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X-WR-CALNAME:Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME)
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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME)
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221201T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221201T123000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20220908T180738Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221130T192258Z
UID:38698-1669896000-1669897800@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Cell and Tissue Stream - Lauren Baerg
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Cell and Tissue Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for cell and tissue stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: Leveraging probiotic-derived membrane vesicles as a postbiotic therapeutic for Crohn’s disease\nAbstract: Bacterial membrane vesicles (BMVs) are bilipid nanoparticles produced as a conserved method of intercellular communication for the delivery of diverse bacterial products. These biological nanoparticles have potential for significant biomedical application\, such as in the context of Crohn’s disease (CD). CD is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that is influenced by host-microbe interactions. In CD\, NOD2 signalling pathway is disrupted by genetic and environmental factors. Overcoming NOD2 hypoactivity presents a novel therapeutic target for restoring host-microbe communication in CD. However\, muramyl dipeptide (MDP)\, the NOD2 agonist\, is a poor drug candidate due to its large molecular weight and hydrophilicity. MDP is a product of bacterial peptidoglycan (PG) degradation and is a potential cargo of BMVs. We propose the application of probiotic-derived BMVs as an MDP delivery system for the management of CD. In preliminary work\, we demonstrated that isolated BMVs from B. subtilis carry PG fragments capable of inducing IL-8 secretion and CXCL1 expression in HCT116 cells in a NOD2-dependent manner. In addition\, we applied metabolic engineering approaches to optimize BMV production and MDP packaging through the inducible expression of PG hydrolases in both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Overexpression of PG hydrolases resulted in increased production of BMVs and coincided with increased NOD2 activity of bacterial supernatants. Facilitated delivery of MDP by probiotic-derived BMVs demonstrates a promising strategy to enhance NOD2 signalling activity. This work contributes to the advancement of complementary CD therapeutics\, towards the goal of improving therapeutic outcomes and quality of life for CD patients.\nSupervisor Name: Radhakrishnan Mahadevan\nYear of Study: 2\nProgram of Study: MASc\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-cell-and-tissue-stream-lauren-baerg/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221201T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221201T130000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20221125T192234Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221130T192258Z
UID:39437-1669897800-1669899600@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Cell and Tissue Stream - Jo Nguyen
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Cell and Tissue Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for cell and tissue stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: Proposing a contractility checkpoint defining muscle cell cycle heterogeneity\nAbstract: Skeletal muscle tissues allow us to move\, smile\, and breathe. Our muscles get injured on a daily basis but fortunately\, they are capable of self-repair. This repair capacity owes in large to muscle stem cells\, residing in-between muscle fibers. Mechanical niche factors like stiffness can control muscle stem cells’ repair potential and activity\, but the mechanisms for such regulation remain elusive. In this study\, we propose contractility heterogeneity as a framework to study stiffness-dependent functional heterogeneity in myogenic cells.\nSupervisor Name: Penney Gilbert\nYear of Study: 4\nProgram of Study: PhD\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-cell-and-tissue-stream-jo-nguyen/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221202T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221202T123000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20220922T213739Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221201T193733Z
UID:38873-1669982400-1669984200@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Molecular Stream - Teddi Shaw
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Molecular Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for molecular stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: Improving AAV targeting through nanobody inclusion by alternative splicing.\nAbstract: Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are viral vectors that can be engineered to act as a gene therapy. AAVs contain a single-stranded DNA genome\, with a capsid protein shell. Although AAVs have desirable characteristics for a gene therapy\, their targeting and specificity can be improved. To increase the specificity of AAV targeting\, the inclusion of nanobodies into the surface of the AAV capsid is proposed. This concept will be proven in plasmids by synthetically developing alternative splicing\, specifically\, intron retention. This results in intron inclusion in the final protein. In this construct\, the nanobody will become the intron so\, we can optimize how many copies of the nanobody are included in the final product. To alter the strength of the splicing\, various properties will be modified. Firstly\, linker sequences that flank the intron differentiate the intron-exon border and promote splicing of the intron. The 5’ linker sequence contains the splice donor and the 3’ linker contains the splice acceptor\, polypyrimidine tract (PPT) and the branch point. These features promote the assembly of the spliceosome\, thereby increasing splicing activity. Secondly\, G triplets located in the interior of an intron enforce intron-exon borders. To investigate splicing activity\, three constructs are proposed. The first is read-through\, or no splicing\, where both the linker sequences and G triplets are absent. In the weak splicing construct\, only linker sequences are present. Finally\, in the strong splicing construct\, linker sequences and G triplets are present. When intronic elements are included in the construct\, the splice percentage is increased\, thereby lowering the inclusion of the intron. Once this methodology is proven in plasmids\, it will be applied to AAVs.\nSupervisor Name: Dr. Kevin Truong\nYear of Study: 2\nProgram of Study: MASc\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-molecular-stream-teddi-shaw/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221202T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221202T130000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20220922T213739Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221201T193733Z
UID:38872-1669984200-1669986000@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Molecular Stream - Shana Alexander
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Molecular Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for molecular stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: Effect of Fc targeting on induction of T cell responses by DNA origami vaccine\nAbstract: Cancer immunotherapy aims to educate the body’s own immune system to fight cancer in ways analogous to how they fend off disease-causing pathogens. As such\, cancer therapies targeting T cells\, like immune checkpoint blockade and adoptive cell therapy\, have revolutionized the field of oncology. However\, only a subset of cancers seem to respond because 1) the patient lacks pre-existing T cells that can recognize the tumor and 2) the delivery of the therapeutics is ineffective. Cancer vaccines are a promising class of immunotherapy that I believe can overcome the first barrier. Cancer vaccines promote the expansion of fresh antigen-specific T cells that are better equipped with antitumour functions. They do this by delivering unique molecular identifiers of tumour cells (antigens) and immunostimulatory molecules (adjuvants)\, to dendritic cells. Dendritic cells baring the vaccine interact with the killer cells of our immune system (T cells) and program them to selectively target tumour cells for destruction. The second barrier\, ineffective delivery\, can be overcome using DNA nanostructures (DNs) which can achieve targeted co-delivery of vaccine components directly to the target cell. Lastly\, I am proposing that controlling the DN cellular uptake pathway by engaging Fc receptors on the surface of dendritic cells may enhance T cell expansion\, as demonstrated in viral infections. Therefore\, my research will focus on developing an Fc targeted DN vaccine that can enhance antigen presentation and antigen-specific T cell expansion compared to untargeted DN vaccines. The results of my thesis will demonstrate how we can use DNA nanotechnology to design therapeutic cancer vaccines with greater T cell responses leading to increased tumour eradication. The discovery of these principles may be incorporated into many cancer vaccination strategies and thus\, will impact the current and future of cancer therapeutics.\nSupervisor Name: Leo Chou\nYear of Study: 2\nProgram of Study: PhD\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-molecular-stream-shana-alexander/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221207T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221207T120000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20221121T210335Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221121T210335Z
UID:39410-1670410800-1670414400@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:TBEP Research Seminar: Defining the cardiac fibroblast and its role in health and disease
DESCRIPTION:Jeffery Molkentin\, Ph.D.\nDivision Director of Molecular Cardiovascular Biology and Heart Institute Co-Director\, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital \nProfessor of Pediatrics\, University of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center \nRegister for the seminar via Zoom \nAbstract: Collagen production in the adult heart is primarily mediated by the tissue resident interstitial fibroblast. Indeed\, adult fibroblast-specific deletion of the molecular chaperones required for procollagen biosynthesis\, heat-shock protein 47 (Hsp47)\, prevents new fibrillar collagen production in the adult heart. More specifically\, myofibroblast-specific ablation of Hsp47 blocked fibrosis and deposition of collagens type-I\, -III and -V following pressure overload\, which unexpectedly significantly reduced cardiac hypertrophy. These results suggested that an inability to generate new supportive ECM material by cardiac fibroblasts in response to pressure overload was sensed by the cardiomyocyte as it attempted to hypertrophy. To examine this potential mechanism further we also generated Col1a2-loxP targeted mice so that fibroblast specific deletion could be performed to then examine the hypothesis that reduced structural rigor of the newly synthesized type I fibrillar collagen network in the pressure loaded mouse heart would not support the same degree of cardiac hypertrophy. Indeed\, myofibroblast- specific deletion of Col1a2 in the adult heart following 1 week of pressure overload compromised the hypertrophic response. Importantly\, deletion of Col1a2 from the heart resulted in reduced stiffness and structural integrity\, at both baseline with developmental deletion as well as in the adult heart with inducible deletion. Unexpectedly\, developmental deletion of Col1a2 from the mouse heart resulted in a secondary fibrotic response with increased fibroblast number\, which is likely a compensatory response to the decreased stiffness of the ECM due to defective type I collagen. Collectively our results suggest that the cardiac fibroblast communicates with the cardiomyocyte in the heart through the integrity of the ECM\, which also effects fibroblast dynamics.
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/tbep-research-seminar-defining-the-cardiac-fibroblast-and-its-role-in-health-and-disease/
CATEGORIES:External Speaker Series
ORGANIZER;CN="Translational Biology and Engineering Program (TBEP)":MAILTO:reception.tbep@utoronto.ca
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221207T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221207T123000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20220913T210754Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221206T193754Z
UID:38780-1670414400-1670416200@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Clinical Stream - Bonnie Chao
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Clinical Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for clinical stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: TBA\nAbstract: TBA\nSupervisor Name: Dr. Shaf Keshavjee\nYear of Study: 4\nProgram of Study: PhD\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-clinical-stream-bonnie-chao/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221207T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221207T130000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20220831T170758Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221206T193754Z
UID:38604-1670416200-1670418000@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Clinical Stream - Seyed-Youns Sadat-Nejad
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Clinical Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for clinical stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: Challenging the Labels of Autism and ADHD – A Data-Driven Graph-Based Approach\nAbstract: More than 600\,000 children in Canada are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These diagnoses are currently based on specific behaviours (e.g.\, social communication difficulties\, inattention)\, which may not correspond to the distinct and unique underlying biology. Moreover\, the labels of ASD and ADHD often do not predict a child’s response to a specific treatment. Instead\, care decisions are made based on each child’s unique behavioural presentation. In many cases\, existing treatments are not effective\, can have adverse side-effects\, and many children continue to experience significant distress and often have poor outcomes as adults (e.g.\, mental health\, employment\, and independence). Collectively\, these challenges suggest that ASD and ADHD may not exist as uniquely-defined diagnostic constructs and highlight the need to discover other groupings that may be more closely aligned with biology and/or response to treatment. To address this need\, the proposed project will perform a data-driven approach to question the validity of current diagnostic labels and identify new groupings for children with ASD and ADHD that are biologically relevant. I will do this through an interdisciplinary approach that employs computer science-based machine learning approaches to go beyond traditional analytics methods in this field. The objective of this project is to validate existing groupings or discover new groupings based on unique and distinct biological data. To this end\, I will pursue a novel analytical approach: instead of comparing diagnostic groups as currently done\, I use an innovative data-driven approach that looks to the data to discover new groups that transcend the existing diagnostic labels or those that validate the current groups but that also explain why the current treatments are ineffective for many individuals in part because of their adverse side effects. I will do this by use of graph clustering method and graph neural network. This approach is capable of identifying groups who share similar neuroanatomical characteristics/complexities\, regardless of diagnosis.\nSupervisor Name: Dr.Azadeh Kushki\nYear of Study: 4\nProgram of Study: PhD\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-clinical-stream-seyed-youns-sadat-nejad/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221207T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221207T150000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20221103T143044Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221103T143044Z
UID:39263-1670421600-1670425200@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:The Future of Drug Development through Companion Diagnostics and Therapeutics approaches
DESCRIPTION:The Future of Drug Development through Companion Diagnostics and Therapeutics approaches \nNathan Yoganathan\, President & Chief Scientific Officer \nJN Nova Pharma Inc.  (more info) https://jnnova.com/ \nWednesday\, December 7\, 2022 \nRS 207: 2:00-3:00 PM \nRosebrugh Building (RS): 164 College St\, Toronto\, ON M5S 3E2\nhttps://goo.gl/maps/bVujArG4VdA7MHEo7 \nAbstract:  Dr. Nathan Yoganathan\, President & CSO of JN Nova Pharma (will be presenting their novel technology. JN Nova is a pre-clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company\, focused on efficiently developing innovative treatments that address significant unmet medical needs. JN Nova’s lead product candidate\, JN2019 is a novel anti-COVID-19 molecule. The company is collaborating with Canadian Government labs and Canadian academic centers to accelerate its COVID-19 therapeutic development. This proprietary drug class blocks pan-COVID infection from all variants\, with important renal\, cardiovascular\, and pulmonary protective properties. The lead therapeutic molecules are corona-viral neutralizing agents which trap and inhibit viral entry to the lungs via an enhanced ACE2 enzymatic decoy and cause viral clearance via immunological conjugation and have full ACE2 enzyme replacement activity\, supporting protection from acute kidney injury and enhanced recovery from the acute respiratory syndrome in ICU settings.  Extremely potent vs emergent viral variants: drugs will be developed as accessible\, rapidly administered therapeutic interventions in symptomatic pre-hospitalized and early symptomatic hospitalized patients for people that are infected by these vaccine-escape mutants\, such as Delta\, Omicron\, and beyond. \nThe Institute for Advanced Non-Destructive and Non-Invasive Diagnostic Technologies (IANDIT) in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering presents its inaugural guest speaker seminar series with Dr Nathan Yoganathan. The IANDIT  seminar series features leading experts in Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) and Non-Invasive Bio-diagnostics (NIB) research in manufacturing industry and healthcare sector in Ontario and beyond. \nJN Nova is interested in collaborating with UofT scientists and engineers to develop non-invasive COVID-19 related technologies including detection and treatment.  \nInterested members of the U of T community who would like to attend the seminars and meet the speaker can email to iandit@mie.utoronto.ca. \nBiography \nDr. T. Nathan Yoganathan is currently the President and Chief Scientific Officer of JN Nova Pharma Inc. Dr. Yoganathan is a university and industrial research scientist\, turned entrepreneur who became an experienced CEO\, having successfully launched several private and a public biotechnology companies. He has over twenty-five years of experience in scientific research in cell signaling and gene expression technology and instrumentation\, has published several articles\, and is an inventor of many patents. \nDr. Yoganathan is the recipient of numerous awards\, including from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada\, and the Thyroid Foundation of Canada. He serves on a number of advisory boards for both government and industry\, including the CIHR Strategic Training Program in the Bioinformatics Advisory Board\, BIOTE Canada’s Emerging Companies Advisory Board\, and past member of the Ontario Research Fund Advisory Board. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology. Dr. Yoganathan was a faculty member of the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto\, and was affiliated with the Lunenfeld and Tanenbaum Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital. He holds a B.Sc. (Honours) from the University of North London\, a M.Sc. from the University of Sussex\, and a Ph.D. from the University of Oslo.
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/the-future-of-drug-development-through-companion-diagnostics-and-therapeutics-approaches/
LOCATION:RS207\, 164 College St\, Toronto\, Ontario\, M5S 3E2\, Canada
CATEGORIES:External Speaker Series
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221208T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221208T123000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20220829T170757Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220829T170757Z
UID:38579-1670500800-1670502600@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Cell and Tissue Stream - Lauren Banh
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Cell and Tissue Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for cell and tissue stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: Joint-on-a-chip: advanced in vitro models to recapitulate the osteoarthritic knee joint with microfluidic organ-on-a-chip technology\nAbstract: The “joint-on-a-chip” (JOC) model is an instrumental tool for assessing human-relevant drug responses to novel osteoarthritis (OA) therapies. OA is a whole-joint disease presenting with chronic pain. Symptom management approaches are commonly used as treatment options\, but invasive joint replacement surgery is eventually required because there is currently no cure for OA. The lack of effective therapies is partially due to the absence of experimental models that replicate the complex human joint pathology\, dynamics\, and immune cellular responses. Therefore\, our objective is to develop a novel microfluidic cell culture platform referred to as a “JOC” that provides a more physiologically relevant model of the human joint. Our proposed JOC builds on our static “joint-on-a-dish” model that captures the importance of incorporating multiple tissue crosstalk with immune cells. It will include multiple joint tissues\, a circulatory immune compartment\, and a diffusional joint space to mimic a pathologically relevant OA joint. The JOC is currently being built in modules that contain human cartilage explant tissue and vascularized synovium tissue on two separate chips. Preliminary results reveal that cartilage explants on-chip have a similar gene expression and extracellular matrix degradation profile to the joint-on-a-dish model and that a vascular network forms on-chip by day three of culture. Ongoing experiments are being conducted to combine the modules with various components. Once all components are integrated\, our JOC model will allow for the elucidation of complex mechanisms necessary for targeted drug development and will facilitate the screening of potential therapeutics before entering the clinical setting.\nSupervisor Name: Dr. Sowmya Viswanathan and Dr. Edmond Young\nYear of Study: 2\nProgram of Study: MASc\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-cell-and-tissue-stream-lauren-banh-2/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221208T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221208T123000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20220829T170757Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221207T193728Z
UID:38577-1670500800-1670502600@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Cell and Tissue Stream - Lauren Banh
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Cell and Tissue Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for cell and tissue stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: Joint-on-a-chip: advanced in vitro models to recapitulate the osteoarthritic knee joint with microfluidic organ-on-a-chip technology\nAbstract: The “joint-on-a-chip” (JOC) model is an instrumental tool for assessing human-relevant drug responses to novel osteoarthritis (OA) therapies. OA is a whole-joint disease presenting with chronic pain. Symptom management approaches are commonly used as treatment options\, but invasive joint replacement surgery is eventually required because there is currently no cure for OA. The lack of effective therapies is partially due to the absence of experimental models that replicate the complex human joint pathology\, dynamics\, and immune cellular responses. Therefore\, our objective is to develop a novel microfluidic cell culture platform referred to as a “JOC” that provides a more physiologically relevant model of the human joint. Our proposed JOC builds on our static “joint-on-a-dish” model that captures the importance of incorporating multiple tissue crosstalk with immune cells. It will include multiple joint tissues\, a circulatory immune compartment\, and a diffusional joint space to mimic a pathologically relevant OA joint. The JOC is currently being built in modules that contain human cartilage explant tissue and vascularized synovium tissue on two separate chips. Preliminary results reveal that cartilage explants on-chip have a similar gene expression and extracellular matrix degradation profile to the joint-on-a-dish model and that a vascular network forms on-chip by day three of culture. Ongoing experiments are being conducted to combine the modules with various components. Once all components are integrated\, our JOC model will allow for the elucidation of complex mechanisms necessary for targeted drug development and will facilitate the screening of potential therapeutics before entering the clinical setting.\nSupervisor Name: Dr. Sowmya Viswanathan and Dr. Edmond Young\nYear of Study: 2\nProgram of Study: MASc\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-cell-and-tissue-stream-lauren-banh/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221209T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221209T123000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20220902T172311Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221208T193924Z
UID:38634-1670587200-1670589000@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Molecular Stream - Ayokunle Lekuti
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Molecular Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for molecular stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: TBD\nAbstract: TBD\nSupervisor Name: Dr. Warren Chan\nYear of Study: 3\nProgram of Study: PhD\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-molecular-stream-ayokunle-lekuti/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221209T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221209T130000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20220910T180742Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221208T193924Z
UID:38729-1670589000-1670590800@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Molecular Stream - Eric Floro
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Molecular Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for molecular stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: Towards a Live-Cell Fluorescent Biosensor to Image Beta-cell Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress\nAbstract: Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) stress is caused by an accumulation of misfolded proteins. When unmitigated\, it results in metabolic dysfunction and apoptosis\, and is a key mechanism responsible for the progression of beta-cell failure leading to Type 2 Diabetes. In response to protein misfolding\, a transmembrane stress-sensing protein called IRE1α can activate the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR). In the early stages of the UPR\, protein translation is attenuated to allow for refolding and repair. If unsuccessful\, degradation of protein and RNA begins\, and apoptosis may be triggered. To measure the dynamics of ER stress in living beta-cells\, we are developing a genetically encoded sensor based on IRE1α. This sensor uses a fluorescent protein-tagged IRE1α\, which homo-oligomerizes to dimeric and tetrameric conformations under early and chronic ER stress\, respectively. These conformational changes can be quantified through changes in the fluorescent polarization ratio of the sensor. To validate this sensor\, we have demonstrated the sensor responds to chemical and physiological (high glucose) stress induction in a rat beta-cell line (INS-1E) and mouse islets. Preliminary data suggest that UPR-associated XBP1 mRNA splicing is highly correlated with sensor response. Furthermore\, individual cells with the highest sensor response (correlating to late-stage UPR) show elevated levels of pro-apoptotic protein TXNIP. These data are consistent with a working sensor that can be used to investigate ER stress dynamics in beta-cells.\nSupervisor Name: Jonathan Rocheleau\nYear of Study: 2\nProgram of Study: PhD\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-molecular-stream-eric-floro/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221213T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221213T130000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20220512T152615Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221205T195238Z
UID:37309-1670932800-1670936400@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Invited Academic Seminar Series - Vivian Mushahwar- Walking Again after Spinal Cord Injury (Virtual Only)
DESCRIPTION:Speaker\nVivian Mushahwar\nProfessor in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation\nFaculty of Medicine & Dentistry\nUniversity of Alberta \n\nAbstract\nThe overall goal of the work in my lab is to develop interventions that improve function after neural injury or disease. In this talk\, I will focus on spinal cord injury (SCI)\, a devastating condition that drastically alters a person’s functional abilities and quality of life. I will describe our work\, which merges neuroscience\, engineering and rehabilitation\, in restoring the ability to walk after SCI. This will include a spinal micro-implant we developed for restoring standing and walking after complete SCI and a therapeutic approach we developed to improve walking after incomplete SCI.  Our interventions have the potential to improve function\, reduce the incidence of secondary complications and improve quality of life. \n\nHost\nKei Masani
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/invited-academic-seminar-series-vivian-mushahwar/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://bme.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/VivianMushahwar.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221213T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221213T160000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20221102T184304Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221102T184632Z
UID:39245-1670936400-1670947200@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:BME Holiday Cocktail Party 2022
DESCRIPTION:Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME) is proud to host this year’s Institute-wide holiday celebration! Get out of your labs and offices\, socialize\, get to know one another\, and help build our community. \nDate and Time:  December 13\, 2022\, 1:00-4:00 pm\nVenue:  Great Hall\, Hart House
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/bme-holiday-cocktail-party-2022/
LOCATION:Great Hall\, Hart House\, 7 Hart House Cir\, Toronto\, Ontario\, M5S 3H3\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Events & Workshops
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221214T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221214T123000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20220823T165238Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221213T193756Z
UID:38470-1671019200-1671021000@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Clinical Stream - Atousa Assadi
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Clinical Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for clinical stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: Risk Assessment and Prediction of Opioids Induced Respiratory Adverse Events\nAbstract: Opioids induced respiratory adverse events during sleep is a major health challenge. These adverse events are mainly characterized as prolonged reduction of airflow and respiratory rate and reduced blood oxygen saturation. The consequences are cardiopulmonary complications\, increased morbidity\, hospital length of stay\, costs\, 30-day readmission\, and higher mortality. The risk factors include age\, sex\, body mass index\, opioids’ dosage\, comorbid sleep and cardiac disorders\, and concomitant use of other medications. While identifying high-risk individuals\, proper monitoring of their respiratory function\, and timely interventions can significantly prevent the adverse events\, current techniques have low accuracy\, lack external validation\, have false errors\, cannot predict adverse respiratory events. Therefore\, in this research project\, our goal is to develop algorithms based on signal processing and artificial intelligence techniques for risk assessment and prediction of respiratory adverse events during sleep in individuals who are taking opioids. The outcome of this research can help identify high-risk individuals for more frequent monitoring of their respiratory function. Moreover\, the monitoring and prediction algorithm can be used to alert the caregivers in advance of an adverse event for initiating proper intervention.\nSupervisor Name: Dr. Azadeh Yadollahi\nYear of Study: 3\nProgram of Study: PhD\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-clinical-stream-atousa-assadi/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221214T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221214T130000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20220829T170757Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221213T193756Z
UID:38578-1671021000-1671022800@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Clinical Stream - Michael Tisi
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Clinical Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for clinical stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: Machine Learning Assisted Pulmonary Function Assessment via Intrabreath Oscillometry\nAbstract:\nIntrabreath oscillometry is a pulmonary function test that enables the dynamic tracking of mechanical changes in the respiratory system by measuring airway impedance. Raw volume\, pressure\, and flow measurements from intrabreath oscillometry tests were input to a novel classification architecture to resolve one of the following physiologies: normal\, restrictive\, obstructive\, or mixed obstructive-restrictive functionality. The MiniROCKET algorithm was first used to generate features from input time series\ndata and train a ridge regression classifier model. When used for inference\, output classifier scores are utilized in a soft voting scheme to acquire a final\, confident prediction of pulmonary function based on all valid intrabreath oscillometry trials for\na given subject. The proposed classification architecture was able to distinguish between normal\, restrictive\, and obstructive pulmonary function with state of the art accuracy; however\, it struggled\, at first\, to differentiate between restrictive and mixed obstructive-restrictive physiologies. After identifying and removing anomalous training examples and defining a region of uncertainty instead of a rigid decision boundary for the classifier\, the proposed architecture was also able to distinguish between restrictive and mixed obstructive-restrictive pulmonary function with state of the art accuracy.\nSupervisor Name: Chung-Wai Chow; Shahrokh Valaee\nYear of Study: 2\nProgram of Study: PhD\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-clinical-stream-michael-tisi/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221214T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221214T130000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20220829T170757Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220829T170757Z
UID:38580-1671021000-1671022800@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Clinical Stream - Michael Tisi
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Clinical Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for clinical stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: Machine Learning Assisted Pulmonary Function Assessment via Intrabreath Oscillometry\nAbstract:\nIntrabreath oscillometry is a pulmonary function test that enables the dynamic tracking of mechanical changes in the respiratory system by measuring airway impedance. Raw volume\, pressure\, and flow measurements from intrabreath oscillometry tests were input to a novel classification architecture to resolve one of the following physiologies: normal\, restrictive\, obstructive\, or mixed obstructive-restrictive functionality. The MiniROCKET algorithm was first used to generate features from input time series\ndata and train a ridge regression classifier model. When used for inference\, output classifier scores are utilized in a soft voting scheme to acquire a final\, confident prediction of pulmonary function based on all valid intrabreath oscillometry trials for\na given subject. The proposed classification architecture was able to distinguish between normal\, restrictive\, and obstructive pulmonary function with state of the art accuracy; however\, it struggled\, at first\, to differentiate between restrictive and mixed obstructive-restrictive physiologies. After identifying and removing anomalous training examples and defining a region of uncertainty instead of a rigid decision boundary for the classifier\, the proposed architecture was also able to distinguish between restrictive and mixed obstructive-restrictive pulmonary function with state of the art accuracy.\nSupervisor Name: Chung-Wai Chow; Shahrokh Valaee\nYear of Study: 2\nProgram of Study: PhD\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-clinical-stream-michael-tisi-2/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221215T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221215T130000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20221017T220759Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221214T193725Z
UID:39115-1671107400-1671109200@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Cell and Tissue Stream - Anthony Eiliazadeh
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Cell and Tissue Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for cell and tissue stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: Rejuvenation of Type II Alveolar Epithelial Cells Using Interrupted Reprogramming to Reverse the Hallmarks of Aging\nAbstract: Autologous lung cell therapy applications for the elderly are limited by suitable cell sources given cellular health declines with age. Alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells\, noted to be the distal lung epithelial cell progenitor cell\, have shown to be useful as a therapeutic cell source for a number of lung pathologies including Pulmonary Fibrosis. We look to identify aging hallmarks and use a novel transient reprogramming strategy to reverse damage resulting from age and disease. Our reprogramming approach is based on doxycycline-mediated induction of pluripotency stem cell genes\, Oct4\, Klf4\, c-Myc\, and Sox2 (OKMS)\, resulting in transient expression for a defined period\, thus generating rejuvenated aged AT2-induced progenitor-like (AT2-iPL) cells. Our findings show that aged (≥65 years old) human AT2 cells have limited clonal potential and are functionally deficient compared to young (≤35 years old) AT2 cells. The aged alveolospheres are smaller and appear to have a different morphology which will be explored further. Aged AT2 cells have increased DNA damage and increased gene expression for senescence biomarkers including p21 and SA-β galactosidase- this might contribute to the lack of proliferation in aged alveolospheres. We look to add additional assays investigating telomere length and telomere maintenance genes\, epigenetic marks\, and mitochondrial health. After we have applied our interrupted reprogramming process to aged AT2 cells\, we will characterize AT2-iPL cells and assess if they have restored functionality like young AT2 cells. Thus\, providing a rejuvenated population for therapeutic use with the elimination of cell-intrinsic deficits after the reprogramming process.\nSupervisor Name: Dr. Waddell\nYear of Study: 4\nProgram of Study: PhD\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-cell-and-tissue-stream-anthony-eiliazadeh/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221216T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221216T123000
DTSTAMP:20260404T213714
CREATED:20221117T205247Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221215T193747Z
UID:39393-1671192000-1671193800@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Seminar Series: Molecular Stream - Jose Gilberto Camacho Valenzuela
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Seminar Series: Molecular Stream\nGraduate Seminar Series for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME). This day is for molecular stream presenters.\nIf you would like to invite your Principal Investigator\, please add their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nPresentation Title: Developing and miniaturizing Digital Microfluidic platforms for immunoassays\nAbstract:\nCapacity to test\, track and monitor immune status against any antigen quantitatively is becoming more and more important for personalized medicine. Different types of detection technologies have been emerged and implemented.\nSome of them (such as conventional ELISA) are highly sensitive but unfortunately\, they lack of portability\, requiring laboratory conditions to be operated. However\, important effort has been done in order to move out the diagnostics from the lab\, developing miniaturized portable technology such as Lateral Flow Assays\, or another powerful platforms such as paper-based biosensors. They are not only portable\, but also low cost and time-responses are incredibly fast (5-15 min) compared to conventional immunoassays.\nHowever\, sensitivity is something that needs to be improved in these technologies to be compared to the conventional immunoassays.\nThere are other technologies that have recently emerged such as Digital Microfluidics (DMF)\, which is a liquid-handling technology that can manipulate liquids in discrete droplets.\nBy applying an electrical potential individually on an electrode array\, this not only allows us to move droplets in a fully controllable way\, but also to split\, dispense and merge them\, giving us the capability to make an entire laboratory protocol within a Digital microfluidic chip in a fully automated way.\nHence\, during my PhD\, as Aim 1\, I will be focused on the development of an ELISA immunoassay for COVID-19 immune response on a Digital Microfluidic platform.\nAs a second Aim\, a miniaturized DMF platform for immunoassays will be implemented\, towards a hand-held\, low-cost device.\nSupervisor Name: Aaron Wheeler\nYear of Study: 2\nProgram of Study: PhD\nZoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89610372821?pwd=azd4SCtYVWtreVovaGNPV1c2NGY2Zz09\nMeeting ID: 896 1037 2821\nPassword: 483329\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-seminar-series-molecular-stream-jose-gilberto-camacho-valenzuela/
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
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