyone is
so happy when you visit. The trainees are excited to learn
and it’s important to feel like you’re having an impact on
patients’ health.”
DOMINICA — Breast & Gynecological Pathology
Dr. Sophia George, Dr. Judith Hurley, Dr.
Hedda Dyer and Prof. Susan Done
The team is now proposing a research project that will
define types of breast and ovarian cancer in Dominican
women. More specifically, they will perform a retrospective
immunohistochemistry study to determine the different
histotypes of diagnosed breast and ovarian cancer. If they have
a better idea of the distribution of the types of cancers, they
can improve treatment for patients and decrease costs for the
Ministry of Health.
“You can’t really make improvements in the health of
Dominican women without this knowledge,” said Prof. Shaw.
“Hopefully, this project will be the beginning of building a
cancer registry on the island, and this could eventually lead to
collaborations with other small islands.”
In many parts of the Caribbean there is an urgent need to
improve screening for women with breast and ovarian cancer.
In May 2013, Professors Patricia Shaw
From online learning, to subspecialty
(MD, FRCPC), Susan Done (MB,
training programs, to research, LMP
BChir, MA, MBA, PhD) and Dr. Sophia
professors are building lasting partnerships
George (PhD) from University Health
and improving patient care with a wide
Network travelled to the Commonwealth
range of global outreach initiatives.
of Dominica for a two-day workshop.
“As committed teachers and scholars of U
With the help of Ross University
of T, and its greatest resource, I believe that
School of Medicine, they educated
our accumulated knowledge and experience
local caregivers, hospital lab technicians,
shared in a developing environment such
the island’s Ministry of Health and the
as Ethiopia can be translated to maximum
Dr. Sophia George and Prof. Shaw
Dominica Cancer Society about these
effect,” said Prof. Chesney.
deadly forms of cancer. Other presenters
Prof. Musani agreed. “We’re
included faculty from the University of
perfectly positioned now to extend our
Miami, Duke University and Stanford University.
global reach. We have the capacity and we have a lot to gain
“Dominica is a low-to-middle-income country that lacks
and a lot to share.” n
proper diagnostics. We know that the women have breast cancer,
but we don’t know what kind of cancer they have. When we
looked at the pathology reports, they were rudimentary at best,”
said Prof. Shaw.
Dr. George added, “Women in developed countries with
different types of breast cancers receive targeted treatments. It’s
really sad to see women who suffer from neuropathies due to
overmedication. Not every woman needs chemotherapy, but
that’s the only treatment they’re offered.”
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Investigating Disease. Impacting Health.
PHOTOS: SOPHIA GEORGE
Southwest side of Dominica
INSPIRATIONAL ALUMNI
CONNECTING
FOR SUCCESS
PHOTO: SAFINA ALI
LMP alumna Safina Ali
Scientist I at MedImmune
What career path should you choose? What is it like to work
effective drug should go to clinic to be tested on patients.
in academia versus industry? Where do you fit in? These are
The keys to Ali’s success include her passion for science
some of the questions that LMP alumna Safina Ali considered
and her ability to network. It was during various networking
while completing her PhD with Professor Daniel Drucker
sessions that she met the vice-presidents of numerous pharma(MD, FRCPC), and they’re the same questions that many
ceutical companies and was offered several positions in Canada
students encounter when pursuing a career.
and the United States.
Like many students, Ali originally planned to pursue a
When asked for advice for students interested in pursuing
career in academia. During her PhD,
a career in industry, Ali said, “Before
she investigated new therapies to
you start to write your thesis, start to
“DON’T BE SCARED TO
treat diabetes and heart disease. She
about where you want to go and
GENUINELY CONNECT WITH think
specifically studied gut and pancreatic
what you want to do. Don’t be scared
PEOPLE … IF YOU SHOW
hormones involved in glucose clearance
to genuinely connect with people and
and how these hormones impact
learn about what options are out there
GENUINE ENTHUSIASM,
cardiovascular function.
PEOPLE NATURALLY WANT for you to pursue. If you show genuine
But after attending informational
enthusiasm, people will naturally interact
TO INTERACT WITH YOU.”
and formal interviews and taking a
with you and will offer you jobs.”
course in medical marketing, she
Ali’s passion for research continues
discovered that she wanted to pursue a career in the pharmaand her goal now is to become a principal scientist. “I love
ceutical industry.
science. When testing new drugs I can see an obese mouse
“During the medical marketing course we were told that
transformed into a lean animal that is cured from diabetes. It’s
the drug companies were saturated with old ideas. I discovered very rewarding to test a drug that can help save lives.” n
that there’s a need for enthusiastic people to bring new ideas
forward to help patients. I thought I could bring value to this
type of job,” said Ali.
Ali was also exposed to pharmaceutical companies
through her research supervisor. “Dr. Drucker has good
relationships with pharmaceutical companies worldwide and
is one of the most important opinion leaders in the field of
diabetes — it was a perfect combination and Dr. Drucker
always gave me unconditional support.”
Before graduating this August, Ali began working at
MedImmune in Maryland, the global biologics research and
development arm of AstraZeneca. As a highly qualified candidate,
she was offered the title of Scientist I with their Cardiovascular
and Metabolic Diseases Innovative Medicines team.
In this role, she collaborates with various individuals on
a drug development team, which includes chemists and other
fellow scientists, to develop new drugs to treat diabetes and
cardiovascular disease. She presents her findings to a team of
principal scientists and directors to convince them that an
LMP News | Vol. 17 No. 1 – 2014
7
RESEARCH
Prof. Heyu Ni and Yiming Wang
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL
INVESTIGATION
Role of overlooked protein redefines our understanding of blood clots
For years it’s been overlooked when preparing blood products
for patients. But researchers from the University of Toronto have
discovered that the role of a particular protein may be the key to
treating heart attack and stroke patients with bleeding disorders.
LMP Professor Heyu Ni and PhD candidate Yiming
Wang have revealed that a protein called fibronectin plays
an essential role in properly forming blood clots. The team
published their findings in the Journal of Clinical Investigation
on September 2, 2014.
In the past, scientists and clinicians believed that platelets
were the “first wave” to stop bleeding.
However, by using high-resolution imaging, Prof. Ni and
Wang have shown that when a blood vessel’s wall is damaged,
fibronectin quickly deposits onto the injured vessel wall even
before platelets. Fibronectin is the glue that holds the initial
repair in place and blood platelets arrive later to create a solid
blood clot.
“This protein has been linked to blood clots for a long time,
but nobody could make the connection to hemostasis, a process
to stop bleeding. We’ve found that fibronectin arrives before
platelets and is a key player in hemostasis,” said Prof. Ni.
But what prevents a blood clot from growing uncontrollably? The team believes that fibronectin is finely tuned to form
the clot to the required size and then to switch off.
The implications for this research are wide-ranging. Heart
disease and stroke are two of the three leading causes of death
in Canada. Scientific advances made in this area are essential
for treating an estimated 70,000 heart attacks and 50,000
strokes each year.
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Investigating Disease. Impacting Health.
Patients who have a heart attack or stroke, or undergo
certain types of surgery, are prescribed high doses of blood
thinners to prevent dangerous blood clots from forming. But
some patients are faced with a dilemma if they have a higher risk
of bleeding. While the blood thinners prevent more clots from
occurring, they can also cause uncontrollable bleeding and death.
Prof. Ni’s research suggests that these at-risk patients
could benefit from a transfusion of plasma fibronectin to help
heal blood vessels without causing another blockage in the
blood vessel.
“When we didn’t know about the role of fibronectin, we
would discard this protein when developing some of the blood
products,” explained Prof. Ni. “Now we know that fibronectin
is important and we could take that unused protein and use it
for patients who have bleeding problems following treatment of
blood thinners.”
The team now plans to study how fibronectin plays a role in
another type of blood clot called deep vein thrombosis.
Ni said, “It’s such a sophisticated protein. We’re looking
forward to seeing how we can use it to treat patients and what
role it plays in other cardiovascular diseases.” n
UNDERGRADUATE
Winners of this year’s Poster Day
Hea Jin Cheon, Melissa Hicuburundi
and Bryce Chen
2014 SUMMER STUDENT
POSTER DAY
PHOTOS: PAUL HAMEL
LMP students showcase their impressive summer research
From topics including diabetes and
cancer to cardiovascular and infectious
diseases, the 2014 Summer Student
Poster Day was truly representative
of the breadth and depth of research
offered at LMP.
This exciting event was held on
August 14, 2014, at U of T’s Medical
Sciences Building.
A first-time experience for many,
close to 40 students in the LMP
Summer Student Research Program
presented the culmination of their
summer work to small groups of judges.
“This program is important
because it allows students who
haven’t had exposure to research to
get experience in a lab. This way,
they can easily find out if they want
to continue to work in a lab or try
something else,” said Professor Michal
Opas (MSc, PhD), Coordinator of the
program. “On Summer Student Poster
Day, students have a chance to present
and defend their research and that’s
important if they want to continue to
work in science.”
During the intensive twelve-week
program, students gained valuable
research experience at state-of-the-art
laboratories across the city. They also
attended seminars featuring diverse
topics including future career paths in
science and diagnostic testing.
Trimboli said, “This year’s Poster Day
was really successful. We look forward
to showcasing our students’ excellent
research next year and hosting a more
in-depth forum.” n
Organizers Louella D’Cunha, Prof. Michal
Opas and Teresa Trimboli
“The Poster Day was a great opportunity
to share what we have accomplished
this summer and it was nice to see the
results of our peers’ research efforts,”
said Robert Guo, fourth-year LMP
Pathobiology Specialist student.
The day also featured a forum
where students could ask questions
about how to pursue a career in
science or related fields. Undergraduate
Coordinator and event organizer Teresa
LMP News | Vol. 17 No. 1 – 2014
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GRADUATE
Emily Mathieu, Meghan Feeney, Mena Abdel-Nour and Jessica Tsalikis
Jesse McLean, Nicole Lund, Prof. Harry Elsholtz, Miralem
Mrkonjic and Prof. Avrum Gotlieb
Chan-Mi
Miranda Lee
Bavdaz and Rama Ponda.
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Investigating Disease. Impacting Health.
The Second Annual LMP Alumni Reception, hosted at
U of T’s Hart House on Friday, July 4, was an evening of
mingling, music and delicious food. The cocktail reception,
organized by the graduate student union (CLAMPS),
provided the opportunity to learn how LMP alumni have
achieved success in a wide range of careers.
“Choosing the right avenue to pursue after graduating
with a master’s or PhD degree can be a daunting task, and
it was nice to get insight from recent graduates into their
experiences of life after LMP,” said organizer Jessica Tsalikis.
Beyond providing an invaluable networking
opportunity, CLAMPS also presented the inaugural
Community Outreach Awards to recognize LMP students
who have made significant contributions to the community
and graduate life.
This year’s winners were Meghan Feeney for the
MSc category, and Stephen McCarthy and Songyi Xu
for the PhD.
“The one part of the evening that I felt was very
special was when we presented the CLAMPS Community
Outreach Award for the first time,” said organizer and
CLAMPS President Mena Abdel-Nour. “I feel that there
is a substantial amount of emphasis placed on academic
accomplishments at U of T, so I thought that it was
important to showcase our students’ non-academic
accomplishments as well.”
Abdel-Nour believes that this event will continue to
be successful in the future. “I think that the LMP alumni
event is something that creates a lot of buzz because it gives
current students a chance to meet successful graduates. As
our graduates become more and more successful, this event
is only going to get bigger.” n
PHOTOS: MIAO XU
ANNUAL ALUMNI
RECEPTION
POSTGRADUATE
POSTGRADUATE
WELCOME 2014
More than 50 LMP members gathered on July 17, 2014,
to welcome its newest members at the annual Postgraduate
Welcome. This event was the perfect opportunity to welcome
LMP’s newest residents and fellows, and for faculty and current
postgraduate trainees to reunite.
During his introductory speech, LMP Professor and Chair
Richard Hegele (MD, FRCPC, PhD) described the importance
of competency-based education and how LMP continues to be
a leader in the field.
“Our Department is unique because we have examples of
virtually every kind of practitioner working in virtually every
kind of practice setting. We have state-of-the-art equipment,
facilities, technology and the expertise to go along with it,”
said Prof. Hegele.
“We continue to push the boundaries and advance the
leading edge of pathology and laboratory medicine practice
and research.”
Prof. Hegele also welcomed Professor David Hwang (BSc,
MD, PhD, FRCPC) as the new Director of Clinical Fellowships
and introduced Professor Shachar Sade (MD, MSc, FRCPC)
as the continuing Program Director, Anatomical Pathology
Residency Program and Director of Postgraduate Education. n
The faculty and student teams.
Prof. David Hwang, Prof. and Chair Richard Hegele
and Prof. Shachar Sade
Rory Thompson, Sarah Younan and May-Phyo Nyi Nyi
LMP News | Vol. 17 No. 1 – 2014
11
LIFE AT LMP
LMP ANNUAL BANQUET
An Evening of Entertainment and Celebration
Once again, the LMP Banquet was a lively evening of entertainment! Hosted at
the elegant Metropolitan Hotel on June 12, 2014, the event featured a cocktail
reception, dinner, awards and the winners of the LMP Video Contest. Guests
were also “Happy” to see the LMP Dance Crew make a surprise appearance.
Profs. Douglas Templeton,
Richard Hegele and Jagdish Butany
Vanita Jassal
Marsel Lino, Shiemaa Khogali, Songyi Xu and Zahra Alvandi
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Investigating Disease. Impacting Health.
Nancy Liu and Robert Golick
LIFE AT LMP
Prof. Sarah Keating
Kairavi Shahi, Danielle Weber-Adrian, Nicola Tucci,
Mark Tucci and Joey Silburt
Profs. Richard Hegele and
Khosrow Adeli
Surprise flash mob! LMP Dance Crew and guests dance to “Happy”
Ruby Xu, Miao Xu, Yiming Wang and Profs. Heyu Ni, Harry
Elsholtz and Avrum Gotlieb
LMP Video Contest — Honourable Mention “Resident in a Closet”
LMP News | Vol. 17 No. 1 – 2014
13
LIFE AT LMP
BBQ x 2
Delicious food, challenging games and captivating conversation. LMP
undergraduate and graduate students agree that barbecues are the best way to
celebrate the end of summer and kick off a new academic year.
August 6, 2014 — The undergraduate Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology Student Union
(LMPSU) near Hart House at U of T.
Alena Zelinka, Prof. Douglas Templeton
and Maya Deeb
Undergraduate Student Executive (LMPSU)
Michael Nguyen and Maya Deeb
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Investigating Disease. Impacting Health.
LIFE AT LMP
August 22, 2014 — The graduate student union (CLAMPS) at Centre Island.
Josh Abraham and Jessica Tsalikis compete in the water balloon toss
Daniel Chung, Nevena Vicic, Brian Vadasz
and Henry Cheng
LMP News | Vol. 17 No. 1 – 2014
15
AWARDS & HONOURS
AWARDS & HONOURS
LMP ANNUAL REUNION & BANQUET
STUART ALAN HOFFMAN MEMORIAL PRIZE
Stephen Mack
WOLFGANG VOGEL MEMORIAL PRIZE
John Ussher
LINDA AND AVRUM GOTLIEB AWARD
Nancy Liu
ALLAN GORNALL TESTIMONIAL PRIZE
Roland Shuzhengrong Xu and David Kleinmann
THIRD-YEAR SPECIALIST PATHOBIOLOGY AWARD
Claudia Dziegielewski
FACULTY TEACHING AWARDS
LMP Undergraduate Teaching Award: Paul Yip
LMP Graduate Teaching Award: Catherine Streutker
John B. Walter Prize: Shabin Nanji
ALAN POLLARD POSTDOCTORAL CLINICAL CHEMISTRY
TRAVEL AWARD
Josh Raizman
NORMAN BETHUNE AWARD
Danielle Brabant-Kirwan
DANNY GHAZARIAN RESIDENT TEACHING AWARD
Jason Karamchandani
STANLEY RAPHAEL AWARD
Joerg Schwock
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
Khosrow Adeli
FACULTY
Prof. Sylvia Asa (MD, PhD, FRCPC, FCAP) has been
inducted as an honorary fellow of the British Royal College
of Pathologists.
The College’s mission is to promote excellence in the
practice, study and research of pathology. It is also responsible
for maintaining the highest standards through assessments,
training, examinations and professional development.
While most people become members of the College by
examination, Prof. Asa was awarded a fellowship in recognition
of her impressive contributions to the field of pathology.
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Investigating Disease. Impacting Health.
Prof. Khosrow Adeli (PhD, FCACB, FACB, DABCC) won
the 2014 Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists International
Exchange Grant. This award is presented annually to recognize
significant international links to clinical chemistry societies.
Prof. Carmen Avila-Casado (MD, PhD) has been elected as
the next Secretary for the Renal Pathology Society. The Renal
Pathology Society’s mission is to disseminate knowledge about
renal disease including the pathology and impact on patients.
The Society aims to promote excellence in diagnosis, develop
education and training opportunities in renal disease, develop
clinical and translational research, and sponsor local, national
and international conferences.
Prof. David Colantonio (PhD, DABCC, FCACB), along
with PhD candidate Sarah R. Delaney, has won the Top
Abstract in Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Toxicology at the
2014 American Academy of Clinical Chemists annual meeting.
The abstract was titled, “Bupropion Exposure in an Infant: A
Case Report and Analysis of Drug Excretion into Breast Milk.”
Prof. Lianna Kyriakopoulou (PhD, FCACB, FABMG)
won the 2014 Department of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine
Teaching Award presented at the Laurence Becker Symposium
at the Hospital for Sick Children. This award is presented
annually to a staff member with sustained and outstanding
contributions to education within the department.
Prof. Philip Marsden (MD) has been elected as Fellow of
the Royal Society of Canada — one of the highest recognitions presented to Canadian academics in the humanities, arts
and sciences.
Recognized as a leader in his field, Prof. Marsden has made
key contributions to our understanding of how endothelial
cells, which line the inner surface of blood vessels, control
blood flow, organ development and function. He characterized
the human gene that synthesizes endothelial nitric oxide, a
critical signaling molecule that increases blood flow, and showed
how abnormal nitric oxide synthesis contributes to vascular
disease.
Founded in 1882, the Royal Society of Canada promotes
Canadian research, scholarly achievements and advises
governments, organizations and Canadians on matters of
public interest.
Prof. Paul Yip (PhD) is the recipient of the American
Association for Clinical Chemistry 2013 Outstanding Speaker
Award. Prof.Yip presented, “The role of POCT in patient care:
POCT in disease management and outpatient services.”
AWARDS & HONOURS
STUDENTS & TRAINEES
UNDERGRADUATE
LMP Summer Student
Winners
First Place
—
Second Place
—
Third Place
—
Best-Looking Poster
First Place
—
Second Place
—
Most Promising Poster
First Place
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Second Place
—
Research Program Poster Day
Bryce Chen
Alena Zelinka
Amber Cintosun
Carolyn Wu
Joseph Yang
Joseph Silburt
Joseph Yang
GRADUATE
LMP Departmental Awards
CLAMPS Outreach Award
Meghan Feeney (MSc)
Stephen McCarthy (PhD)
Songyi Xu (PhD)
Banting and Best Diabetes Centre — Tamarack
Graduate Award in Diabetes Research
Anthony Scalia
(Prof. Rozakis)
Banting and Best Diabetes Centre — University Health
Network Graduate Award
Harsh Desai
(Profs. Winer and Woo)
CIHR MD/PhD Studentship
Josh Abraham (Prof. Mekhail)
Carlyn Figueiredo (Prof. Rutka)
CRND Graduate Student Aid Endowment
Laura MacNair
(Prof. Robertson) Seyedeh Zahra Shams Shoaei (Profs. Hazrati and Diamandis)
Dr. Rajalakshmi S. Dittakavi and Dr. Prema M. Rao
Graduate Awards
Graduate Award in LMP
Madelaine Lynch Jovian Wat Natasha Musrap Ashley Weiss U of T Awards
Banting and Best Diabetes Centre — Novo Nordisk
Studentship
Victoria Higgins
(Prof. Adeli)
Marsel Lino
(Prof. Bendeck)
(Prof. Aubert)
(Prof. Kingdom)
(Prof. Diamandis)
(Prof. Khokha)
LMP Scholarship of Excellence
Harsh Desai
(Profs. Winer and Woo)
Patricia Gali
(Prof. Dos Santos)
Maurice Pasternak
(Profs. Aubert and Czarnota)
Joseph Silburt
(Prof. Aubert)
Frank Fletcher Memorial Fund
John Peacock
(Prof. Taylor)
Patryk Skowron
(Prof. Taylor)
Patrick Sin-Chan
(Prof. Huang)
George Sidney Brett Memorial Fund
Shivani Kamdar
(Prof. Bapat)
Heart & Stroke/Richard Lewar Centre of Excellence
Studentship Award
Ruby Xiaohong Xu (Prof. Ni) Mary H. Beatty Fellowship
Victoria Higgins
(Prof. Adeli)
Meredith and Malcolm Silver Scholarship
in Cardiovascular Studies
Ruby Xiaohong Xu (Prof. Ni)
McCuaig-Throop Bursary
Laura MacNair
Chan-Mi Lee
Norman Bethune Award
Matthew Taylor Peterborough K.M. Hunter
John Peacock
Kaustabh Singh
Songyi Xu
Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science
& Technology — Canadian Arthritis Foundation
Katarina Andrejevic (Prof. Kandel)
Adeline Ng (Prof. Grynpas)
Ghazaleh Tavallaee (Prof. Kapoor)
Kamya Kommaraju (Prof. M. Ohh)
Hayden Hantho Award
Patrick Sin-Chan
(Prof. Huang)
Meredith and Malcolm Silver Scholarship
in Cardiovascular Studies — OSOTF
Joshua Lopes (Prof. Bendeck)
(Prof. Lee)
(Prof. Robertson)
(Prof. Hu)
Studentship
(Prof. Taylor)
(Prof. Li)
(Prof. Bendeck)
Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science &
Technology
Tarek Ibrahim
(Prof. McLaurin)
LMP News | Vol. 17 No. 1 – 2014
17
AWARDS & HONOURS
Scace Graduate Fellowship
Sonam Dubey
Danielle Weber-Adrian
Shivani Kamdar
in Alzheimer’s Research
(Prof. Aubert)
(Prof. Aubert)
(Prof. Bapat)
Mr. Robert and Ms. Francine Ruggles Innovation Award
Kevin Xin Wang (Prof. Taylor)
Ontario Graduate Scholarship
Mena Abdel-Nour
(Prof. Girardin)
Sir Joseph Flavelle Fellowship
Farshad Azimi
(Prof. Lee)
Victoria Higgins
(Prof. Adeli)
Monique Budani
(Prof. Lingwood)
Henry Cheng
(Prof. Fish)
Theodore I. Sherman Graduate Award in Neuroscience
Shawn Clark
(Prof. Hwang)
Seyedeh Zahra Shams Shoaei (Profs. Hazrati and Diamandis)
Ashley Di Meo
(Profs.Yousef and Diamandis)
Shivani Kamdar
(Prof. Bapat)
Vision Science Research Program — OSOTF Shiemaa Khogali
(Prof. Bendeck)
Samih Alqawlaq
(Prof. Sivak) Stuart Lithwick
(Prof. Aubert)
Stuart Lithwick
(Prof. Wallace)
Julia Pasquale
(Prof. Grynpas)
Qi Jiang
(Prof. Sivak)
Madonna Peter
(Prof. Palaniyar)
Emily Mathieu
(Prof.Yucel)
Patricia Rakopoulos
(Prof. Hawkins)
Natalie Pankova
(Prof. Boyd) Joseph Silburt
(Prof. Aubert)
Nevena Vicic
(Prof. Sivak) Patrick Sin-Chan
(Prof. Huang)
Kirk Szafranski
(Prof. Mekhail)
External Awards
Jonathon Torchia
(Prof. Huang)
Alberta Heritage Scholarship
Jessica Tsalikis
(Prof. Girardin)
Vijay Ramaswamy
(Prof. Taylor)
Ashley Weiss
(Prof. Khoka)
Alzheimer Society of Canada Doctoral Award
Paul McKeever (Prof. Robertson)
Canadian Blood Services Scholarship
Evgenia Bloch
(Prof. Branch)
Sonam Dubey
(Profs. Aubert and Hynynen)
Stephen McCarthy (Prof. Branch)
Yiming Wang (Prof. Ni)
2014 Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
National Student Research Poster Competition
Stephen McCarthy (Prof. Branch) — Gold Award
Sean McCurdy (Prof. Bremner) — Silver Award
Pawel Buczkowicz (Prof. Hawkins) — Honourable Mention
Vijay Ramaswamy (Prof. Taylor) — Honourable Mention
CIHR Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement
David J.H. Shih (Prof. Taylor)
CIHR Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships
Jonathan Cook (Prof. Lee)
Robyn Elphinstone (Prof. Kain)
Felix Leung (Profs. Diamandis and Kulasingam)
Richard You Wu (Prof. Sherman)
Hospital for Sick Children
(Restracomp)
Mushriq Al-Jazrawe Tiffany Asante Tayyaba Jiwani Chan-Mi Lee Madonna Peter Yuning Jackie Tang Monica Tolosa 18
Foundation Fellowship
(Prof. Alman) (Prof. Adeli) (Prof. Rosenblum)
(Prof. Hu) (Prof. Palaniyar) (Prof. Alman)
(Prof. Palaniyar)
Investigating Disease. Impacting Health.
Ontario Graduate Scholarship — visa student
competition
Marc Remke (Prof. Taylor)
POSTGRADUATE
Herman Chui, Anatomical Pathology Resident, and Hubert
Tsui, Chief Resident, Hematological Pathology, won the Joseph
M. West Family Memorial Fund and the William S. Fenwick
Research Fellowship.
Presented by the Postgraduate Awards Committee at U of
T’s Faculty of Medicine, the Joseph M. West Family Memorial
Fund is given to residents pursuing medical research in the fields
of cancer, blood and vascular disease, and Parkinson’s disease. The
William S. Fenwick Research Fellowship is awarded annually to
support residents who are engaged in medical research.
Carlo Hojilla, Chief Resident, Anatomical Pathology, has been
awarded the Donald W. Penner Award. This award recognizes
the resident who presents the best proffered paper at the Annual
Meeting of the Canadian Association of Pathologists.
Shirin Karimi, Anatomic Pathology Fellow, received Second
Place for the Trainee Presentation in Pulmonary Pathology
awarded by the Pulmonary Pathology Society for the 2014
United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology conference
in San Diego.
Sherine Salama, Anatomic Pathology Fellow, has won the
2014 Dr. Donald Rix Award for Resident Travel. This award
supports residents who wish to present an original paper or
poster at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of
Pathologists.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
UNDERGRADUATE
NEW STUDENTS
LMP would like to welcome our incoming undergraduate
students to the Pathobiology Specialist Program.
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Sudarshan Bala
Alexa Blakney
Trillium Chang
Alana Changoor
Aditya Chawla
Armin Farahvash
Xiaotang Gao
Jordan Ho
Stefan Jevtic
Ryungrae Kim
Christian Krustev
Michelle Lee
Anastasiya Lezhanska
Kevin Liu
Mingjie Mai
Jenny Nguyen
Hilary Pang
Joan Romero
Ifrah Saeed
Fawwaz Safi
Golnoosh Moakhar
Elva Vidya
Ze Wang
Laila Zaman
Etienne Mahe Danielle Marjoram
Amanda Mohabeer
Nicole Morris
Christopher Morrone
Maurice Pasternak
Christopher Rowan
Venuja Sriretnakumar
Samuel Tsai
Xinzhu (Louisa) Wang
Matthew Zatzman
PhD
• Josh Abraham
• Samih Alqawlaq
• Carlyn Figueiredo
• Ronak Ghanbari
• Amanda Hall
• Shivani Kamdar
• John Lee
• Scott Ryall
• Raphael Schneider
• Sowmya Shivanna
• Mariusz Shrestha
• Joseph Silburt
• Ghazaleh Tavallaee
• Ivette Valencia-Sama
• Zhichang (Peter) Zhou
(Prof. Kamel-Reid)
(Prof. Lazarus)
(Prof. Bendeck)
(Profs. Grynpas and Mitchell)
(Prof. McLaurin)
(Profs. Aubert and Czarnota)
(Prof. Rosenblum)
(Profs. So and Kennedy)
(Prof. Wallace)
(Prof. Schmitt-Ulms)
(Prof. Rozakis-Adcock)
(Prof. Mekhail)
(Prof. Sivak)
(Prof. Rutka)
(Prof. Zacksenhaus)
(Prof. Mekhail)
(Prof. Bapat)
(Prof. Taylor)
(Prof. Hawkins)
(Prof. Robertson)
(Prof. Rozakis-Adcock)
(Prof. Zacksenhaus)
(Prof. Aubert)
(Prof. Kapoor)
(Profs. Ohh and Irwin)
(Prof. Hu)
THESIS DEFENSES SUMMER 2014 — MSC
Victoria Bevilacqua (Prof. Adeli) Pediatric population
reference value distributions for cancer biomarkers: A CALIPER
study of healthy community children.
Rachel Exler (Prof. Sivak) Mechanical insult uncouples
the protective function of PEA15 on extracellular matrix
remodeling and apoptosis.
GRADUATE
NEW STUDENTS
We would also like to welcome our incoming graduate students.
MSc
• Meryam Alwaadh
• Nathaniel Anderson
• Katarina Andrejevic
• Angela Celebre
• Carmelle Cuizon
• Harsh Desai
• Patricia Gali
• Carlo Halnin
• Victoria Higgins
• Qingda Hu
• Hyunjin (Christina) Kim
• Kyung Ha Ku • Minji Lee
• Stephie Leung
• Stanley Li
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(Prof. Bartlett)
(Prof. Shlien)
(Prof. Kandel)
(Prof. Das)
(Prof. Bapat)
(Profs. Winer and Woo)
(Prof. Dos Santos)
(Prof. Ohh)
(Prof. Adeli)
(Prof. McClaurin)
(Prof. McGeer)
(Prof. Marsden)
(Prof. Andrulis)
(Prof. Hawkins)
(Prof. Kalia)
Meghan Feeney (Prof. Rosenblum) Two distinct populations
of urinary pacemaker cells arise from the neural crest.
Shaan Gupta (Prof.Yang) MicroRNA-17 targets JAK1 and
STAT3 to inhibit osteoblast differentiation.
Shuo (Sally) Hu (Prof. Grynpas) Investigating in vivo efficacy
of novel ALN-EP4a conjugate drugs for the treatment of
post-menopausal osteoporosis.
Kamya Kommaraju (Prof. Ohh) Investigation of the role of
JAK2 in SOCS1-mediated granulocyte-macrophage colonystimulating factor receptor turnover.
John Lee (Prof. Marsden) Functional role for shear responsive
cis elements and fluid shear stress in epigenetic regulation of
endothelial nitric oxide synthase.
LMP News | Vol. 17 No. 1 – 2014
19
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Samantha Wala (Prof.Yousef) Investigating the role of
microRNAs in the pathogenesis of kidney cancer subtypes and
their clinical utility as cancer biomarkers.
THESIS DEFENSES SUMMER 2014 — PhD
Safina Ali (Prof. Drucker) Role of the glucagon and glucagonlike peptides in pancreatic beta cell and cardiovascular function.
Pawel Buzckowicz (Prof. Hawkins) Integrated genomic and
histopathological analysis of pediatric diffuse intrinsic pontine
glioma.
George Karagiannis (Prof. Diamandis) Signatures of the
colorectal cancer desmoplastic invasion front.
Keran Ma (Prof. McLaurin) a-Melanocyte stimulating
hormone prevents GABAergic loss and improves cognitive
function in Alzheimer’s disease.
Paul Nagy (Prof. Aubert) Investigating the effect of vesicular
acetylcholine transporter overexpression on central and
peripheral function.
Punit Saraon (Prof. Diamandis) Identifying mediators of
androgen-independent prostate cancer using mass spectrometrybased proteomics.
Fraser Soares (Prof. Girardin) Characterizing the role of
NLRX1 in innate immunity.
FACULTY
Prof. Khosrow Adeli (PhD, FCACB, FACB, DABCC),
Head of the Division of Clinical Biochemistry at SickKids,
has developed a mobile app that allows health-care providers
to compare their patients’ test results with those recorded in
the Canadian Laboratory Initiative for Paediatric Reference
Intervals (CALIPER).
The database includes the reference values for more
than 60 medical tests, established by the results of blood tests
performed on thousands of ethnically diverse and healthy
children ages 2 days to 18 years. It records normal levels of a
wide range of biomarkers, such as cholesterol,Vitamin D and
thyroid hormones.
The mobile app is now available on iTunes, and a new
website, which provides the latest graphical and tabular reference
values, was launched May 5, 2014. Android versions of the
app will also be released on Google Play. Future plans include
translating the app to Chinese and Spanish languages. More
work is also underway to continue to update the app with more
data on additional medical tests.
20
Investigating Disease. Impacting Health.
IN MEMORIAM
Professor Emeritus Emmanuel Farber, a
pioneering cancer researcher and distinguished
educator, died in August 2014 at the age of 95.
Early in his career, Prof. Farber’s groundbreaking research showed that chemical carcinogens
could bind to DNA, create mutations and lead
to cancer. As a member of the Surgeon General’s Advisory
Committee on Smoking and Health, he helped establish a
connection between smoking and cancer — a link that would
profoundly affect public policy.
A dedicated pathologist, biochemist and educator, Prof.
Farber was Chairman of U of T’s Department of Pathology, later
to become LMP, from 1975 to 1985.
Prof. Farber was born in Toronto in 1918, and earned
his MD from U of T’s Faculty of Medicine in 1942. He
completed his residency in pathology at Hamilton General
Hospital and then joined the Royal Canadian Army Medical
Corps. He later graduated from the University of California
with a PhD in biochemistry.
Over the course of his academic career, Prof. Farber was a
faculty member at Tulane University, University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine and was the Director of the Fels Research
Institute.
He contributed to more than 300 publications and received
the Parke-Davis Award in Experimental Pathology, the RousWhipple Award and the Eastman Kodak Award. In 1984, he was
appointed Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, an award that
recognizes outstanding Canadians.
Professor Emeritus William Paul, a leader in
establishing medical biophysics as a discipline in
Toronto, died in July 2014.
A Professor in Pathological Chemistry
and Clinical Biochemistry, later to become
LMP, Prof. Paul helped to set up the first
medical isotopes lab in Toronto. He trained countless medical
researchers to safely use radioactive materials for medical
diagnoses. He was also a founding member of the University’s
Radiation Protection Authority.
In the 1940s, Prof. Paul graduated from biology and physics
at U of T. He went on to earn a PhD in pharmacology in 1948,
and the following year completed a postdoctoral fellowship at
Cambridge University. In 1953, he joined the Department of
Pathological Chemistry until his retirement three decades later.
After his retirement in 1983, he continued to teach for
nine more years, learned how to build boats and wrote about
climate change.
APPOINTMENTS
APPOINTMENTS
EVENTS
FACULTY
NEW LMP STAFF APPOINTMENTS
Rose Chami, The Hospital for Sick Children
Rank: Assistant Professor | Effective: August 1, 2014
Claudia Dos Santos, St. Michael’s Hospital
Rank: Assistant Professor | Effective: May 15, 2014
Lori Edwards, Trillium Health Centre
Rank: Assistant Professor | Effective: April 1, 2014
Lorraine Kalia, University Health Network
Rank: Assistant Professor | Effective: August 1, 2014
Suneil Kalia, University Health Network
Rank: Assistant Professor | Effective: August 1, 2014
Mohit Kapoor, University Health Network
Rank: Associate Professor | Effective: May 1, 2014
Annual Roderick Ross Research Day of the Department
of Laboratory Medicine, St. Michael’s Hospital
Guest Speaker: Dr. Andreas Laupacis — Li Ka Shing
Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital
Topic: How do we get the correct test to the correct patient?
Monday, November 17, 2014
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Paul Marshall Lecture Theatre, St. Michael’s Hospital
30 Bond Street, Toronto, ON
Neuropathology Day
Special Lectureship: B. K. Kleinschmidt-DeMasters
Professor and Head of Neuropathology
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Department of Pathology
Topic: Adverse effects of radiation therapy on the nervous system
Monday, December 1, 2014
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Medical Sciences Building, Room 2172
1 King’s College Circle, University of Toronto
Adriana Krizova, St. Michael’s Hospital
Rank: Assistant Professor | Effective: July 7, 2014
Seema Kudsia, Credit Valley Hospital
Rank: Lecturer | Effective: August 18, 2014
Graeme Quest, University Health Network
Rank: Lecturer | Effective: August 5, 2014
Ashwyn Rajagopalan, Ontario Forensic Pathology Service
Rank: Lecturer | Effective: August 15, 2014
Adam Shlien, The Hospital for Sick Children
Rank: Assistant Professor | Effective: March 15, 2014
Michael Sidiropoulos, University Health Network
Rank: Assistant Professor | Effective: August 1, 2014
Keiyan Sy, Credit Valley Hospital
Rank: Assistant Professor | Effective: August 1, 2014
Victor Tron, St. Michael’s Hospital
Rank: Professor | Effective: July 1, 2014
OTHER APPOINTMENTS
Prof. C. Streutker has been appointed as Journal Section
Editor (Gastrointestinal) — Archives of Pathology and Laboratory
Medicine (APLM). APLM is the international peer-reviewed
journal of the College of American Pathologists.
LMP News | Vol. 17 No. 1 – 2014
21
FUNDING
GRANTS AWARDED
Hamel PA. Breast cancer novel Hedgehog-signalling pathways
regulating mammary gland morphogenesis and in breast cancer.
CIHR Priority Announcement — Bridge Funding.
$100,000 (1 year)
Aubert I. Brain degeneration and regeneration in preclinical
models of Alzheimer’s disease. CIHR Open Operating Grant
Competition, Spring 2014. $981,308 (5 years)
Keith J. (Co-PI) Development of a novel biomarker for ALS
through epigenetic studies of C9ORF72.The W. Garfield Weston
Foundation Neurosciences Initiative. $150,000 (1 year)
Aubert I. Effects of exercise on hippocampal plasticity. NSERC
Discovery Grant. $125,000 (5 years)
Keith J. Neuropathological correlates for MRI biomarkers of
periventricular small vessel disease. Canadian Stroke Network.
$7,000 LAK (3 months)
FUNDING
Aubert I. (PI), Hynynen K. (Co-PI). MRI-guided focused
ultrasound gene therapy against amyloid-beta.Transformational
Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases of Aging, the W. Garfield
Weston Foundation. $1,100,000 (3 years)
Bapat B. Deciphering DNA methylome in metastatic prostate
cancer. Prostate Cancer Canada Movember Discovery Grant.
$185,900 (2 years)
Bapat B. Moving beyond discovery: validation of an integrated
biomarker panel for detection of aggressive prostate cancer.
Movember Prostate Cancer Canada Translation Accerlation Grant.
$1,500,000 (3 years)
Bartlett J. The prostate cancer program project in rapid
development of novel diagnostic markers for early prostate cancer
(PRONTO). Prostate Cancer Canada Movember Team Grant
Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. $4,995,400 (5 years)
Bendeck MP. Microfluidic approaches to study mechanotransduction in cell division and migration. Discovery Grant.
$33,000 (1 year)
Bremner R. Influence of cell death on cancer initiation. Canadian
Cancer Society Spring 2014 Grants Innovation Grant.
$200,000 (2 years)
Bremner R. Preventing RB1 pathway cancers. Canadian Cancer
Society Spring 2014 Grants Prevention Research Grant.
$600,000 (4 years)
Connelly P. Investigating the role of red blood cells in oxidative
stress and thrombogenesis — from 4-hydroxynonenal chemistry to
mouse to man. Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
$451,101 (4 years)
Hanley A. (PI), Connelly P., Zinman B., Harris S., Retnakaran
R. Role of soluble CD163, a marker of adipose tissue macrophage
infiltration, in the etiology of type 2 diabetes. Canadian Diabetes
Association. $240,000 (3 years)
Fish JE. Control of tumour growth by circulating anti-inflammatory microRNAs. Canadian Cancer Society Spring 2014 Grants
Innovation Grant. $199,930 (2 years)
Meyn S. (PI), Stavropoulos J., Chitayat D., Chong K., Shannon
P., Keating S., Kolomietz E., Maire G. (Co-PIs) Ascertaining
the genetic etiologies of stillbirth via whole exome sequencing.
McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine. 2014 Accelerator
Grant in Genomic Medicine. $40,000 (1 year)
Ni H. Blood utilization and conservation. Pathogenesis and
treatment of immune thrombocytopenia: Are there fundamental
differences between anti-GPIba- and anti-GPIIbIIIa-mediated
thrombocytopenia? CIHR/Canadian Blood Services Priority
Announcement. $378,531 (3 years)
Ohh M. Molecular characterization of EpoR regulation in cancer
progression. CIHR Open Operating Grant Competition, Spring
2014. $834,840 (5 years)
Mogridge J. Assembly of the anthrax toxin protein translocase.
CIHR Open Operating Grant Competition, Spring 2014.
$658,800 (5 years)
Robbins CS. Cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating
inflammatory responses in atherosclerosis. CIHR New Investigator
Award. $300,000 (5 years)
Roehrl M. Genome sequencing of pancreatic cancers. OICR’s
Pancreas Cancer (PanCuRx) Program. $112,000 (1 year)
Seth A. (PI), Nam R., Sugar L. (Co-PIs) miRNA signatures
predictive of prostate cancer recurrence and metastasis. Cancer
Research Society. $120,000 (2 years)
Tsao MS. Oncogenic drivers in KRAS wild type pancreatic ductal
adenocarcinoma. Cancer Society Spring 2014 Grants Innovation
Grant. $199,480 (2 years)
Tsao MS. Functional genomics and in vitro modeling of
human pancreatic carcinogenesis. CIHR Open Operating Grant
Competition, Spring 2014. $754,235 (5 years)
Tsao MS. SOX2-mediated oncogenesis in lung squamous cell
carcinoma. CIHR Priority Announcement — Bridge Funding.
$100,000 (1 year)
Yucel YH., Gupta N. (Co-PI) Does VEGF-C stimulate lymphatic
outflow from the eye? Glaucoma Research Society of Canada.
Operating Grant. $15,000 (1 year)
22
Investigating Disease. Impacting Health.
PUBLICATIONS
PUBLICATIONS
Adeli K. Closing the gaps in pediatric reference intervals: The
CALIPER project- An update. Clinical Biochem. 2014 Jun;
47(9):737-9.
Ahmed N, Iu J, Brown CE, Taylor DW, Kandel RA. Serum and
growth factor free 3D culture system supports cartilage tissue
formation by promoting collagen synthesis via Sox9-Col2a1
interaction. Tissue Engineering Part A. 2014 Mar.
Akram A, Lin A, Gracey E, Streutker CJ, Inman RD. PMID:
HLA-B27, but not HLA-B7, immunodominance to influenza
is ERAP dependent. J Immunol. 2014 Jun; 192(12):5520-8. doi:
10.4049/jimmunol.1400343. (Epub 2014 May)
Al-Bazzaz S, Karamchandani J, Mocarski E, Horvath E, Rotondo
F, Kovacs K. Ectopic prolactin-producing pituitary adenoma in a
benign ovarian cystic teratoma. Endocr Pathol. 2014 Mar. (ePub
ahead of print)
Amemiya Y, Bacopulos S, and Seth A. Novel ubiquitin E3 ligases as
targets for cancer therapy: Focus on breast cancer associated gene
2 (BCA2). Springer Science Publishing Company. 2014. (In press)
Arce-Salinas C, Riesco-Martinez MC, Hanna W, Bedard P, Warner
E. Complete response of metastatic androgen receptor-positive
breast cancer to bicalutamide: Case report and review of the
literature. J Clin Oncol. 2014 Jun. (Epub ahead of print)
Ardelean DS,Yin M, Jerkic M, Peter M, Ngan B, Kerbel RS,
Foster FS, Letarte M. Anti-VEGF therapy reduces intestinal
inflammation in Endoglin heterozygous mice subjected to
experimental colitis. Angiogenesis. 2014 Jul; 17(3):641-59.
Bailey D, Perumal N, Yazdanpanah M, Al Mahmud A, Baqui
AH, Adeli K, Roth DE. Maternal-fetal-infant dynamics of the
C3-epimer of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Clinical biochemistry. 2014
Jun; 47(9):816-22.
Baxter S, Aronson S, Edelmann L, Lebo M, Lerner-Ellis J, Lyons E,
Oates M, Rehm H,Variant Wire Consortium. Supporting the free
exchange of clinical laboratory variant data through VariantWire.
American Journal of Human Genetics. 2014 Oct.
Bery A, Leung F, Smith CR, Diamandis EP, Kulasingam V.
Deciphering the ovarian cancer ascites fluid peptidome. Clin
Proteomics. 2014; 11:13.
Butz H, Szabo PM, Nofech-Mozes R, Rotondo F, Kovacs K,
Mirham L, Girgis H, Boles D, Patocs A,Yousef GM. Integrative
bioinformatics analysis reveals new prognostic biomarkers of clear
cell renal cell carcinoma. Clin Chem. Aug 2014. (Epub ahead of
print)
Campbell IK, Miescher SM, Branch DR, Mott PJ, Lazarus AH,
Han D, Maraskovsky E, Zuercher AW, Neschadim A, Leontyev
D, McKenzie BS, Käsermann F. Therapeutic effect of IVIG on
inflammatory arthritis in mice is dependent upon the Fc portion
and independent of sialylation or basophils. J Immunol. 2014;
192:5031-5038.
Chetty R, Bateman AC, Torlakovic E, Wang LM, Gill P, Al-Badri
A, Arrends M, Biddlestone L, Burroughs S, Carey F, Cowlishaw
D, Crowther S, Da Costa P, Dada MA, d’Abhemar C, Dasgupta
K, de Cates C, Deshpande V, Feakins RM, Foria B, Foria V, Fuller
C, Green B, Greenson JK, Griffiths P, Hafezi-Bakhtiari S, Henry J,
Jaynes E, Jeffers MD, Kaye P, Landers R, Lauwers GY, Loughrey M,
Mapstone N, Novelli M, Odze R, Poller D, Rowsell C, Sanders
S, Sarsfield P, Schofield JB, Sheahan K, Shepherd N, Sherif A,
Sington J, Walsh S, Williams N, Wong N. A pathologist’s survey on
the reporting of sessile serrated adenomas/polyps. J Clin Pathol.
2014 May; 67(5):426-30.
Cheung C, Banerjee D, Barnes P, Berendt R, Butany J, Canil
S, Clarke B, El-Zimaity H, Garratts J, Geldenhuys L, Gilks B,
Manning L, Mengel M, Perez-Ordonez, Pilavdzic D, Riddell
RH, et al. Canadian Association of Pathologists–Association
canadienne des pathologistes National Standards Committee for
High ComplexityTesting/Immunohistochemistry: guidelines
for the preparation, release, and storage of unstained archived
diagnostic tissue sections for immunohistochemistry. Am J Clin
Pathol. 2014. (In press)
Cretu D, Prassas I, Saraon P, Batruch I, Gandhi R, Diamandis
EP, Chandran V. Identification of psoriatic arthritis mediators in
synovial fluid by quantitative mass spectrometry. Clin Proteomics.
2014; 11:27.
Da Rosa MR, Milot L, Sugar L,Vesprini D, Chung H, Loblaw
Belcheva A, Irrazabal T, Robertson SJ, Streutker C, Maughan
A, Pond GR, Klotz L, Haider MA. A prospective comparison of
H, Rubino S, Moriyama EH, Copeland JK, Kumar S, Green
MRI-US fused targeted biopsy versus systemic ultrasound-guided
B, Geddes K, Pezo RC, Navarre WW, Milosevic M, Wilson BC,
biopsy for detecting clinically significant prostate cancer in
Girardin SE, Wolever TM, Edelmann W, Guttman DS, Philpott
patients on active surveillance. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2014 Jul.
DJ, Martin A. Gut microbial metabolism drives transformation of
(Epub ahead of print)
msh2-deficient colon epithelial cells. Cell. 2014 Jul; 158(2):288-99.
DB Rootman, MKS Heran, J Rootman,VA White,YH Yucel.
Bendavid, R, Lou W, Koch A, Iakovlev V. Mesh-Related
Cavernous venous of the orbit malformations of the orbit (so
SIN Syndrome. A surreptitious irreversible neuralgia and its
called cavernous hemangioma): a comprehensive evaluation of
morphologic background in the etiology of post-herniorrhaphy
their clinical, imaging and histologic nature. British Journal of
pain. International Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2014; 5:799-810. Ophthalmology. 2014 Jul; 98(7):880-8.
LMP News | Vol. 17 No. 1 – 2014
23
PUBLICATIONS
de Kock L, Sabbaghian N, Plourde F, Srivastava A, Weber E,
Bouron-Dal Soglio D, Hamel N, Choi JH, Park SH, Deal SL,
Kelsey MM, Dishop MK, Esbenshade A, Kuttesch JF, Jacques
TS,Perry A, Leichter H, Maeder P, Brundler MA, Warner J, Neal
J, Zacharin M, Korbonits M, Cole T, Traunecker H, McLean
TW, Rotondo F, Dent R,Valentini A, Hanna W, Rawlinson E,
Rakovitch E, Sun P, Narod SA. Factors associated with breast
cancer mortality after local recurrence. Curr Oncol. 2014 Jun;
21(3):e418-25.
Devon KM, Lerner-Ellis JP, Ganai S, Angelos P. Ethics and
genomic medicine, how to navigate decisions in surgical oncology.
J Surg Oncol. 2014 Sep.
Di Ieva A, Butz H, Nimah M, Rotondo F, De Rosa S, Sav A,
Yousef GM, Kovacs K, Cusimano MD. MicroRNAs as biomarkers
in pituitary tumors. Neurosurgery. 2014; 75: 181- 189.
Di Ieva A, Rotondo F, Syro LV, Cusimano MD, Kovacs K.
Aggressive pituitary adenomas-diagnosis and emerging treatments.
Nature Rev Endocrinol. 2014; 10:423-435.
Dorn J, Beaufort N, Schmitt M, Diamandis EP, Goettig P,
Magdolen V. Function and clinical relevance of kallikrein-related
peptidases and other serine proteases in gynecological cancers.
Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci. 2014; 51:63-84.
Finch A, Metcalfe K, Fine A, Atri L, Pupavac M, Charames G,
Narod S, Lerner-Ellis J. Clinical sensitivity of the Ministry of
Health of Ontario eligibility Criteria for Genetic Testing for
Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Genes, BRCA1 and
BRCA2. 2014 Jun.
Finch A, Metcalfe K, Fine A, Atri L, Pupavac M, Charames
G, Narod S, Lerner-Ellis J. DNA variant profiles in 10,000
individuals with Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer in
Ontario. Human Mutation. 2014 Jun.
G Karagiannis, Treacy A, Messenger D, Grin A, Kirsch R, Riddell
RH, Diamandis E. Expression patterns of bone morphogenetic
protein antagonists in colorectal cancer desmoplastic invasion
fronts. Mol Oncol. 2014 Apr. (Epub ahead of print)
Ghert M,Yao X, Corbett T, Gupta AA, Kandel RA,Verma S,
Werier J. Treatment and follow-up strategies in desmoid tumours:
a practice guideline. Current Oncol. 2014 Aug; 21(4):e642-e649.
Jones PJ, Senanayake VK, Pu S, Jenkins DJ, Connelly PW,
Lamarche B, Couture P, Charest A, Baril-Gravel L, West SG, Liu
X, Fleming JA, McCrea CE, Kris-Etherton PM. DHA-enriched
high-oleic acid canola oil improves lipid profile and lowers
predicted cardiovascular disease risk in the canola oil multicenter
randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2014; 100:88-97.
Dutta P, Parthan G, Aggarwal A, Kumar S, Kakkar N, Bhansali
Kabaroff L, Gupta A, Menezes S, Babichev Y, Kandel R, Swallow
A, Rotondo F, Kovacs K. Aminodarone induced hyponatremia
CJ, Dickson BC, Gladdy RA. Development of genetically flexible
masquerading as syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone
mouse models of sarcoma using RCAS-TVA mediated gene
secretion by anaplastic carcinoma of prostate. Case Report in Urol. delivery. PloS One. 2014 Apr; 14;9(4):e94817.
2014; 214:Art#136984:1-6.
Karagiannis GS, Pavlou MP, Saraon P, Musrap N, Xie A, Batruch I,
Erek-Toprak A, Bingol-Ozakpinar O, Karaca Z, Cikrikcioglu MA, Prassas I, Dimitromanolakis A, Petraki C, Diamandis EP. In-depth
Hursitoglu M, Uras AR, Adeli K, Uras F. Association of plasma
proteomic delineation of the colorectal cancer exoproteome:
growth arrest-specific protein 6 (Gas6) concentrations with
Mechanistic insight and identification of potential biomarkers. J
albuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes. Renal failure. 2014
Proteomics. 2014; 103:121-36.
Jun; 36(5):737-42.
Kew S,Ye C, Hanley AJ, Sermer M, Connelly PW, Zinman B,
Farr S, Taher J, Adeli K. Glucagon-like peptide-1 as a key
Retnakaran R. The cardiometabolic implications of postpartum
regulator of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism in fasting and
weight changes in the first year after delivery. Diabetes Care. 2014;
postprandial states. Cardiovasc Hematol Disord Drug Targets.
37:1998-2006.
2014; 14(2):126-36.
Kolin DL, Sy K, Rotondo F, Bassily MN, Kovacs K, BrezdenFerguson S, Aronson M, Pollett A, Eiriksson L, Oza A, Gallinger
Masley C, Streutker CJ,Yousef GM. Prognostic significance of
S, Lerner-Ellis J, Alvandi Z, Bernardini M, Mackay H, Mojtahedi
human tissue kallikrein-related pepidases 6 and 10 in gastric
G, Tone A, Massey C, Clarke B. Lynch syndrome in endometrial
cancer. Biol chem. 2014; 395:1087-1093.
cancer. Cancer. 2014 Jun. (In Press)
Kolomietz E. Placental Molar Disease—What are the benefits
Finch A, Metcalfe K, Fine A, Atri L, Pupavac M, Charames G,
and barriers to adopting a comprehensive diagnostic service? The
Narod S, Lerner-Ellis J. Retrospective Analysis of 5,244 hereditary International Journal of Gynecological Pathology. 2014.
breast and ovarian cancer families tested for BRCA1 and BRCA2
in Ontario. 2014 Jun.
Kosanam H, Thai K, Zhang Y, Advani A, Connelly KA, Diamandis
EP, Gilbert RE. Diabetes induces lysine acetylation of intermediary metabolism enzymes in the kidney. Diabetes. 2014; 63:2432-9.
24
Investigating Disease. Impacting Health.
PUBLICATIONS
Kovacs K, Asa SL. Editorial: The birth of Endocrine Pathology.
Endocr Pathol. 2014; 25:2.
Kovacs K. Editorial: Gamma knife radiosurgery and nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas. J Neurosurg. 2014; 120:645.
Kramer CK, Hamilton JK,Ye C, Hanley AJ, Connelly PW, Sermer
M, Zinman B, Retnakaran R. Antepartum determinants of rapid
early life weight gain in term infants born to women with and
without gestational diabetes. Clin Endocrinol. 2014; 81:387-394.
Lebo M, Lerner-Ellis J,The Canadian Open Genetics Repository
working groups.The Canadian Open Genetics Repository. 2014 Jun.
Lepage P, Albrecht S, Horvath E, Kovacs K, Priest JR, Foulkes
WD. Pituitary blastoma: a pathognomonic feature of germ-line
DICER1 mutations. Acta Neuropathol. 2014; 128:111-122.
Lerner-Ellis JP, Aldubayan SH, Hernandez AL, Kelly MA,
Stuenkel AJ, Walsh J, Joshi VA. The spectrum of FBN1, TGFβR1,
TGFβR2 and ACTA2 variants in 594 individuals with suspected
Marfan Syndrome, Loeys-Dietz Syndrome or Thoracic Aortic
Aneurysms and Dissections (TAAD). Mol Genet Metab. 2014 Jun;
1;112(2):171-176.
Lichner Z, Saleh C, Subramaniam V, Seivwright A, Prud’homme
GJ,Yousef GM. miR-17 inhibition enhances the formation
of kidney cancer spheres with stem cell/tumor initiating cell
properties. Oncotarget. 2014 Apr. (Epub ahead of print)
Morgan SM, Shaz. BH, Pavenski K, Meyer EK, Delaney M,
Szczepiorkowski ZM. The top clinical trial opportunities in
therapeutic apheresis and neurology. J clin apher. 2014 June;
doi:10,1002/jca.21339. (Epub ahead of print)
Musrap N, Karagiannis GS, Saraon P, Batruch I, Smith C,
Diamandis EP. Proteomic analysis of cancer and mesothelial cells
reveals an increase in Mucin 5AC during ovarian cancer and
peritoneal interaction. J Proteomics. 2014; 103:204-15.
Neuman G, Colantonio D, Delaney S, Szynkaruk M, Ito S.
Bupropion and escitalopram during lactation. Ann Pharmacother.
2014 Apr; 14;48(70):928-931.
Neuman G, Nulman I, Adeli K, Koren G, Colantonio DA,
Helldén A. Implications of serum creatinine measurements on
GFR estimation and vancomycin dosing in children. J Clin
Pharmacol. 2014 Jul; 54(7):785-91.
Pavlou MP, Dimitromanolakis A, Martinez-Morillo E, Smid
M, John A. Foekens JA, Diamandis EP. Integrating meta-analysis
of microarray data and targeted proteomics for biomarker
identification: application in breast cancer. J Proteome Res. 2014;
13:2897-909.
Purwana I, Zheng J, Li X, Deurloo M, Son DO, Zhang Z, Liang C,
Shen E,Tadkase A, Feng ZP, Li Y, Hasilo C, Paraskevas S, Bortell R,
Greiner DL,Atkinson M, Prud’homme GJ,Wang Q. GABA promotes
human β-cell proliferation and modulates glucose homeostasis.
Diabetes. 2014 Jul. pii: DB_140153. (Epub ahead of print)
Long Q, Jianpeng X, Osunkoya AO, Sannigrahi S, Johnson BA,
Zhou W, Gillespie T, Park JY, Nam RK, Sugar L, Stanimirovic
A, Seth AK, Petros JA, and Moreno CS. Global transcriptome
sequencing of formalin-fixed patient samples identifies
biomarkers of recurrence in prostate cancer. Cancer Research.
2014 Jun; 74(12):3228-37.
Raizman JE, Cohen AH, Teodoro-Morrison T, Wan B,
Khun-Chen M, Wilkenson C, Bevilaqua V, Adeli K. Pediatric
reference value distributions for vitamins A and E in the
CALIPER cohort and establishment of age-stratified reference
Intervals. Clinical Biochem. 2014 Jun; 47(9):812-5.
Lu J, Santerre JP, Kandel RA. Inner and outer annulus fibrosus
cells exhibit differentiated phenotypes and yield changes in
extracellular matrix protein composition in vitro on a polycarbonate urethane scaffold. Tissue Engineering. 2014. (In press)
Rawal S, Einbinder Y, Rubin L, Pel J, Trinkaus M, Teitel J, Pavenski
K. Thrombotic miroanfiopathy in a patient with adult-onset Still’s
disease. Transfusion. 2014 May; doi: 10.1111/trf.12708. (Epub
ahead of print)
Markle JG, Frank DN, Adeli K, von Bergen M, Danska JS.
Microbiome manipulation modifies sex-specific risk for autoimmunity. Gut Microbes. 2014 Jul; 9;5(4).
Rotondo F, Bernardo MC, Scheithauer BW, Latif S, Bogaev C,
Sav A, Kovacs K. Atypical pituitary adenoma with neurocytic
transformation. Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol. 2014;
22:72-76.
Martínez-Morillo E, Hansson O, Atagi Y, Bu G, Minthon L,
Diamandis EP, Nielsen HM. Total apolipoprotein E levels and
specific isoform composition in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma
from Alzheimer’s disease patients and controls. Acta Neuropathol.
2014; 127:633-43
Rukavina J, Propst E, Ngan B, Nainar H. Cervical lymphadenopathy in young children: Case report of nontuberculous mycobacterial infection. Pediatric Dentistry. 2014 Sep/Oct; 36 (5): 250-253.
Salvi JS, Chan JNY, Szafranski K, Liu TT, Wu JD, Olsen JB,
Mishra A, Guindi M, Kandel G, Streutker CJ. Autoimmune
Khanam N, Poon BPK, Emili A, and Mekhail K. Roles for Pbp1
hepatitis-like reaction developing in a patient treated with
and caloric restriction in genome and lifespan maintenance via
interferon-β1a. Histopathology. 2014 May; doi: 10.1111/his.12449. suppression of RNA-DNA hybrids. Dev. Cell. 2014; 30(2):177(Epub ahead of print)
191. (cover article)
LMP News | Vol. 17 No. 1 – 2014
25
Saraon P, Trudel D, Kron K, Dimitromanolakis A, Trachtenberg J,
Bapat B, van der Kwast T, Jarvi K, Diamandis EP. Evaluation and
prognostic significance of ACAT1 as a marker of prostate cancer
progression. The Prostate. 2014; 74: 372-80.
Sav A, Syro LV, Rotondo F, Scheithauer BW, Uribe H, Penagos
LC, Horvath E, Kovacs K. Pituitary ganglioneuroma: case report
and literature review. J Cytol Histol. 2014; 5:1-4.
Schaeffer DF, Walsh JC, Kirsch R, Waterman M, Silverberg
MS, Riddell RH.Distinctive histopathologic phenotype in
resection specimens from patients with Crohn’s disease receiving
anti-TNF-α therapy. Hum Pathol. 2014 Jun. (Epub ahead of
print)
Serrano P, Grant R, Berk T, Kim D, Al-Ali H, Cohen Z, Pollett
A, Riddell RH, et al. Progression and management of advanced
duodenal mucosa, cancer syndromes, and cancer registries.
AnnSurg. 2014 Jun. (Epub ahead of print)
Shojaii R, Bacopulos S,Yang W , Spyropoulos D, Raouf A, Martel
A, and Seth A. Reconstruction of 3-dimensional histology volume
and its application to study mouse mammary glands. JoVE. 2014
Jul; 26;(89). doi: 10.3791/51325.
Simpson AN, Feigenberg T, Clarke BA, Gien LT, Ismiil N,
Laframboise S, Massey C, Ferguson SE. Fertility sparing treatment
of complex atypical hyperplasia and low grade endometrial cancer
using oral progestin. Gynecol Oncol. 2014 May; 133(2):229-33.
Singh S, Hallet J, Rowsell C, Law CH.Variability of Ki67 labeling
index in multiple neuroendocrine tumor specimens over the
course of the disease. Eur J Surg Oncol. 2014 Jul. (Epub ahead of
print)
Smith CR, Batruch I, Bauça JM, Kosanam H, Ridley J, Bernardini
MQ, Leung F, Diamandis EP, Kulasingam V. Deciphering the
peptidome of urine from ovarian cancer patients and healthy
controls. Clin Proteomics. 2014; 11:23.
Soares F, Tattoli I, Rahman MA, Robertson SJ, Belcheva A, Liu D,
Streutker C, Winer S, Winer DA, Martin A, Philpott DJ, Arnoult
D, Girardin SE. The mitochondrial protein NLRX1 controls the
balance between extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis. J Biol Chem.
2014 Jul; 289(28):19317-30. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M114.550111.
(Epub 2014 May 27)
Steriade C, Day GS, Lee L, Murray BJ, Fritzler MJ, Keith J.
LGI1 autoantibodies associated with cerebellar degeneration.
Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol. 2014 Aug; 40(5):645-9.
Su Q, Baker C, Christian P, Naples M, Tong X, Zhang K, Santha
M, Adeli K. Hepatic mitochondrial and ER stress induced by
defective PPARα signaling in the pathogenesis of hepatic steatosis.
Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2014 Jun; 306(11):E1264-73.
26
Investigating Disease. Impacting Health.
Syro LV, Builes CE, Di Ieva A, Sav A, Rotondo F, Kovacs K.
Improving differential diagnosis of pituitary adenomas. Expert
Rev Endocrinol Metab. 2014; 1-10.
Szafranski K and Mekhail K. The fine line between lifespan
extension and shortening in response to caloric restriction.
Nucleus. 2014; 5(1):56-65.
Tinmouth J, Henry P, Hsieh E, Baxter NN, Hilsden RJ, Elizabeth
McGregor S, Paszat L, Rucco A, Saskin R, Schell AJ, Torlakovic
EE, Raeneck L. Sessile serrated polyps at screening colonoscopy:
Have they been under diagnosed? Am J Gastroenterol. 2014 Jul.
(Epub ahead of print)
Tran C,Yazdanpanah M, Kyriakopoulou L, Levandovskiy V, Zahid
H, Naufer A, Isbrandt D, Schulze A. Stable isotope dilution microquantification of creatine metabolites in plasma, whole blood and
dried blood spots for pharmacological studies in mouse models of
creatine deficiency. Clin Chim Acta. 2014 Sep; 436:160-8.
Vieth M, Riddell RH, Montgomery EA. High-grade dysplasia
versus carcinoma: East is East and West is West, but does it need to
be that way? Am J Surg Pathol. 2014 Jul. (Epub ahead of print)
Wang T, Hsieh ET, Henry P, Hanna W, Streutker CJ, Grin A.
Matched biopsy and resection specimens of gastric and gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma show high concordance in HER2
status. Hum Pathol. 2014 May; 45(5):970-5.
Weckman A, DiIeva A, Rotondo F, Syro LV, Ortiz LD, Kovacs
K, Cusimano MD. Autophagy in the endocrine glands. J Mol
Endocrinol. 2014; 52:R151-163.
Whittle D, Williams N, Nicholson A, King-Robinson K, Kirsch
R, Riddell RH, Mazzulli T, Lee M. Whipple’s disease in an
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(Epub ahead of print)
Wiegand KC, Sy K, Kalloger SE, Li-Chang H, Woods R, Kumar
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Yan R, Colantonio D, Wong PY, Chen Y. Suitability of Becton
Dickinson Vacutainer rapid serum tube for collecting and storing
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Yao X, Corbett T, Gupta AA, Kandel RA,Verma S, Werier J,
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Patients with Desmoid Tumours. Current Oncology. 2014 Aug;
21(4):e613-29.
OFF THE CLOCK AT LMP
Robert Guo
Pathobiology Specialist Program student
When you think of fencing, you might think of the masked outlaw Zorro or you may picture
epic battles in movies such as The Princess Bride or Pirates of the Caribbean. But for Robert
Guo, a fourth-year undergraduate in the Pathobiology Specialist Program, fencing is just a part
of everyday life. After taking an introductory course, Guo joined the U of T’s Men’s Fencing
team a year ago. He’s a sabre fencer and scores points with the tip and edge of his blade.
Electric sensors in his and his opponent’s clothing closely track each strike — a necessity
since competitors’ movements are so quick. Guo explains his affinity for this intense sport that
combines physical and mental agility.
What do you like most about fencing?
I like the strategic aspects of fencing the most. Fencing involves a lot of mind games. If you can predict what your
opponent will do next, or if you can bait them into doing a particular move, then you can gain the upper hand in that
exchange. It is part psychology and reverse-psychology.
What is the connection between your academic life and fencing?
One of the key skills in fencing is the ability to process multiple sources of information instantaneously; when my
opponent starts an attack, I need to be aware of the distance between us and the position, angle and speed of his blade.
I also have to think about the position of my opponent’s torso and feet and keep up with his tempo. Then he may change
his tempo, the angle of his blade, or anything else, and I need to re-evaluate everything instantaneously and respond
accordingly. Likewise, during lectures, it is important to pay close attention to what the professor is saying, how they
are saying it, the body language they are using as they say it, and what they are presenting on the PowerPoint to best
understand what the professor is emphasizing.
In addition to your regular undergraduate courses you’ve also been conducting research. What lab
are you in and what are you studying?
I just finished 16 months of research with Dr. Hong Chang, studying prognostic factors in acute myeloid leukemia, and I
am now beginning to study bioinformatics of non-small cell lung cancer xenografts in Dr. Ming-Sound Tsao’s lab.
What do you plan to do in the future?
I am working towards becoming a physician researcher and I’d ideally like to practice in Toronto.
LMP News | Vol. 17 No. 1 – 2014
27
INVESTIGATING
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IMPACTING
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