Donnelly Centre Research Excellence Awards

Athanasios Litsios and Lucie Wolf receive Donnelly Centre’s Research Excellence Awards

rahul.kalvapalle — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 14:51:45 +0000

Athanasios Litsios and Lucie Wolf receive Donnelly Centre’s Research Excellence Awards

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rahul.kalvapalle Wed, 09/11/2024 - 10:51

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Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomedical Research

Donnelly Centre Research Excellence Awards

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

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Athanasios Litsios (L) and Lucie Wolf (supplied images)

Athanasios Litsios and Lucie Wolf, postdoctoral fellows in the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, have been recognized with 2024 Research Excellence Awards.

The awards support researchers who are collaborating across disciplinary boundaries to advance innovations in health and medicine.

Litsios, who is conducting his research under the supervision of Brenda Andrews, University Professor in the department of molecular genetics, led a collaborative effort that generated the first genome-scale characterization of protein movement within the cell throughout the cell cycle.

Wolf, who received the 2023 Charles H. Best Fellowship, was recognized for her work identifying proteins that could function as regulators of the Wnt signalling pathway to target cancer cells – research conducted under the supervision of Stephane Angers, a professor in the departments of biochemistry and pharmaceutical sciences at Temerty Medicine.

“Athanasios Litsios and Lucie Wolf are integral members of the Donnelly Centre community,” said Angers, who is director of the Donnelly Centre. “They have contributed enormously to their respective labs and research fields, while simultaneously working to improve scientific engagement and community building through outreach.

"Both postdoctoral fellows have demonstrated leadership and initiative during their time at the Donnelly Centre.”

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Ulrich Braunschweig and Muhammad Rizwan win Research Excellence Awards

lanthierj — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 11:57:26 +0000

Ulrich Braunschweig and Muhammad Rizwan win Research Excellence Awards

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lanthierj Fri, 10/15/2021 - 07:57

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St. George

Donnelly Centre Research Excellence Awards

Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research

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Ulrich Braunschweig (L) and Muhammad Rizwan

Ulrich Braunschweig and Muhammad Rizwan have received 2021 Research Excellence Awards from the University of Toronto’s Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research for their contributions to the fields of gene regulation and tissue engineering.

The annual awards recognize postdoctoral researchers working at the intersection of scientific disciplines in the Donnelly Centre to shed light on the molecular processes behind disease and to devise new treatments.

Ulrich Braunschweig, a research associate in Professor Ben Blencowe’s lab, is being recognized for developing a novel DNA-sequencing-based technology, Spar-Seq, to study gene regulation in cells. This allowed him to discover novel regulators of alternative splicing, a process used by the cells to diversify protein species, which has been implicated in neurological disorders such as autism.

Muhammad Rizwan, a research associate in University Professor Molly Shoichet’s group, received the award for engineering a biomaterial that can support growth of stem cell-derived liver bile ducts in a dish. His work holds potential for deriving lab-grown transplant tissue to offset the global shortage of donor livers for patients with bile duct diseases.

“I would like to offer my warmest congratulations to Ulrich and Muhammad,” says Charles Boone, a professor of molecular genetics and a former interim director of the Centre, who helped select the prize winners. “They developed novel technologies in their respective fields which allowed them to ask questions and gain insights that were not possible before. I can hardly wait to see what they will achieve next!"

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Mojca Mattiazzi Ušaj and Shuailong Zhang win Donnelly Centre Research Excellence Awards

lanthierj — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 12:00:50 +0000

Mojca Mattiazzi Ušaj and Shuailong Zhang win Donnelly Centre Research Excellence Awards

Research & Innovation

lanthierj Fri, 10/30/2020 - 08:00

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St. George

Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research

Donnelly Centre Research Excellence Awards

Women in STEM

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Research associate Mojca Mattiazzi Ušaj and postdoctoral fellow Shuailong Zhang have received Donnelly Centre Research Excellence Awards for harnessing artificial intelligence for the advancement of cell biology research and regenerative medicine, respectively.

The annual awards recognize outstanding postgraduate researchers in the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research whose projects cross scientific field boundaries.

Working with geneticists, cell biologists and computational scientists, Mattiazzi Ušaj has created an automated pipeline for extracting from microscopy images hundreds of measurements of internal organelles from individual cells to assess how genetic mutations or drug compounds affect cellular health.

“In research you have more downs than ups so this recognition is very motivating,“ said Mattiazzi Ušaj, who works in the labs of Charles Boone and Brenda Andrews, both professors of molecular genetics. “I’m very fortunate to have had great colleagues and collaborators contributing to my research, and amazing support from my advisers.”

Zhang, who has an engineering background, has teamed up with stem cell scientists and bioengineers to develop AI-powered microrobots that can find and collect the stem cells from brain tissue for applications in regenerative medicine.

“This award is important to me because it recognizes my contribution in developing this technology,” says Zhang, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Aaron Wheeler, a professor of chemistry. “But the award is not just for me – it is also for everyone else on our team working on this project.”

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