Acute myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack) is a major disease of the cardiovascular system and a leading cause of death and hospitalization in North America. It results in 7.4 million deaths globally per annum. Current clinical medications only prevent the disease but cannot cure it after a heart attack occurs. Scientific evidence suggests that DAPK1 is a vital protein that can cause heart damage during a heart attack, and I have created a compound that is able to reduce the level DAPK1 in the heart so as to prevent heart damage.

Regular physical activity has well known health benefits. Paradoxically, exercise can increase the risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in those with underlying disease. Sports-related SCDs account for approximately 90% of all SCDs. Pre-participation screening can detect underlying disease and decrease sports-related SCD. Optimal screening methods have not been universally agreed and Canadian Masters athletes are not currently required to have a cardiovascular screen before participation in sport.

The development of effective immunotherapies, vaccines and immunomodulatory drugs are the main success stories from the last years in drugs development for cancer, infectious diseases and chronic disorders. We are developing a simple and robust new platform to evaluate the next generation of immunotherapeutics treatments at pre-clinical stage. This platform is called Immune Complex Phagocytic Assessment (ICPA).

Our project will investigate reasons for and against posthumous organ donation, and aims to better understand the motives and deterrents for becoming, or not becoming, a registered organ donor. The results of this study will inform the development of public awareness campaigns designed to address the concerns and viewpoints of the Canadian public and have a lasting impact on increasing organ donation registration. This project is relevant to the intern?s doctoral research on public trust in posthumous organ donation, and will further Lashbrook Marketing and Public Relations?

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in Canadian men and the third deadliest. If the majority of PCa are well treated using first line treatments like surgery, radiation and/or androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a proportion of cases (10%) progress to metastatic cancer resulting in more than 4 000 deaths annually in Canada. Improving the efficacy of first line treatments is a challenge to prevent the apparition of more aggressive PCa metastatic stage. Cancer therapies do not necessarily trigger simple cancer cell death.

In this project, we will establish biomarkers that objectively reflect the severity of injury, measure its progression, and predict neurologic outcome after acute spinal cord injury (SCI). This will be accomplished by comprehensively analyzing blood and spinal fluid samples from acute SCI patients. In addition, we will conduct a parallel experimental study in a large animal model of SCI with a similar analysis of blood and spinal fluid samples.

Hypoxic cells comprise most aggressive and therapy resistant population in the tumors therefore targeting proteins that are essential for hypoxia survival is an effective novel anti-cancer treatment. We have an ability to generate highly specific humanized synthetic antibodies against target of choice. We will generate antibodies against proteins that promote hypoxia survival, test their effect in 2D/3D systems and will move to preclinical/clinical trials upon successful in vitro validation.

Reduced number of insulin producing ?-cells in pancreas due to increased ?-cell death is a key defect in diabetes that eventually leads to elevated blood glucose levels and life-time treatment with glucose lowering drugs or daily insulin injections. Thus, finding therapeutic approaches to prevent the decrease in the number of insulin producing ?-cells in diabetic patients either by reducing ?-cell death or by increasing their proliferation is of great importance.

PUBLIC is an innovative art journal published by Public Access exploring the intersection between art, technology and contemporary culture. This fellowship develops PUBLIC’s open access interactive web platform, PUBLIC:PORTAL, using information visualization and design to showcase the journal’s cutting-edge collaborative and cross-disciplinary work. Working with the Sensorium Centre for Digital Arts and Technology at York University, PUBLIC’s information designers, as well as Public Access’s network of artists and researchers, the fellow will develop the pilot issue of PUBLIC:PORTAL.

To perform a complete molecular analysis of muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) before and after pre-operative chemotherapy to find changes responsible for resistance to treatment. Analysis will include a combination of DNA sequencing, RNA expression analysis and quantification of protein. Together this information will reveal the molecular landscape for these tumors.