To mark a decade of innovation and impact, the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research (TRCHR) is proud to open nominations for the Best Cardiovascular Science of the Decade Awards (2015–2025). These prestigious awards will honour the most influential research published over the past ten years in three distinct categories:
1. Basic Science Paper Award
2. Clinical Science Paper Award
3. Translational Science Paper/Invention Award
This is an opportunity to recognize landmark contributions from within the TRCHR community. Applicants are encouraged to nominate peers (or yourself) for this distinguished recognition.
Nominations close: June 15, 2025
Winners will be announced at TRCHR’s 10th Annual Heart Failure Symposium
Submit your nomination and learn more here: tedrogersresearch.ca/best-cardiovascular-science-awards
We are thrilled to announce that registration is now open for the third Temerty Faculty of Medicine Research Showcase, which will take place on Friday, July 11 from 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM at the Bahen Centre for Information Technology (40 St. George Street). We aim for this event to bring together research-based upper-year undergraduate students, graduate students, medical students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and staff from the various graduate and clinical departments across the Temerty Faculty of Medicine for a day of networking, collaboration, and learning.To register for this FREE event, click below!
Event Program
Keynote Presentation: An invited speaker will showcase their work and facilitate an engaging question & answer segment following their talk.
Research Symposia & Poster Sessions: At registration, trainees and postdoctoral fellows are invited to submit poster abstracts. The top 12 abstracts will be selected for presentation during symposium talks at the event. Please note that we require that you complete both theregistration and abstract & panel submission forms by Tuesday, June 10 at 11:59 PM. Prizes will be given to top presenters!
PI Talks: This engaging session aims to provide attendees with a discussion of research methods, experimental design, troubleshooting strategies, and more.
Career Coffee Chats: Attendees will be matched to 3 professionals based on the attendees’ sector preferences at registration. Attendee spots will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis and will be limited to ensure productive conversations with our guests.
Mentorship Panels: At the end of the showcase, we will host the following two mentorship panels that allow attendees to hear from trainee and mentor figures from their aspiring field:Applying & getting into graduate and medical schoolNavigating a post-graduate career in industry.
Registration will close on or before Friday, June 10 at 11:59 PM, pending ticket availability. Should you have any questions or require additional information, please visit our website or reach out to us at temerty.research.showcase@utoronto.ca.
Best regards,
The Temerty Faculty of Medicine Research Showcase Organizing Committee
Event Name: 5th Annual Black Graduate Students’ Association (BGSA) Conference
Date: Thursday, May 22, 2025 | 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Location: Multi-Faith Centre, KP208, 569 Spadina Crescent, Toronto, ON
The Black Graduate Students’ Association (BGSA), in collaboration with the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) U of T Graduate Chapter, is pleased to present our 5th Annual Conference. This year’s theme, Leadership & Innovation, will highlight research that challenges conventional thinking and showcases leadership across academia, industry, and beyond.
The conference will feature keynote addresses from Dr. George Dei and Dr. Chidozie Ojobor, including a featured talk titled “The Audacity to Innovate – Courage, Conviction and the Will to Solve Hard Problems.” In addition to the keynote sessions, the program will include rocket pitches, oral and poster presentations, and a panel discussion on leadership.
We invite graduate students from all disciplines to submit abstracts and register to attend.
Key Deadlines & Links:
🗓️ Abstract Submission Deadline: May 15, 2025 at 11:59 PM
🔗 Submit Your Abstract Here
🔗 Register for Conference Here
For any questions, feel free to reach out to us: bgsa@studentorg.utoronto.ca
Registration for TRCHR PD Day is open!
TRCHR is thrilled to invite you to their 2025 Professional Development (PD) Day – a “The Office”-themed half-day event, inspired by their annual Trainee Day that brings together a diverse community of clinical and basic science trainees and early-career researchers.
They have an exciting agenda planned for the day, including a keynote presentation from Dr. Cedric Manlhiot, and a workshop led by Dr. Chris McIntosh – both opportunities to hone your skills with AI tools.
The day will also include a career panel session featuring TRCHR alumni, as well as the chance to participate in and observe mock interviews! They’re looking for volunteer interviewees, so send an email to maria.bata@uhn.ca if you’re interested.
Date: Thursday, June 5, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM ET
Location: BMO Conference Centre
Whether you’re a clinical or basic science trainee, or staff from across the TRCHR ecosystem, this is your chance to connect, grow, and maybe channel your inner Assistant to the Regional Manager.
Lunch and refreshments will be provided (no Jell-O molds, we promise).
*Please note: registrants must use their institutional address to gain access to tickets.
Learn more and register online by visiting the Family Care Office website.
Start your U of T journey with the right support.
Whether you’re a new or returning student with a family, this online workshop series will help you feel more prepared and connected. Hosted by the Family Care Office, these sessions are designed to introduce key resources, answer your questions, and connect you with a community of fellow student parents.
Orientation for Student Parents: Parenting during an Undergraduate Degree
Date: Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Time: 10:00 – 11:00 am
Orientation for Student Parents: Parenting during a Graduate Degree
Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Time: 10:00 – 11:00 am
Orientation for Student Parents: Searching for Child Care in Toronto
Date: Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Time: 10:00 – 11:00 am
Orientation for Students with Families: Finding a Place to Live
Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2025
Time: 10:00 – 11:00 am
Orientation for Student Parents: Registering Your Children in School in Ontario
Date: Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Time: 10:00 – 11:00 am
Hello,
It is our pleasure to announce that CIHR will be hosting two MS Teams Q&A sessions for trainees, postdoctoral researchers and institution staff regarding award programs that CIHR offers. We will start by providing a quick overview of our programs; however, the majority of the session will be spent answering participant questions.
We will be using Slido, an interactive tool where participants will have the opportunity to ask questions during the session. We also encourage you to submit your questions in advance to Slido, and we will do our best to answer them during the session.
We will send you the meeting link and the link to Slido in the coming weeks to the email address that you use to register. In this email, you will also receive a PDF presentation providing a comprehensive overview of our programs. We encourage you to read the PDF presentation slides before submitting your questions to Slido.
Register now!
If you are interested in participating, we invite you to register for the session of your choice.
| Date, Time & Duration(*additional time may be allocated as needed) | Language of Session | CIHR Webinar Page to Register |
| · Date: Tuesday June 10, 2025 · Time: 1:00 pm, ET · Duration : 1 hour * | English | Register Here |
| · Date: Thursday, June 12, 2025 · Time: 1:00 pm, ET · Duration : 1 hour * | French | Register Here |
You are also encouraged to distribute copies of the attached poster, circulate this email and/or to promote it via your institutional social media to advertise these sessions.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by email at Support-Soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.
Sincerely,
CIHR Awards
Program Design and Delivery Branch
Canadian Institutes of Health Research / Government of Canada
Date
Friday May 2nd, 2025 Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm
Location
Medical Sciences Building Room 2172
Speaker
Dr. Elisha Krieg, PhD
Group Leader, Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, Germany
Abstract
Synthetic chemistry has enabled the creation of materials with remarkable properties, yet these materials often lack the dynamic nature exhibited by biological systems. Living matter is self- organizing and responsive, which is critical for many processes, including cell differentiation, sensing, transport, actuation, and—more generally—adaptation to internal and external stimuli. Intriguingly, incorporating concepts from DNA nanotechnology into the design of synthetic materials provides a spectrum of features and a level of control reminiscent of biological systems. In this talk, I will discuss our recent progress in developing such materials. We leverage DNA nanotechnology to introduce programmable mechanical cues into biocompatible hydrogel matrices that guide and interrogate the development of embedded cells and organoids. These matrices are compatible with diverse human cells and organoids, including induced pluripotent stem cells, placenta organoids, cerebral organoids, and kidney organoids. By modulating material stiffness and stress relaxation, we identify two distinct timescales of mechanosensitive processes controlling the polarity of epithelial cells. Furthermore, switchable DNA crosslinker modules enable dynamic viscoelasticity adjustments during ongoing cell culture, inducing reversible cell polarity inversions and guiding morphogenesis in complex multicellular structures. This programmable material presents a valuable tool for diverse applications in biophysics, tissue engineering, and disease modeling.
Biography
Elisha Krieg studied chemistry at the University of Cologne and the Weizmann Institute of Science. He received his doctoral degree at the Weizmann Institute in 2013, focusing on the development of stimuli- responsive and recyclable supramolecular polymers. In 2014, Elisha became an HFSP Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard, where he conducted research in the area of DNA nanotechnology. In 2018, he joined the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research (IPF) and the TU Dresden as an independent research associate. In 2021 he was awarded the “TUD Young Investigator” status at the Faculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry at TU Dresden. Elisha currently heads the DNA Nanotechnology research group at the Division of Polymer Biomaterials Science at IPF.
Date: Tuesday April 29, 2025
Time: 10:00am – 11:00am
Location: Donnelly Centre
160 College Street, 2nd Floor, Red Seminar Room
Speaker: Dr. Gregory De Crescenzo, PhD Polytechnique Montréal
The market of therapeutic recombinant proteins is now dominated by monoclonal antibodies (mAbs); it now exceeds 100 billion dollars. Due to the complexity of mAb molecular structure and mode of production, mAb manufacturing still represent a significant economic burden to the public health care system. On the one hand, in the biopharmaceutical industry, the lack of cost-effective and high-throughput methods to assess mAb critical quality attributes severely impedes the improvement of current manufacturing processes relying on cell culture. First and foremost, the assessment of mAb glycosylation, a post translational modification performed by the cells, is crucial as glycosylation directly influences mAb stability and therapeutic efficacy. On the other hand, in the clinic, the mode of administration of mAbs also needs improvement to achieve maximal therapeutic efficacy, as it forces the use of huge doses, in turn leading to patient inconvenience and high medical treatment costs. Furthermore, the lack of an efficient and versatile approach to promote the sustained local delivery of mAbs, alone or in combination with other drugs, severely impedes the development and implementation of the next-generation therapeutics. In this presentation, I will focus on the versatile and efficient engineering strategies my team has developed to control mAb quality and delivery by spearheading the use of two distinct peptides, the E and K coils, to design better biosensing assays and control the capture of bioactive mAbs in hydrogels.
Biography
Gregory De Crescenzo is full Professor within the Chemical Engineering department at Polytechnique Montréal. De Crescenzo was CRC-Tier 2 in Protein-enhanced Biomaterials Chairholder (2006-2016). His multidisciplinary training in chemical engineering (INSA Toulouse, France) and biochemistry (McGill University) gives him a particularly broad vision of bioprocess and biomedical engineering. He specializes in analytical technologies
applied to biomanufacturing. Notably, he is an authority on Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR)-biosensing, with international recognition in the development of SPR assays to characterize protein-protein interactions. His research translated in the training of over 25 HQPs in bioprocess engineering holding for most of them key position in industry in Europe and North America (Merck, Astra Zeneca, GSK, among others), within the last ten years. These achievements led to De Crescenzo spearheading a large biomanufacturing initiative, RAMP-UP, to boast research and training while providing adequate infrastructure towards the preparation for the next pandemic. RAMP-UP works in close collaboration with key biopharmaceutical companies based in Quebec. Worth mentioning, De Crescenzo is also director of PrEEmiuM since 2018, a NSERC-funded training program (CREATE), focused on co-training students from pharmaceutical sciences and chemical engineering to optimize their employability in Canada’s biomanufacturing industry. Since 2023, he leads the Biomanufacturing priority axis for the Quebec-based strategic cluster, for research on protein function, engineering, and applications (PROTEO).
Hosted by Dr. Molly Shoichet Snacks and refreshments will be served
The Graduate Centre for Academic Communication (GCAC) is offering free, non-credit Courses, Workshops, Writing Centre consultations, and Boot Camps this Summer.
Click any course title for a description:
- Academic Conversation Skills
- May 7 – Jun 11, 10am – 12pm
- Graduate Writing 1: Establishing Your Foundation
- May 7 – Jun 4, 2pm – 4pm
- May 9 – Jun 6, 1pm – 3pm
- Graduate Writing 2: Revising for Clarity
- May 9 – Jun 6, 10am – 12pm
- Navigating the Publishing Process
- May 8 – Jun 5, 10am – 12pm
- Oral Presentation Skills
- May 6 – Jun 10, 10am – 12pm
- May 9 – Jun 6, 10am – 12pm
- May 13 – Jun 10, 5pm – 7pm
- Prewriting Strategies for Developing and Organizing Your Ideas
- May 20 – Jun 10, 10am – 12pm
- Thesis Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences
- May 13 – Jun 10, 2pm – 4pm
- Writing SSHRC Proposals
- May 26 – Jun 9, 2pm – 4pm
- Writing NSERC Proposals
- Jun 2 – Jun 16, 2pm – 4pm
- Writing CIHR Proposals
- Jun 4 – Jun 18, 5pm – 7pm
Course Selection Form – click here to register for up to two Summer 2025 courses
- May 15: How to Give Engaging Conference Presentations
- May 20: Writing a Literature Review that Demonstrates the Need for your Research
- May 21: Becoming a Productive Writer
- May 22: Finding Additional Granting Sources
- May 29: Using Online Language Tools for Academic Writing
- Jun 3: Diagramming Strategies for Clarifying Your Thinking Before You Write
- Jun 17: Writing a Thesis or Grant Proposal
- Jun 19: Writing Field Notes for Qualitative Research
- Jun 24: Considering the Use of Generative AI in Academic Writing
- Jun 26: Conducting Interviews in Social Science Research
Click here for live workshop details and registration links.
On-demand workshops are always available.
40-minute Writing Centre consultations are available every week.
The GCAC is hosting a Dissertation Boot Camp and a Research Article Boot Camp in June. Click here for more information.