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IM MAGAZINEWINTERT H I N K , L E A R N , D I S C O V E R .
2011
S
DIVERSITY
SPOTLIGHT
EXPERT ADVICE
LIFE AFTER IMS
The experts have weighed in on your pressing IMS issues...
Find out about the exciting and unique research our students and
faculty are pursuing!
Check out what the former IMSSA president is doing now!
OF SCIENCE
-
02 | IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Letter from the Editor .....................03
News and Views ............................04
Directors Message ........................07
Feature Article ................................08
Spotlight .........................................12
Close Up .........................................24
Research Highlight .........................26
Behind the Scenes .........................28
Future Directions ............................30
Ask the Experts ..............................32
Diversions .......................................33
Strength in Diversity
Childhood AggressionGenomics
Dr. Ori Rotstein explains how we are bridging the gap between
science and medicine here at the
Institute of Medical Science.
By Walid AzizMScBMC Candidate
This abstract design is meant to highlight the many different
sites across Toronto at which IMS students and faculty are
contributing to the wide body of scientific research. The spheres
which each
represent a single location are interconnected, much like the
networking done between collaborators.
Dr. Joseph Beitchman outlines the latest find-ings in the
genetics of childhood aggression.
A look into one of our very owns use of the zebrafish model for
innovative discoveries.
FEATURE
Cover Art
IN THISISSUE...
08
2619
MAGAZINE STAFFNatalie VenierAvi VandersluisKamila LearNina
BahlAnthony GriecoZeynep YilmazSamantha BremnerMinji KimWenjun
XuMohammed SabriWilson YuDiego AccorsiJoyce HuiBeatrice LauJulie
Man Connie Sun
Editor-in-ChiefManaging Editor
IMS AdvisorContent Committee
Design Editors
Photography
IM MAGAZINEWINTERT H I N K , L E A RN , D I S COV E R . 2011
S
DIVERSITY
SPOTLIGHT
EXPERT ADVICE
LIFE AFTER IMS
The experts have weighed in on your pressing IMS issues...
Find out about the exciting and unique research our students and
faculty are pursuing!
Check out what the former IMSSA president is doing now!
OF SCIENCE
-
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY | 03
ike all scientific endeavours, the IMS Magazine began as but a
simple concept. After an inspiring experience at IMS Scientific Day
in which I was amazed at the wealth of diverse research being
conducted by our students and faculty, I wondered why we are
only exposed to each others work once a year. I wanted to
showcase the vast array of research areas being studied by IMS
students and faculty, with the hope that this might promote more
interaction and collaboration. More specifically, my plan was to
develop a way to highlight the science and research going on at the
IMS in a cohesive manner that could be clearly understood by any
member of the IMS.
The IMS Magazine Committee has worked diligently to present you
the first edition of the IMS Magazine. In this edition, which
focuses on the diversity of science in the IMS, you will find an
assortment of student and faculty profiles that represents the
range of research taking place here. Hopefully, these will provide
you with insight into their unique studies and experiences in the
department. Additionally, there are also other sections such as
News and Views, which will keep you informed about current events
and updates, and Future Directions, where you can read about a
former IMS students journey beyond his PhD. We hope you find each
section enjoyable and informative.
The evolution of the IMS magazine has been an enriching and
incredible experience for me. I have had the opportunity to meet
and interview both world-class and up-and-coming scientists, an
experience which has been simply inspirational. Of course, this
project could not have been realized without the help of the
fantastic IMS Magazine Committee that has been essential in
bringing this idea to life. Furthermore, I would like to
acknowledge the brilliant IMS Magazine design team a collection of
incredibly talented Biomedical Communications students who were
integral to the creation of the IMS Magazine.
In summary, it is my absolute pleasure to present to you the
first edition of the IMS Magazine! I hope you enjoy learning about
the ongoing science at the IMS and can appreciate the broad
spectrum of scholarly activity in the department. Of course, your
comments and feedback are very much welcome, as we aspire to bring
you the best of the IMS.
Enjoy!
Natalie VenierEditor-In-Chief, IMS Magazine
Natalie VenierEditor-In-Chief
Natalie Venier is a second year MSc student who plans to
transfer into the PhD program. She is currently studying prostate
cancer chemoprevention at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
L Letter from
the Editor
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04 | IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY
NEWS & VIEWS
NEWS&
GENERAL STREAM UPDATE
IMS STAFF ANNOUNCEMENTS
MARCHFEBRUARYJANUARYVIEWS
Congratulations! The IMS is delighted to announce that Dianne
Fukunaga has accepted the position as the Student and Faculty
Affairs Coordinator at IMS. This is a well-deserved promotion for
Dianne. Her responsibilities will include managing the
MSC1010/1011Y course and modules, awards, faculty appointments, and
courses. The IMS will be recruiting to fill the Program Assistant
position.
Thank you! Dr. Neeru Gupta will be finishing her term as the
Director of the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) this
year. Dr. Gupta was responsible for the development and
implementation of SURP. Under her directorship, the program has
grown significantly over the years, attracting both domestic and
international students. The IMS would like to extend a heartfelt
thank you to Dr. Gupta for her dedication and outstanding
contributions to SURP. Best of luck in all your future
endeavours!
Warm welcome! It is also with great pleasure that we announce
the appointment of Dr. Vasundara Venkateswaran as the new Director
of SURP. We are thrilled to have you on board and we look forward
to your guidance and leadership!
For information on IMS news and events, please see:
http://www.ims.utoronto.ca
For more information on IMSSA/IMSSA-related events please visit:
http://imssa.sa.utoronto.ca
Feedback: Please send your comments and suggestions to
[email protected]
New Winter Modules 2011
Clinical Insights for Non-Clinicians
Clinical Trials
English Language & Writing Support
Introduction to Biostatistics
Preclinical Models
Protein Mass Spectrometry
To find out about the new winter modules, click
here:http://www.ims.utoronto.ca/Assets/IMS+Digital+Assets/TR+Modules.pdf
110121723
2026TBATBA
TBA1Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Florida Panthers Hockey Game
Thesis defense workshop
IMS Open House
Transfer to PhD workshop
Toronto Raptors vs. Chicago Bulls Basketball Game
Orientation Day
Opera Night: Magic Flute
Look out for an IMSSA Pub Night!
Student-Supervisor Relationship Workshop (Jan/Feb)
Look out for an IMSSA Pub Night!
CIHR Operating Grant Deadline
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NEWS & VIEWS
IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY | 05
RECENT PUBLICATIONS & AWARDS
NEW FACULTY MEMBERS
IN MEMORIAM
MARCH
STUDENT FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES, SCHOLARSHIPS & AWARDS
Gomez D et al. Hips can lie: The impact of excluding isolated
hip fractures on external benchmarking of trauma center
performance. The Journal of Trauma. 2010 Nov; 69(5):1037-1041.
Gomez D et al. Controversies in the management of splenic
trauma. Injury. 2010 Oct. [Epub ahead of print].
Haas B et al. Survival of the fittest: The hidden cost of
undertriage of major trauma. Journal of the American College of
Surgeons. 2010 Dec; 211(6):804-11.
Hoang-Kim A. The First International Society for Fracture Repair
and International Osteoporosis Foundation. Osteoporosis: From
evidence to action. Combined Symposium & Working Groups. Adv
Orthop 2010; 2(1):15-18.
Haroon Nand Inman RD. Ankylosing spondylitis - new criteria, new
treatments. Bull NYU Hosp Jt Dis. 2010; 68(3):171-4.
Haroon Net al. From gene expression to serum proteins: biomarker
discovery in ankylosing spondylitis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2010 Jan;
69(1):297-300.
Nazemian Z et al. The effect of age on in vitro fertilization
outcome: is too young possible? J Assist Reprod Genet. 2010 Nov 2.
[Epub ahead of print]
Noor A et al. Disruption at the PTCHD1 Locus on Xp22.11 in
Autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability. Sci Transl
Med. 2010 Sep 15; 2(49):49-68
Sabri M, et al. Statins: a potential therapeutic addition to
treatment for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage?. W.Neurosurg.
2010 Jun; 73(6):646-53.
Sabri M, et al. Uncoupling of endothelial nitric oxide synthase
after experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage. J Cereb Blood Flow
Metab. 2010 Jun 2. [Epub ahead of print]
Noor A. American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG), Predoctoral
Presentation Award semi-finalist, 60th Annual Meeting, Nov, 2010;
Washington DC, USA.
Sabri M, 2010-2011 Brain Aneurysm foundation grant, USA (BAF).
Awarded for work on eNOS uncoupling after subarachnoid hemorrhage
in a novel mouse model.
Shabana AA, 2010-11 Faculty of Medicine OGSST Awards competition
and received the Government of Ontario/Edward Dunlop Foundation
Scholarships in Science and Technology.
Yilmaz Z. 2010-2011 Government of Ontario/Paul and Adelle Deacon
Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology (OGSST).
The IMS is deeply saddened to announce the sudden and tragic
passing of IMS student, Sara Al-Bader and her husband, Mike
Smoughton. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and
friends at this difficult time.
We are pleased to announce that the results of the 2010 Vanier
Canada Graduate Scholarships awarded by CIHR are now available. All
four of the prestigious scholarships were awarded to IMS
students!
Congratulations to the following students: Wigdan Al-Sukhni,
Nigil Haroon, Janine Hutson, Jonathan Yeung
Click here for more information:
http://www.vanier.gc.ca/hp-pa-eng.shtml
Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships
Anne-Marie Guerguerian Associate Member of Paediatrics, Hospital
for Sick Children.
Anna GagliardiAssociate Member of Surgery, Toronto General
Hospital.
Gustavo SaposnikAssociate Member of Medicine, St. Michaels
Hospital.
Narinder PaulAssociate Member of Medical Imaging, Toronto
General Hospital.
Douglas LeeMember of Medicine, Toronto General Hospital.
Evdokia AnagnostouMember of Paediatrics, Bloorview Research
Institute.
Aleixo MuiseAssociate Member of Paediatrics, Hospital for Sick
Children.
David CherneyAssociate Member of Medicine, Toronto General
Hospital.
Ranju RalhanAssociate Member of Otolaryngology, Mount Sinai
Hospital.
Marianne KoritzinskyAssociate Member of Radiation Oncology,
Princess Margaret
Hospital.
Paul WalesAssociate Member of Surgery, Hospital for Sick
Children.
Joel RayAssociate Member of Medicine, University of Toronto.
Asim CheemaAssociate Member of Medicine, St. Michaels
Hospital.
Scott BeattieAssociate Member of Anaesthesia, Toronto General
Hospital.
Sharon DellAssociate Member of Paediatrics, Hospital for Sick
Children.
Ariel Graff-GuerreroAssociate Member of Psychiatry, Centre for
Addiction and Mental
Health.
George YousefAssociate Member of Laboratory Medicine and
Pathobiology.
St. Michaels Hospital.
Edward ChowAssociate Member of Radiation OncologySunnybrook
Health Sci-
ences Centre.
Kim ConnellyAssociate Member of Medicine, St. Michaels
Hospital.
Marc JeschkeMember of Surgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences
Centre.
Fiona WebsterAssociate Member of Surgery, Sunnybrook Health
Sciences Centre.
Mary Pat McAndrewsMember of Psychology, Toronto Western
Hospital.
Andras NagyMember of Molecular Genetics, Mount Sinai
Hospital.
Gabrielle BoulianneFull Member of Molecular Genetics, Hospital
for Sick Children.
Amy CheungAssociate Member of Psychiatry, Sunnybrook Health
Sciences
Centre.
Claudia dos SantosAssociate of Medicine, St. Michaels
Hospital.
Lendra FriesenAssociate Member of Medicine, Sunnybrook Health
Sciences Centre.
Rohan GanguliFull Member of Psychiatry, Centre for Addiction and
Mental Health.
Muhammad MamdaniAssociate Member of Health Policy, Management
and Evaluation,
St. Michaels Hospital.
Theo MoraesAssociate Member of Paediatrics, Hospital for Sick
Children.
Patricia OCampoFull Member of Dalla Lana School of Public
Health, St. Michaels
Hospital.
Teresa PetrellaAssociate Member of Medicine, Sunnybrook Health
Sciences Centre.
Ayal SchafferAssociate Member of Psychiatry, Sunnybrook Health
Sciences
Centre.
Hong-Shuo SunAssociate Member of Surgery, University of
Toronto.
Taufik Ali ValianteAssociate Member of Surgery, Toronto Western
Hospital.
Find out more about faculty on the IMS faculty database:
http://www.ims.utoronto.ca/faculty/
directory.htm
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02 | IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Letter from the Editor .....................00
News and Views ............................00
Directors Message ........................00
Feature Article ................................00
Spotlight .........................................00
Close Up .........................................00
Research Highlight .........................00
Behind the Scenes .........................00
Future Directions ............................00
Ask the Expert ................................00
Diversions .......................................00
Diversity of Science at IMS
Childhood AggressionGenomics
Professional Programs
How we are bridging the gap between science and medicine here at
the Institue of Medical Science.
By Walid Aziz,MScBMC Candidate
Each sphere represents a location at which IMS is
contributing to the body of scientific research.
Dr. Joseph Beitchman outlines the latest find-ings in the
genetics of childhood aggression.
A look into one of our very owns use of the zebrafish model for
innovative discoveries
Learn about the Biomedical Communications, Radiation Sciences
and Bioethics professional streams.
FEATURE
CoverIN THISISSUE...
00
0000
00
MAGAZINE STAFFNatalie VenierAvi VandersluisNina BahlAnthony
GriecoZeynep YilmazSamantha BremnerMinji KimWenjun XuMohammed
SabriWilson YuDiego AccorsiJoyce HuiBeatrice LauJulie Man Connie
Sun
Editor-in-ChiefManaging Editor
Content Committee
Design Editors
Photography
-
DIRECTORS MESSAGE
IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY | 07
It is a tremendous honour to be able to participate in the
inaugural edition of the IMS Magazine. Up front, I would like to
extend my congratulations to Natalie Venier and her editorial team
for conceptualizing and bringing to fruition a new Journal which
highlights the breadth and diversity of research in the IMS. I
personally experience these unique aspects of the IMS when I meet
monthly for breakfast with a dozen of our first year students.
Together we share who we are, where we came from, why we are at the
IMS and what our research projects are. Our students come to the
IMS from around the world, attracted by our excellent faculty and
by the opportunity to address research questions using
methodologies ranging from fundamental science in cell systems to
in vivo studies in experimental models of human disease to
patient-oriented research using human subjects, administrative
databases and qualitative research approaches. The common thread in
this diverse range of approaches is the desire to better understand
the human condition with the hope and expectation that this new
knowledge will be applied to the prevention and treatment of
disease. In the IMS, we have wholeheartedly embraced this
translational approach to science through the development of new
courses in our curriculum highlighting translational research,
through our activities at the annual IMS Scientific Day and through
our lecture series in our summer student program. The IMS Magazine
will provide another medium through which translational research
will be highlighted. You will learn more about our students and our
faculty and how their work relates in some way to the goal of
improving health and preventing disease. Hopefully, the vignettes
will energize both our students and faculty to seek out potential
collaborative interactions. Individuals from outside our department
will begin to understand the excitement of research in the IMS and
seek us out as a venue for graduate training. In closing, Id like
to again recognize Natalie and her team for initiating this unique
project and to take this opportunity to wish you the best for the
holiday season and for a happy and healthy 2011.
Enjoy!
Ori D. Rotstein, MDDirector, Institute of Medical
ScienceUniversity of Toronto
Ori D. Rotstein, MDDirector, IMS
Dr. Ori Rotstein has been the Director of the IMS since 2000. He
is also the Surgeon-in-Chief of the Department of Surgery and
Division of General Surgery at St. Michaels Hospital. In addition,
he is a scientist in the Keenan Research Centre of the Li Ka Shing
Knowledge Institute of St. Michaels Hospital and a professor in the
Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto.
DirectorsMessageDear colleagues:
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08 | IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY
FEATURE
STRENGTH
diversityBy Ori D. Rotstein, MD, Director, Institute of Medical
Science
F
The IMS was established as an institute within the School of
Graduate Studies (SGS) in 1968. At the time of its inception, its
major purpose was to provide a graduate depart-ment in which
clinical faculty at the University of Toronto who were engaged in
research could serve as supervisors for clinical trainees desiring
to pursue formal graduate train-ing at the University of
Toronto.
in
ew would have predicted at the time that the IMS would grow and
flourish to become one of the larg-est graduate units at the
University of Toronto and
the largest in the Faculty of Medicine, with over 600 gradu-ate
faculty members and over 450 graduate students. Part of this growth
has been related to the addition of a number of non-clinician
scientists to its faculty ranks. These individuals may be
scientists, whose primary affiliation is with a clini-cal
department in the university or alternatively, or they may have
primary appointments in other graduate departments with cross
appointment to the IMS for the purpose of hav-ing access to our
students. The student numbers have also swelled due to the
attraction of non-MD students to our graduate training streams. At
present, more than half of IMS students are non-MD in background.
The majority of these are individuals entering graduate training
following comple-tion of their undergraduate degrees. However,
other health care professionals, such as those in Nursing,
Rehabilitation Science, Social Work and Speech-Language Pathology,
of-ten seek research graduate training after completing their
professional degrees. The Faculty of Nursing, the Faculty of Social
Work, and the Department of Rehabilitation Science have their own
graduate programs, but many of these health
care professionals continue to carry out doctoral studies in the
IMS due to the broad range of graduate research training
opportunities (e.g. bioethics, clinical and evaluative studies).
From this description of our faculty and student body alone, one
can appreciate the incredible diversity of the individuals
participating in graduate training in the IMS.
Our diversity does not stop there, however. IMS students and
faculty are widely dispersed throughout various sites affili-ated
with the University of Toronto Health Science Network. This
includes nine affiliated teaching hospitals, hospital-based
research institutes, and University of Torontos Faculty of Medicine
buildings on the university campus. Students at each of these sites
carries out his/her daily research activi-ties locally, but attend
central lectures and seminars as part of their coursework on the
main university campus. Further, our students perform their work in
a broad range of disci-plines across the health care spectrum. This
is not surprising given the fact that our supervisors are derived
from 12 clini-cal departments in the Faculty of Medicine. In
addition, our faculty members have expertise across research
methodolo-gies ranging from fundamental cellular and molecular
biol-ogy (including animal modeling of disease) to
physiological
-
IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY | 09
FEATURE
diversity
IMS students and faculty are widely dispersed throughout various
sites affiliated with the University of Toronto Health Science
Network. This includes nine affiliated teaching hospitals,
hospital-based research institutes, and University of Torontos
Faculty of Medicine buildings on the university campus.
studies in man to clinical trials to population-based research
activities. In a room of a dozen first year students, it would not
be surprising to hear about research on cell signaling pathways in
dendritic cells, to listen to studies of sleep physiology in man,
and to hear about the investigation of outcome of trauma triage
strategies using large databases.
With this diversity of diseases studied and method-ologies used,
how do we rationalize the existence of a single graduate unit?
After years of hand wringing as to how to address this issue, we
have grown to appreciate that this is one of our units strengths.
We have made translational research, i.e. the translation of
biology into patient care, a priority of our depart-ment. Students
are challenged to understand how
their fundamental research may lead to changes in patient care
and, at the other end of the research spectrum, how basic biology
and physiology influ-ence what questions we address in our clinical
re-search. Students from all backgrounds participate in a
translational research core course, providing opportunities to
understand how diversity across the spectrum of research is a
critical element of ad-vancing patient care. Our IMS Students
Association brings our students together for social events and
career development workshops. Our annual IMS Scientific Day
features a plenary speaker who high-lights the bench-to-bedside and
back approach to research. Research diversity is our strength. We
should continue to take advantage of it as a means of improving
patient outcome and healthcare delivery.
2
011
Wal
id A
ziz
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10 | IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY
FEATURE
Professional Programs
MSc Biomedical Communications
The Master of Health Science degree in Bioethics (MHSc) is
offered in collabo-ration with the University of Toronto Joint
Centre for Bioethics and is directed towards practitioners who wish
to increase their knowledge and skills in bioeth-ics by assisting
them in their roles as clinician/teachers, as members of bioethics
committees. It is a professional Masters degree program that does
not require a thesis.
More information:
http://www.jointcentreforbioethics.ca/education/mhsc.shtml
MHSc Bioethics
The Master of Science in Biomedical Communications (MScBMC), is
a two-year professional Masters degree. Biomedical Communications
is an interdisci-plinary profession that bridges the disciplines of
art, science, medicine and communication. Theories of design and
communication are combined with scientific knowledge gained from
basic and clinical science courses to pro-duce visual material for
use in the teaching of science, medicine and health promotion, and
the formulation of hypotheses and research goals as part of the
process of scientific discovery. Through the selection of
appropriate con-tent and media, the analysis of target audience,
and the evaluation of commu-nication instruments, the effectiveness
of original visual communication material is further enhanced.
More information: http://www.bmc.med.utoronto.ca/
The Master of Health Science in Medical Radiation Sciences
(MHScMRS) is designed specifically to develop the kind of advanced
academic clinician who is in demand in contemporary radiation
medicine practice. Graduates of the program will fill the cancer
care systems need for advanced, expert, and aca-demic radiation
therapists: a breed of professionals who continue to challenge the
boundaries of practice, contribute to accelerating the pace of
radiotherapy innovation and take clinical and academic endeavours
to new levels.
More information:
http://www.radonc.utoronto.ca/future-students/programs/mhsc-in-medical-radiation-sciences
MHSc Medical Radiation Science
2011 Joyce Hui
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IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY | 11
FEATURE
2010 IMS Enrolment Statistics
IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY |
32
504total number of students
Biomedical Communications
Radiation Sciences
Bioethics 026
MSc Direct Entry PhDPhD 112219Clinician Investigator Program
IMS Professional Programs58
52
221
240
30
MSc
PhD
Direct Entry PhD
MD/PhD 13
2011 Joyce Hui
-
rowing up in Chicago, Illinois, Paul Kelly had two passions: art
and science. After high school, however,
he moved to Michigan to begin a degree in engineering. Two years
into the program, he realized he wanted to fulfil his keen
inter-est in science and human movement. Kelly moved back to his
hometown to pursue a kinesiology degree at the University of
Illi-nois, and while in his second year, attended a fascinating
lecture about medical illustra-tion. Enthused and inspired, he
enrolled in additional art classes to enhance his artistic skills
and to better his portfolio. At the same time, he came across the
Master of Science in Biomedical Communications (MScBMC)
professional program at the University of To-ronto.
Kelly immediately knew he wanted to join the BMC program,
offered through the IMS. One of only five accredited graduate
pro-grams of its kind, and unique in Canada, Kelly found it
extremely appealing. BMC encouraged pushing boundaries and for-ward
thinking, unlike other programs which Interview by Natalie
Venier
G only focused on improving established tech-niques, he notes.
He liked BMCs emphasis on technology and was very impressed with
the work of the programs previous students. Additionally, coming
from the United States, Kelly saw a great opportunity to gain
expo-sure to an alternative system of healthcare. I was very
excited to be studying in the cultur-al diversity of Toronto, where
meeting people from many different backgrounds could also teach me
more about how to communicate to a wide variety of audiences, he
states.
Currently in his second year of the program, Kelly has a clear
passion for research. He is working on dynamic 3-D visualization of
sport-related concussions. Using dynamic visuals, he shows what
happens in the brain when an individual has a concussion. Kelly
hopes his research will help change the un-derstanding and
attitudes about concussions in contact sports. In a time when
sport-relat-ed concussions are gaining awareness, Kellys research
is quite important. Biomedical communication sets a mental template
for the population it provides a framework for
medicine and science and a visual image to build information on,
he explains. Through collaboration with his contact advisors Dr.
Doug Richards, Dr. Anne Agur, and Nick Woolridge, who are essential
to guiding him through his project and providing their sup-port and
expert advice, Kelly has been pro-gressing well. He has also been
in contact with such organizations as U of Ts BrainFit Lab, which
is currently conducting several research studies into the effects
of concus-sions on young athletes.
Kelly is clearly enjoying his experience at BMC, but he
acknowledges that it is not easy. He confesses to putting in more
than 60-70 hours of work in some weeks. When asked about his
favourite experience at BMC thus far, though, Kelly hesitates.
Thats a diffi-cult question. I would say it would have to be
working together with so many talented people, as colleagues. You
feed off of each others ideas. Its an incredible work environ-ment
filled with energy, he replies.
Although he recommends the BMC program to students interested in
medical illustra-tion, Kelly stresses that they should come
prepared. He suggests starting early; taking art classes throughout
undergraduate studies will help develop a really good portfolio and
gain important skills for the program. Start-ing the program with
confidence in your tools and art skills gives you the freedom to
play around with layouts and perspective, says Kelly, but BMC
places the strongest emphasis on a good scientific background in
its potential students. Moving forward, Kel-ly is certain that he
will continue to pursue biomedical research and medical
illustrating after his MSc. He hopes to continue working on 3-D
work in Toronto and aspires to one day work for IN VIVO or AXS.
Paul KellyDynamic Visualization Helps Understand Concussions
STREAM MSc Biomedical CommunicationsSUPERVISOR Nick
Woolridge
The above illustrations were created by Kelly to depict the
process that occurs when one undergoes a sports-related
concussion.
12 | IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY
SPOTLIGHT
-
tee, and she is looking forward to giving the incoming students
a better opportunity to feel like they belong to a diverse but
friendly community.
Malik has her eyes set on an academic career. Being very
passionate about teaching, she as-pires to work in a university
setting. For her PhD project, she is interested in conducting
functional studies to link genetic variants to RNA and protein
expression. Malik truly enjoys the research process and aims to
con-tinue in the research field because it is very gratifying to
see the results of your experi-ments and to know that they may make
a dif-ference in peoples lives in the future.
ative to Mississauga, Ontario, Ayesha Malik completed her
un-dergraduate studies at the Univer-
sity of Toronto Mississauga. She is currently a first year MSc
student at the IMS, and her research focuses on the genetic
variance of oxytocin and its association with childhood-onset
aggression. Additionally, Malik will be responsible for recruiting
psychiatrically normal child controls in order to compare them to
aggressive children.
When asked about how she decided to focus her research on
childhood aggression, Malik passionately states that she is very
interested in behaviour and genetics. Psychiatric ge-netics is a
very new and exciting research area, she says, adding that biology
and ge-netics greatly contribute to the environment individuals
choose for themselves, and ge-netic influences interact with
environmental factors to further shape behaviour. Despite coming
from a more biological background and having focused on the
genetics of dro-sophila for her undergraduate thesis, Malik has
always been interested in psychology. I took many psychology
courses during my undergraduate studies, and I deliberately chose
to move away from studying animal models as they are not always
adequate to study the full range of behaviours that are displayed
by humans, she says. She chose to do her MSc work with Dr.
Beitchman because of his holistic approach to under-standing
aggressive behaviour in children, which utilizes genetic methods as
well as the study of traits and other psychological fac-tors.
Malik, who currently holds a NSERC CGS-M Masters Award and an
IMS Entrance Scholarship, chose the IMS instead of other graduate
departments because of the di-
Ayesha MalikDiscovering the Role of Genes in Aggressive
Behaviour
Interview by Zeynep Yilmaz
N versity of research opportunities. The IMS is currently the
best option for any student interested in psychiatric genetics;
although other departments have comparable options, they are very
specific and narrow in terms of research focus, she adds. When
asked if she would recommend the IMS to others, she smiles and says
without hesitation, Most definitely! Wherever I go, be it courses
of-fered by the Graduate Professional Skills Pro-gram or any other
campus activity, I see other students from the IMS. A current
member-at-large of the Institute of Medical Science Students
Association (IMSSA), Malik be-lieves that joining the student
organization and attending its various events is a great way to
meet new people. She is also a member of the IMSSAs new Frosh
Activities Commit-
The Oxytocin GeneThe oxytocin gene encodes for the
neurotransmitter oxytocin, which plays an important role in
pair-bonding. Oxytocin also is a key player in social approach
behaviours, and aggressive behaviours may be linked to low levels
of oxytocin activity.For more information, see: Oxytocin: The Great
Facilitator of Life
STREAM MSc SUPERVISOR Dr. Joseph Beitchman
IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY | 13
SPOTLIGHT
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Wojciech KosteleckiMaking Sense of the Brain
lished in Cognitive Neurodynamics as the second author. Most
excitingly, however, he is currently completing a manuscript on the
development of new methods for detecting causal relationships in
neuro-imaging data, of which he will be the first author. Although
the preparation of this paper has been a challenge it required
describing complex mathematical methods and analysis he has found
it incredibly rewarding.
Looking back at his experience, Kostelecki recommends the IMS to
all potential gradu-ate students. Regardless of ones research
in-terests, he believes that with the vast array of supervisors
from which to choose, there is someone for everyone. He has found
the administrative staff and his program advi-sory committee
members to be very helpful throughout his graduate studies at the
IMS, and encourages choosing individuals who are supportive and
with whom it is easy to get along. Kostelecki is excited for what
his future holds, and is looking forward to con-tinued success as a
doctoral student.
ojciech Kostelecki has always had an avid interest in
neurosci-ence. As an undergraduate stu-
dent studying at the University of Toronto, he joined Dr.
Zhong-Ping Fengs Molecular Biology and Electrophysiology lab, where
he was involved in numerous interesting exper-iments, including
testing the effects of gene mutations on the biophysical properties
of ion channels. A both positive and enriching experience,
Kosteleckis time with Dr. Feng motivated and prepared him for a
career in research.
In the summer of 2008, Kostelecki decided to join the IMS as a
MSc candidate under the direction of Dr. Jose Luis Perez Velazquez.
Naturally, with his strong background and fascination with
neuroscience, Kostelecki found that Dr. Perez Velazquezs research
seeking relationships between brain func-tion and behaviour suited
him well, and he has since transferred to the PhD program.
Kostelecki is currently working on devel-oping novel statistical
methods for analyz-ing neuro-imaging data. Having conducted
hands-on research as an undergraduate stu-dent, Kostelecki
experienced a big transition
W upon entering graduate school, where his work thus far has
been mostly analytical. This transition, however, has been both
challeng-ing and rewarding, and it has enabled him to grow as a
researcher. Furthermore, exposure to a different type of research
has provided Kostelecki with the freedom and opportunity to be more
creative intellectually, which has thus aided his research.
Kostelecki is quite accomplished and has been the recipient of
numerous awards and scholarships. In his first year in the IMS, he
received funding from the Hospital for Sick Childrens ResTraComp
program, which is intended to enable research fellows to pursue
research fellowship training. In his second year, he received a
NSERC Alexander Gra-ham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship.
Cur-rently, he holds a second NSERC Postgradu-ate Scholarship.
Additionally, as a result of his lab experience with Dr. Feng, he
has co-authored publications in PLoS Genetics and the European
Journal of Pharmacology. In both instances, Kostelecki assisted
with the experiments and the data acquisition, and played an active
role in the preparation of the manuscripts. Recently, Kostelecki
pub- Interview by Anthony Grieco
STREAM PhDSUPERVISOR Dr. Jose Luis Perez Velazquez
14 | IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY
SPOTLIGHT
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Zahi ToumaNovel Disease Index Generates Hope forImproved Lupus
Management
Ultimately, Touma intends to delve deeper into the field and
develop another novel in-dex related to disease activity. His
passion for improving the care received by his patients is the kind
that drives innovative discovery with practical, clinical
applications.
Further reading regarding the SRI-50:Touma Z, Gladman DD, Ibaez
D and Urowitz MB. Development and Initial Validation of SLEDAI-2K
(Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000)
Responder Index-50 (SRI-50). J Rheumatol July 12, 2010 (In
press).http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21123323
Touma Z, Gladman DD, Mackinnon A, Urowitz MB. SLEDAI-2K
Responder Index-50 (SRI-50) http://www.sri-50.com
espite being in the city for less than four years, Dr. Zahi
Touma has helped uphold the University of
Torontos reputation of excellence in clini-cal research. For the
first time in decades, Touma and colleagues have given hope to
lupus sufferers regarding treatment develop-ment with their novel
outcome measure of the diseases activity.
Following medical training at Kursk State Medical University in
Russia, Touma com-pleted three years of internal medicine train-ing
at the American University of Beirut in his home country of
Lebanon. It was during a subsequent sub-specialty in rheumatology
that he began to identify areas of lupus man-agement in need of
improvement. Over the last two decades or so, we havent had any
drugs approved by the FDA for lupus treat-ment, notes Touma. There
are lots of trials going on, but [no drugs] have been approved yet.
I looked at [the] studies and realized it may not actually be
because of drug failure, but rather that we dont have appropriate
measures to evaluate how disease activity is progressing.
Toumas research interests progressed when he was accepted as a
rheumatologist by the Department of Internal Medicine in 2007. Six
months later, he joined the Institute of Medical Science to embark
upon his PhD project. I didnt come to the IMS directly, but I knew
[I wanted] to investigate clini-cal epidemiology, and specifically,
clinical outcome measures, he explains. Under the guidance of his
supervisors, Touma has been able to develop a reliable index the
SRI-50 with the ability to capture partial improve-ment in lupus
disease activity, an achieve-ment that distinguishes it from
pre-existing indices.
To validate the index, the research team continues to collect
data for their prospec-tive study at the University of Toronto
Lupus Clinic by applying the SRI-50 during clinic appointments.
They are also investigating implementation strategies to assist
physi-cians keen on incorporating the tool into
D
their practices. Moreover, at least two drug trials have already
adopted the SRI-50 as a secondary outcome measure, and several
other drug companies have expressed inter-est in utilizing the
index for future studies.
Touma attributes the rapidity of the SRI-50s initial success
partly to the large patient cohort he is able to access through the
U of T Lupus Clinic, one of the worlds biggest centres for
specialized lupus care. He is also quick to recognize those who
have supported his research along the way. My supervisors are
great, and the lupus team is excellent. I also have to acknowledge
the people who have been funding my stay here [the Lupus Ontario
Geoff Carr Fellowship and the Uni-versity of Toronto Arthritis
Centre of Excel-lence Fellowship]. I am extremely grateful.
Over the last two decades or so, we havent had any drugs
approved by the FDA for lupus treatment.
Interview by Nina Bahl
STREAM PhD Clinician Investigator ProgramSUPERVISOR Dr. Murray
B. Urowitz & Dr. Dafna D. Gladman
IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY | 15
SPOTLIGHT
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Ann MontgomeryImproving Maternal Healthcare Abroad
STREAM MScSUPERVISOR Dr. Prabhat Jha
t was a coincidence and a per-fect match! exclaims Ann
Mont-gomery. She is referring to her jour-
ney to graduate school in the IMS, which she admits is like
fitting a missing piece into a puzzle. Montgomerys academic path
be-gan at the University of Ottawa, where she completed an Honours
BSc in nutritional biochemistry. She later earned a BHSc in
midwifery at Ryerson University and has worked as a midwife and
preceptor for over a decade. Extremely interested in interna-tional
health and global level epidemiology, Montgomery has spent
significant time in Haiti and Nepal, volunteering as a techni-cal
advisor to a non-profit organization that strives to improve
maternal healthcare and midwifery training, and as a lecturer and
neonatal resuscitation trainer.
While working in Nepal, Montgomery wit-nessed the death of a
16-year-old woman due to post-partum sepsis after giving birth to
twins. She realized that mortality is multi-factorial and is
heavily influenced by issues outside the healthcare system. As a
result, in 2005, she pursued a MSc in epidemiol-ogy from the School
of Hygiene and Tropi-cal Medicine at the University of London in
the UK, concentrating on maternal morbid-ity in the Sub-Sahara in
Africa. Around the time of her completion of her MSc degree,
Montgomery was contacted by the Centre for Global Health Research,
a group that is affiliated with St. Michaels Hospital and the
University of Toronto, and whose mission is to conduct high-quality
research that ad-vances global health. In collaboration with the
Registrars General of India, a statistical firm, Montgomery was
asked to shed light on the cause of maternal death during birth in
India. She enrolled in the IMS in 2010, and is currently conducting
this project for her thesis.
It is believed that in the absence of prena-tal care or a
skilled birth attendant, moth-ers are at a higher risk of mortality
during childbirth. In developed countries, where the major cause is
hemorrhage, trained birth attendants can focus appropriately only
on hemorrhage. In India, however, accord-ing to Montgomerys
preliminary results, post-partum sepsis is the leading cause of
childbirth-related mortality, despite the fact that it can be
significantly reduced through the use of antibiotics. Another
interesting
area that Montgomery is focusing on, and that is especially
relevant to her, is the effect of the presence of a midwife on the
number of maternal deaths. She is currently sorting through
thousands of maternal death cases. Although she foresees mechanical
glitches and analytical limitations, she is confident that they can
be overcome. Upon comple-tion, her study will form the basis for
future policy-making strategies pertaining to ma-ternal deaths in
India.
As a mother of two kids, Montgomery is very busy and fully
occupied all the time. She is the Vice-President of the College of
Mid-wives of Ontario and the Chair of its Inqui-ries, Complaints
and Reports Committee. She is also the author of two publications
and a book chapter about the role of skilled birth attendants in
maternal deaths. Mont-gomery is enjoying her life as a student and
revels in the flexibility and balanced lifestyle it provides her.
She is very grateful to her su-pervisor, Dr. Prabhat Jha, for his
involvement
in her research and support for her future career development.
As her journey goes on, Montgomery is looking forward, and hopes to
continue to meet new and interesting peo-ple and make a difference
in their lives.
Publications:Montgomery A. If Women Counted: The Role of Skilled
Birth Attendants in Surveillance ofMaternal Deaths. In: Elit L,
Chamberlain Froese J edi-tors. Womens Health in the MajorityWorld:
Issues and Initiatives. New York: Nova Science Publishers; 2007;
35-48.
Montgomery AL, Goufodji S, Kanhonou L, Alihonou E, Azondekon A,
Houngb J, Collin S,Filippi V. Validity and reliability of
postpartum morbid-ity questionnaires in Benin. J Biosoc
Sci,Submitted.
Montgomery AL, Morris SK, Kumar R, Jotkar R, Mony P, Jha P,
Bassani DG. Capturing thecontext of matenral deaths from verbal
autopsies: a reli-ability study of the maternal dataextraction tool
(M-DET). Plos One, Submitted.
Interview by Wenjun Xu
I
16 | IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY
SPOTLIGHT
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Dr. Karen DavisFACULTY VIEW
n the list of Dr. Karen Davis interests, cycling, hockey, music,
film and travel rank highly. But of
all of her passions, researching the brain mechanisms underlying
pain and analgesia tops the list. Now the Head of the Division of
Brain, Imaging and Behaviour-Systems Neuroscience at the Toronto
Western Re-search Institute, the IMS Associate Direc-tors journey
started in high school, when she first realized her love for
neuroscience.
From early on in her undergraduate stud-ies at the University of
Toronto, Dr. Da-vis sought out research opportunities. She spent
two summers researching pain with two world-renowned
electro-physiologists. These experiences motivated her to com-plete
her PhD as well as two post-doctoral fellowships, including one at
Johns Hopkins University that proved to be a turning point in her
training as a scientist. Being in a multi-disciplinary lab, Dr.
Davis was exposed to clinical studies of nociception, interacted
with chronic pain patients, and learned hu-man psychophysical
techniques. This clini-cal exposure shaped her appreciation of the
sensori-motor and cognitive problems expe-rienced by chronic pain
patients, and taught her the importance of carefully considering
these nuances in any laboratory study. Upon returning to Toronto,
Dr. Davis engaged in more clinically-relevant and human-based
studies of pain, and together with a neuro-radiologist at TWH, also
began developing functional MRI. Shortly thereafter, she ob-tained
a faculty position and set up her own research lab.
O Dr. Davis lab is currently interested in hu-man neuro-imaging
and psychophysical studies of pain and attention. To facilitate
these studies, she has developed numerous clinical collaborations
and she has been very successful in attaining funding. As a result,
Dr. Davis lab continues to produce ground-breaking work, with
several neuro-imaging studies leading the field. For Dr. Davis,
these new discoveries are the ultimate reward.
In addition to her research, Dr. Davis contri-butions to the IMS
department and her scien-tific community are astounding. Beginning
as a member of the admissions committee, she became a graduate
coordinator in 2002, and in 2009 took on the role of IMS Associ-ate
Director. Of note, she helped develop and publish the IMS Graduate
Oath. Dr. Davis is also a member of numerous advisory boards and is
the Section Editor for the journal Pain.
Dr. Davis understands what it takes to get started in her field.
While having a short- and long-term research plan is crucial, she
be-lieves it is equally important to keep an open mind to new
directions and concepts to keep research fresh and relevant. She
recommends young scientists familiarize themselves with existing
pain literature as well as the poten-tial contribution of other
systems to pain. For her final piece of advice, Dr. Davis reverts
to her own experiences. It is very important for non-clinician
scientists to spend some time with clinicians and patients,
enabling them to better design their research questions and models,
she stresses.
PhD
Interview by Avi Vandersluis
IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY | 17
SPOTLIGHT
-Avi Vandersluis
Dr. Tom WaddellMSc, FRCSC, PhD, MD
The lung transplant surgeon sat down with us to dis-cuss his
path, his research, and the future of his field.
AV: You are a well-established surgeon and se-nior scientist at
Toronto General Hospital. How did you get to where you are
today?TW: I attended medical school in Ottawa before doing my
general surgery residency in Toronto. Afterwards, I joined the
Surgeon Scientist Pro-gram at U of T where I earned a MSc in lung
transplantation and a PhD in cell biology. I then completed general
surgery, with a focus on thoracic surgery, and finally did a
post-doc fel-lowship in London, England, before returning to
Toronto.
AV: How did you get involved with the IMS?TW: My MSc and PhD
were actually done with the IMS. When I decided that I wanted my
own lab, the IMS was a natural home.
AV: What type of research is being conducted in your lab?TW:
Were looking at alternative treatments for end-stage lung disease.
I got involved in this field through my experience as a lung
trans-plant surgeon. Currently, we are pursuing the potential of
cell therapy for advanced patients. I think the future will be very
improved with many more cell types to be isolated, expanded, and
controlled.
AV: What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?TW: Watching
the evolution of young scientists from undergraduate students to
true research-ers. Its important to remember that persistence is
the most critical ingredient for success.
To find out about Dr. Waddells Clinical Insights for
Non-Clinicians module, click here.
Q&A with...
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18 | IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY
SPOTLIGHT
in research, Nascimento notes. It is both re-warding and
gratifying to see your work im-proving patient care.
orn and raised in Brazil, Dr. Bar-to Nascimento grew up a
talented and promising soccer player. When his
soccer career was cut short, he decided to fol-low in the
footsteps of his father and grandfa-ther and pursue a career in
medicine. During his medical training and residency, he devel-oped
a keen interest in trauma surgery and critical care medicine. In
2004, upon moving to Toronto, Nascimento began working at
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre one of Canadas largest trauma
centres where he has since completed a series of fellowships
including Trauma Research, Critical Care Medicine, and Transfusion
Medicine.
Passionately interested in research, in 2008, Nascimento chose
to enrol in the Clinician Investigator Program at the IMS, where he
is currently completing his MSc in clinical epidemiology while
maintaining his clinical responsibilities as a member of
Sunnybrooks Critical Care team. When asked why he de-cided to enrol
in a graduate program, Nas-cimento emphasized that trauma and
criti-cal care is a very competitive area. Having a Masters degree
from the IMS a prestigious graduate program at the University of
Toron-to enhances your knowledge and research skills, making you a
very favourable candi-date in the field.
Nascimento is at the forefront of critical care and transfusion
research, working to develop a clear understanding of how to best
manage patients who present with trauma-induced coagulopathy a
disorder in which blood fails to clot normally, resulting in heavy
and prolonged bleeding after traumatic injury. Unfortunately,
managing such patients is very difficult. Accordingly, in the early
hours of trauma, coagulopathy and bleeding are the main causes of
hospital death. A better un-derstanding of the underlying
mechanisms of coagulopathy could help in the develop-ment of
optimal management strategies for patients arriving in the
emergency room.
Barto NascimentoChanging the Face of Trauma Management
Currently, as part of The Trauma: Formula-driven vs. Lab-guided
Randomized Con-trolled Trial (TRFL Study), Nascimento and a team of
colleagues are assessing the coagu-lation status of trauma patients
predicted to need massive transfusions in hopes of gain-ing insight
into the coagulopathy process in the early stages of bleeding.
Using sophisti-cated tests, he measures an extensive panel of
clotting factors and biological markers to determine the
physiological responses to trauma and bleeding. In addition to
manag-ing blood loss, Nascimento hopes to identify novel biomarkers
released at the time of trau-ma to help identify patients with
coagulopa-thy and ultimately improve their outcomes.
Nascimento is actively involved in the trau-ma field, both
teaching and authoring mul-tiple peer-reviewed publications. He is
also an organizing member of the Canadian Mas-sive Transfusion
Consensus Conference, where he is involved in helping to establish
guidelines for massive transfusion protocols in Canada. He hopes to
continue to pursue research in the future, and feels that the
Cli-nician Investigator Program has helped him build a solid
research foundation upon which he can do so. It is flexible and
practical for the clinician, who can still maintain some clinical
practice while being heavily involved
Interview by Natalie Venier
B
The Trauma: Formula-driven vs. Lab-guided Trial (TRFL Study)The
TRFL Study is a random-ized controlled trial assessing the
feasibility of adopting formula-driven blood transfusion protocols
in a population of trauma patients. The aim of this study is to
deter-mine whether using this protocol is practical and/or superior
to current laboratory-guided transfusion prac-tices for treating
and/or preventing early coagulopathy, and whether it will improve
survival rates in mas-sively bleeding trauma patients.
For more information, click here.
STREAM MSc Clinician Investigator Program SUPERVISOR Dr. Sandro
Rizoli
It is both rewarding and gratifying to see your work improving
patient care.
-
coming to Toronto to complete a PhD in Medical Genetics at U of
T. After briefly leav-ing academia to get involved in a
biotechnol-ogy startup company, he returned to work as a Research
Associate at Toronto General Research Institute. He quickly
progressed to Associate Scientist and then to Affiliate Sci-entist
before obtaining his own independent lab in 2005. In 2009, Dr. Wens
lab was moved to St. Michaels Hospital, and it was there that his
research has really flourished.
Although his research initially utilized mouse models, Dr. Wens
focus shifted to zebrafish as it has emerged as a superior
vertebrate model for genome-wide studies. Using cutting-edge
functional genomics technologies trans-genesis, gene trapping, gene
knockdown, and chemical genetic screening to name a few his lab
concentrates on discovering novel drugs and on improving their
understand-ing of organ and tissue development in order to
delineate the mechanisms underlying nu-merous diseases. He has
recently published a landmark paper with the zebrafish model, in
which an anti-angiogenic chemical genetic screen for developing
zebrafish embryos was employed to identify a small molecule
target-ing cancer angiogenesis, the first such study of its
kind.
As an associate member of the IMS, Dr. Wen is making the most of
his opportunity to work alongside world leaders in translational
research. With high-throughput, genome-wide, translational research
believed to be the direction of the future, Dr. Wen hopes to
continue to stay at the forefront of his fields. But at the end of
the day, it all comes back to his motto. The most rewarding part of
my job is that I get to indulge my research inter-ests every day
and immerse myself in my love of science.
r. Xiao-Yan Wens motto is sim-ple: work hard, work smart and
en-joy science. Abiding by these three
guidelines has given him much success and helped him in becoming
the Founding Di-rector of the new Zebrafish Centre for Ad-vanced
Drug Discovery, a fully automated robotic high-throughput zebrafish
screening platform for which he is receiving funding
D from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to create. Dr.
Wen is also an assistant professor of medicine at the University of
To-ronto and a scientist at the Keenan Research Centre, part of the
Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michaels Hospital.
Born and raised in China, Dr. Wen earned his MD at Jiangxi
Medical College before
Preclinical Animal Models is an introductory module designed to
teach students conducting human-subject research and non-animal
basic science the most up-to-date technologies in the creation of
animal models, manipulating them at the molecular, cellular and
whole-body levels.The model systems covered in this module include
mouse, rat, zebrafish and non-human primates. Because of the
diversity of research disciplines at the IMS, this module will use
a wide spectrum of disease models including early embryonic
defects, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, infection and immunity,
diabetes, organ injury, neurological disorders, psychiatry,
learning and memory.
Module Directors
Module Coordinator
Preclinical Animal Models ModuleDr. Xiao-Yan WenDr. Katharina
Foerster
Zeynep Yilmaz
Interview by Avi Vandersluis
MD, PhDDr. Xiao-Yan WenFACULTY VIEW
IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY | 19
SPOTLIGHT
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20 | IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY
SPOTLIGHT
aron Kucyi is trying to soak it all in. The guitar-playing,
music en-thusiast is in his first year of the MSc
program at the IMS, and is the newest addi-tion to Dr. Karen
Davis neuro-imaging and pain laboratory at Toronto Western Hospital
(TWH). Strongly attracted to the IMS focus on translational
research, as well as the nu-merous opportunities to collaborate and
in-teract with world-renowned researchers, he is still getting used
to the immensity of the department. Appreciating how vast the IMS
is and the fact that it is impossible to take ev-erything in all at
once took some time, he notes, but Ive already learned so much in
my short time here.
As a biology major at York University, Kucyi had been
considering a career in medicine, pharmacy, or optometry. But after
complet-ing his undergraduate thesis, in which he used fMRI to
study an illusion known as the McCollough Effect, his passion for
research and neuroscience flourished. Before joining the IMS, Kucyi
spent a year traveling recre-ationally and honing his research
skills in
Interview by Avi Vandersluis
A two different labs, work that resulted in three peer-reviewed
publications and two recent poster presentations at the Society for
Neu-roscience Annual Meeting in San Diego. It wasnt long before he
decided to pursue re-search in graduate school, however, and the
IMS seemed like the perfect fit. As the larg-est graduate
department at the University of Toronto, the IMS offered me a
unique oppor-tunity to explore my neuroscience interest with a team
of top researchers in the field.
With his initial focus of completing his course requirements and
performing an in-depth literature review well on its way, Kucyi is
excited to explore the brain in a new light. The study of pain
provides an insight into the mystery of conscious experience and is
also clinically relevant, he enthuses. I love how pain research
bridges the gap between basic science and clinical care. Aiming
to
transfer to the PhD program in the future, Kucyi strives to
impact the way people think about the brain and perception, and he
hopes his work will have a positive influence on pa-tient care.
Being a first-year student in such a large department can be
intimidating, but Kucyi has embraced opportunities to get involved
in student affairs and meet new people. Be-tween his roles as the
TWH Site Director for the IMS Students Association and as a mem-ber
of the planning committee for TWH Re-search Institutes research
day, he has found his niche here at the IMS. While his future goals
include a career in research and aca-demia, he also has a special
interest in the dissemination of research to the general pub-lic.
Already the author of an online neurosci-ence blog, where he writes
in lay terms about new research with the goal of branching out from
the neuroscience community, Kucyi hopes to combine the experience
he gains at the IMS with his love for the communication of
science.
I love how pain research bridges the gap between basic science
and clinical care.
Aaron KucyiOvercoming the Pain of First Year
STREAM MScSUPERVISOR Dr. Karen Davis
Click here to view some of Aaron`s most recentpublications.
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IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY | 21
SPOTLIGHT
Kitty ChanRadiating Care to Help Fight Cancer
treatment of pelvic cancer and to develop a process map for
formulating an IG-HDR protocol.
Now in her second year of the program, Chan believes that she
has developed invaluable skills that will help her deliver care
beyond the scope of basic radiation science. By con-tinuing to work
as a radiation therapist and to witness the loving bonds between
cancer patients and their families, she is also able to gain a
unique perspective that she would oth-erwise not experience as a
researcher: seeing the positive impact of her research on patient
outcomes.
For those interested in the MHScMRS pro-gram, Chan stresses the
need for dedication and the ability to manage time. It is crucial,
she says, to be able to balance ones duties as a radiation
therapist and as a researcher. Chan adds that individuals
considering the program should be comfortable interacting with
patients on a daily basis, and be able to translate their research
findings into clinical practice. Moreover, and most importantly,
she believes that one must have a sense of empathy and compassion
for cancer patients, and understand that patient care is of the
ut-most importance.
hile obtaining her under-graduate degree in toxicology at the
University of Toronto, Kitty
Chan participated in a basic science research lab under the
direction of Dr. W. McIntyre Burnham. Recognizing that her
personality was better suited for patient care, rather than
hands-on basic research, prompted Chan to look into possible job
opportunities at local hospitals, where she noticed that there was
a shortage of radiation therapists. Therefore, upon graduation,
Chan decided to enrol in the Radiation Therapy Degree and Advanced
Diploma Program offered jointly by the Mi-chener Institute and the
University of To-ronto.
After completing the program in 2005, Chan began working as a
radiation therapist at Princess Margaret Hospital. She likes to
think of her duties as being both high tech and high touch. Not
only must she be able to operate multi-million dollar machinery
with a high degree of skill, but she must also have a sense of
compassion for her patients suf-fering. Personally touched by
cancer in 2008 when she lost a friend to the disease, Chan
experienced first-hand what is like to have
W a loved one undergo the courageous battle. Although they are
scared and confused, she learned that patients are also full of
hope. Ac-cordingly, rather than treating her patients as victims,
she feels that it is best to truly care for them on a personal
level.
Two years into her career as a radiation therapist, Chan applied
for and was accepted into an internal research position, where she
studied how to integrate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) into
radiation therapy. From this experience, she realized that marrying
research with patient care leads to improved outcomes for cancer
patients. Therefore, when the Master of Health Science in Medi-cal
Radiation Sciences (MHScMRS) profes-sional program became available
through the IMS in 2009, with the goal of overlapping patient care
with education, Chan jumped at the opportunity. Her research
focuses on implementing image-guided, high-dose-rate (IG-HDR)
brachytherapy a technique us-ing a relatively intense source of
radiation to deliver a therapeutic dose through temporar-ily placed
needles, catheters, or other applica-tors for pelvic cancer. She
hopes to identify current HDR practices in Ontario for the
Interview by Anthony Grieco
STREAM MHSc Medical Radiation ScienceSUPERVISOR Dr. Cynthia
Mnard
-
r. Bini Toms recalls growing up in India as a happy child with
very traditional and religious parents
who highly valued a good education. An established scientist,
Toms was working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of
Biotechnology, and as the Vice Principal, at T. John College in
Bangalore, India, when she enrolled in the Master of Health
Sci-ences (MHSc) in Bioethics professional pro-gram at the IMS as
an international student. She has a background in agricultural
sci-ences with a specialization in genetics and plant breeding.
Aside from her teaching and advisory roles, Toms who has first-hand
knowledge of the need for greater research accountability and
bioethical education has dedicated herself to spreading bioeth-ics
awareness to people, especially those in non-medical life sciences,
more than half way across the world.
Toms first became interested in bioethics af-ter being nominated
by her organization to attend a month-long training program
orga-nized by Dr. Nandini K. Kumar and spon-sored by the National
Institutes of Health
and the Indian Council of Medical Research. Although most of the
trainees had back-grounds in medical sciences, she correlated the
ethical issues discussed in the program to the agriculture and
plant biotechnology fields. There is a close link between
agri-culture and healthcare, so the related ethical issues are
interwoven. [Accordingly], agri-medical researchers are
contributing im-mensely to the advancement of medicine and global
health. [Thus, they must] be provided appropriate ethical
guidelinesand be ad-equately trained and educated about the
fun-damental moral and ethical dilemmas posed by [these
advancements], she notes.
Initially, Toms sometimes found it difficult to convince people
that bioethics was integral to her discipline and to make the
lessons from each class relevant. However, as a result of her
interactions with experienced, enthusi-astic, and highly motivated
faculty working in a variety of healthcare settings and with
different educational backgrounds, the pro-gram has given her a
broad perspective on the role of bioethicists and has allowed her
to cultivate the necessary skills for executing
Bini TomsAdvancing Agricultural Sciences through Bioethical
Education
STREAM MHSc BioethicsSUPERVISOR Dr. Ross Upshur
Interview by Natalie Venier & Avi Vandersluis
that role. The educational environment at the Joint Centre for
Bioethics and at the IMS helped students clarify, refine, and
develop their understandings of ethical issues and the
responsibilities of ethicists in society, adds Toms.
Currently completing her remaining course requirements in India,
Toms describes her experience as an international student as
enriching. Having colleagues from differ-ent cultural, linguistic,
religious, and pro-fessional backgrounds is an experience one can
never have when living in ones own small world, she claims, adding
that while plunging into a full-time study program in a foreign
country might seem challenging and difficult, if you are
determined, sincere in your work and optimistic, you are sure to
succeed.
Toms is incredibly grateful for her tremen-dous academic success
which includes both a Masters degree and a Doctorate degree prior
to joining the IMS. I attribute [it] all to the blessings of my
parents and the love and support of my husband, [all of whom] have
been instrumental in all my achieve-ments. I am thankful to God for
all the great people in my life. As she works towards the
completion of the MHSc program, she as-pires to establish
guidelines for agri-medical research in India and to integrate
bioethical education into the academic curriculum for agricultural
students who also contribute to health care in their capacities as
researchers. Through her efforts, she hopes to continue to play a
role in the advancement of the fields of agricultural sciences,
plant biotechnology and clinical research.
Having colleagues from different cul-tural, linguistic,
religious, and profes-sional backgrounds is an experience one can
never have when living in ones own small world.
D
22 | IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY
SPOTLIGHT
-
Peter PapageorgiouConnecting the Dots: The Role of beta-FXIIa in
Hypertension and Chronic Renal Failure
renal failure. His hard work has culminated in numerous
conference presentations and multiple awards, including being named
a Research Fellow of the International Society of Hypertension and
winning an educational award from Hypertension Canada.
Papa-georgiou has also received funding from the Canadian Institute
of Health Research, the Oliver Studentship for Research on Kidney
and Kidney-related Diseases, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of
Canada. Currently, Papageorgiou is working on a manuscript for the
Journal of Clinical Investigation, where he aims to publish his PhD
research.
When asked what he likes to do during his spare time,
Papageorgiou smiles. PhD students have no spare time, he says.
Ulti-mately, however, he is pleased with his ex-periences as a
graduate student. I am very grateful for the opportunities that I
have had as the IMS helped me bridge my work from basic to
translational research. Truly driven by passion, Papageorgiou hopes
to continue pursuing research in the future in hopes of elucidating
the complex biological systems of hypertension.
eter Papageorgiou was born in Toronto, but its only been a few
years since he became familiar with the city
again. He lived in Greece until high school, where he received
the International Bacca-laureate diploma. Afterwards, he moved to
the United Kingdom for his undergraduate studies, and was exposed
to the scientific method in a research course during his final year
as a student in the Faculty of Science. With his piqued interest in
research, he went on to study the role of gastrin in digestion
using transgenic animals. It was the com-plexity of biological
systems and his experi-ences working with radioactive isotopes that
truly got him hooked on research.
Upon completing his undergraduate degree, Papageorgiou moved
back to Toronto to pursue his love of science in a Masters
pro-gram. Along with Dr. Daniel Osmond in the Department of
Physiology at the University of Toronto, he discovered a molecule
that plays a key role in hypertension. Further re-search revealed
that this protein was in fact the beta-fragment of activated
coagulation factor XII (beta-FXIIa). Moreover, Papa-georgiou found
that injection of beta-FXIIa increased blood pressure and released
plas-ma catecholamines, thereby establishing a
physiological connection between the coagu-lation and
sympatho-adrenal systems.
Hoping to delve further into the relationship between these two
systems, Papageorgiou chose to pursue the project further with Dr.
John Floras at the IMS. His motivation for joining the PhD program
at the IMS was solely driven by his fondness for the work. With the
goal of applying his in vitro work to animals and humans, the IMS
focus on translational research was a perfect match. At the IMS, he
was also able to easily form collaborations with experts from
cardiology, hematology, nephrology and physiology.
Now preparing for his final defense, Papa-georgiou reflects that
his PhD learning ex-perience has been amazing. In a longitudinal
cohort study involving hemodialysis patients and in an
interventional study using an ani-mal model of chronic renal
failure, he was able to demonstrate the participation of beta-FXIIa
in blood pressure regulation in chronic Interview by Minji Kim
P
I am very grateful for the opportuni-ties that I have had as the
IMS helped me bridge my work from basic to translational
research.
STREAM PhD SUPERVISOR Dr. John S. Floras
IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY | 23
SPOTLIGHT
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24 | IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY
CLOSE UP
CANCER`S n over 20 years as a clinician-scien-tist, Dr. Fei-Fei
Liu has made quite a mark on the field of cancer research. The
author
of a multitude of publications and the recipient of numerous
prestigious grants and awards, her continued success is remarkable.
Not only was she the Head of the Division of Applied Molec-ular
Oncology at the Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI) from 2005-2010, and
a radiation on-cologist at Princess Margaret Hospital, but she also
serves as an ad hoc reviewer for many sci-entific journals.
Recently, she took some time out of her extremely busy schedule to
answer our questions and to give us an inside look into both her
professional and personal life.
I
By Avi Vandersluis
MysteriesUnravelling
With the future in her sights, Dr. Fei-Fei Liu reflects on her
journey so far
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IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY | 25
CLOSE UP
important tumour molecular profiles and the various omic
information, which together can indeed predict outcome. At the same
time, the same information needs to be de-rived from the germline
or host DNA data.
Q What do you find most rewarding about your job?
A Trying to unravel all of this information. When we succeed and
get some hints that we might have uncovered an important pathway,
its like Christmas! I also take great pleasure in seeing a graduate
student mature over his or her four to five years in our lab from a
shy young woman or man to a confident young adult and scientist.
Watching them grow up, and catching up with them in the years
fol-lowing, is extremely rewarding.
Q Tell us something you would like people to know about you that
they do not already know.
A I have a few hobbies. I love reading great mystery novels and
I love music. I play the piano and I sing, both poorly and
completely off-key. I love traveling with my family. My husband
Richard and our two boys Derek and Trevor recently took a family
trip to Af-rica. We witnessed how youths in Kliptown, South Africa
with no running water or electricity were self-motivated in
develop-ing a tutoring centre, and succeeded in send-ing young
students from their town to uni-versity. It was my first time ever
going. It was totally inspiring!
Q What advice would you give to some-one starting off in your
field? A Have passion and conviction that your work is important.
There is a fine line be-tween perseverance and obstinacy. Work
hard. Recognize opportunities and grab them. Find good mentors who
will guide you in your career. And lastly, as the song goes, Dont
Stop Believin.
Q Combining medicine with research is a lot more common nowadays
than it was in the past. How did you go about becoming a
clinician-scientist?
A After two years of undergrad at U of T, I went on to complete
medical school in 1980. I then sub-specialized in both internal
medi-cine and radiation oncology one could do that in those days
which I finished in 1983 and 1986, respectively. I spent 1987 doing
a one year fellowship in hyperthermia at Stan-ford that was where I
became hooked on lab research before returning to Toronto in 1988
and starting my faculty position within the OCI at Princess
Margaret Hospital.
Q As a new faculty member, was it diffi-cult to balance your
clinical work with your research?
A In those days, there was no clinician-scientist model, so
during the weekdays, I spent 100% of my time seeing patients. I did
my research during evenings and weekends. As the years went by, and
as I continued to publish and obtain peer-reviewed funding, my
clinical load gradually reduced to its cur-rent proportion of
20%.
Q Can you tell us a little bit about your research focuses?
A My research career has had three lives. Our first area of
interest was hyperthermia. It had great biology, but it was
technically limited, so its broad application to human patients was
not feasible. We then moved on to viral gene therapy, but
unfortunately, it suffered from the same challenges as
hyper-thermia. We now focus on several different domains. The first
is micro-RNA profiling for human tumours, due to the broad
availability of clinically-annotated formalin-fixed cancer tissues
from which such global profilings are possible. From completing
such experiments, we are now starting to unravel biological
in-sights into clinically-relevant human cancer pathways, which
will potentially lead to the discovery of novel markers that can
predict outcome. In addition, we are also evaluating novel
molecular therapeutics.
Q What would you consider your most significant research
accomplishment?
A I consider two of our findings to be quite impactful. The
first is the observation of human papilloma virus (HPV) in patients
with tonsillar or oropharyngeal carcinomas (OPCs). Last year, we
published a paper doc-umenting that approximately 60% of patients
diagnosed with OPC in a recent era (2003-2006) harboured the HPV
genome in their tumours. Most peculiarly, these patients have a
much superior outcome than OPC patients who do not have
HPV-associated malignan-cies: a three-year overall survival of 85%
vs. 65%. This significant difference is universally observed. The
mechanisms underlying this superior outcome have not yet been
elucidat-ed, and are being actively pursued by our lab.
We are also quite excited about the discovery of a novel
radio-sensitizing target, which is an enzyme in the
heme-biosynthesis path-way. This discovery was made by Emma Ito,
one of my PhD grad students, through the conduct of a siRNA
robotics screen. We are now in the throes of trying to develop a
small molecule inhibitor targeting this enzyme.
Q What do you think is the future of re-search in your
field?
A I think cancer care will be transformed. I believe that in the
future, patients will come into our clinics carrying a USB key
contain-ing not only their clinical medical records, but also their
germline DNA and tumouromic (i.e. genomic, proteomic, etc.)
infor-mation. Part of the clinical evaluation of our future cancer
patients will be plugging their omic information into an algorithm,
which will then define the optimal treatment plan based on the
intrinsic sensitivities of their tu-mours to different treatment
modalities, and balanced by the tolerance of their normal tis-sues
to the same regimens. During treatment, biomarker tests and imaging
modalities will be conducted to allow for real-time biologi-cal and
technological adaptations, depending on the tumours response.
To achieve this vision for the future of per-sonalized cancer
medicine, a lot of work re-mains to be done. We need to understand
the
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26 | IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT
childhood aggressionhildhood-onset, aggressive an-tisocial
behaviour reflects signifi-cant psychological and behavioural
problems. Aggressive behaviour is associated with damaging
effects on the individual, his or her family, and society as a
whole. Persis-tent, pervasive aggression is associated with peer
rejection, academic failure, risk-taking behaviour, delinquency and
substance abuse. In adulthood, these individuals frequently have
poor mental health and impaired psy-chosocial functioning.
Furthermore, their parenting styles tend to be harsh, aggres-sive,
and neglectful, which plays a role in the transmission of
aggression across genera-tions. Not surprisingly, aggressive
behaviour is one of the most common reasons children and
adolescents are referred to mental health clinics.
C The etiology of childhood aggressive anti-social behaviour is
poorly understood, but environmental factorssuch as childhood
maltreatmentare a substantial risk factor. Nevertheless, not all
children who experi-ence maltreatment become delinquent or adult
criminals. The reason for this variability is largely unknown, but
it is probable that the vulnerability to aggressive antisocial
behav-iour is at least partly dependent upon genetic
susceptibility. Indeed, there is considerable evidence that
aggressive antisocial behaviour is heritable and that certain genes
may pre-dispose individuals to develop aggressive an-tisocial
behaviour or, contrariwise, to protect against its development.
Existing research has identified certain neu-rotransmitters,
such as serotonin, dopamine
and the enzyme monoamine oxidase A, as important factors in the
development and manifestation of aggressive behaviour. Ex-tending
these observations to the underly-ing genotype, our group has
identified genes including the serotonin transporter and re-ceptor,
dopamine DRD2, brain-derived neu-rotrophic factor and monoamine
oxidase A as being important vulnerability factors in childhood
aggression. It is important to note that genes may only predispose
a child to the development of aggression. However, wheth-er
aggressive antisocial behaviour actually develops and reaches
clinical significance is dependent on the interaction between genes
and environment. Because aggressive antisocial behaviour is
heterogeneous, there have been many at-
by Dr. Joseph Beitchman
The of
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IMS MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 DIVERSITY | 27
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT
childhood aggression
Preliminary research in our lab has already identified OXT
markers to be significantly correlated with callous-unemotional
charac-teristics in aggressive children.
In conclusion, we believe that polymor-phisms of genes related
to the OXT-AVP system will give more insight into possible causes
of persistent, pervasive aggression in children. Such knowledge
will give rise to a better understanding of the genetic basis of
childhood aggression and may ultimately lead to new medications and
forms of treat-ment.
Reference:Winslow, J. T., Hastings, N., Carter, C. S., Harbaugh,
C. R., & Insel, T. R. (1993). A role for central vasopressin in
pair bonding in monogamous prairie voles. Nature, 365(6446),
545-548.
Relevant publications by Dr. Beitchman:Beitchman, J. H., Mik, H.
M., Ehtesham, S., Douglas, L., & Kennedy, J. L. (2004). MAOA
and persistent, perva-sive childhood aggression. Molecular
Psychiatry, 9(6), 546-547.
Beitchman, J., Baldassarra, L., Mik, H., De Luca, V., King, N.,
Bender, D., Ehtesham, S., & Kennedy, J. (2006). Serotonin
transporter polymorphisms and persistent, pervasive childhood
aggression. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 163(6),
1103-1105.
Beitchman, J., Davidge, K., Kennedy, J., Atkinson, L., Lee, V.,
Shapiro, S., & Douglas, L. (2003). The serotonin transporter
gene in aggressive children with and without ADHD and nonaggressive
matched controls. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1008,
248-251.
Davidge, K., Atkinson, L., Douglas, L., Lee, V., Shapiro, S.,
Kennedy, J. & Beitchman, J. (2004). Association of the
serotonin transporter and 5HT1Dbeta receptor genes with extreme,
persistent and pervasive aggressive behav-iour in children.
Psychiatric Genetics, 14(3), 143-146.
Guerin, A., Beitchman, J., Strauss, J., & Kennedy, J.
(2007). Association study of the brain-derived neuro-trophic factor
gene and childhood aggression. Psychiat-ric Genetics, 17(1),
7-8.
Mik, H., Ehtesham, S., Baldassarra, L., De Luca, V., Davidge,
K., Bender, D., Tharmalingam, S., Kennedy, J. & Beitchman, J.
(2007). Serotonin system genes and childhood-onset aggression.
Psychiatric Genetics, 17(1), 11-11.
Dr. Joseph Beitchman is the Clinical Director of the Child,
Youth and Family Program in the Clinical Re-search Department of
the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He is a professor and
the Head of the Division of Child Psychiatry at the University of
Toronto.
For more information,
visit:http://www.camh.net/research/scientific_Staff_profiles/bio_detail.php?cuserID=40
tempts to identify more homogeneous sub-groups of aggressive
behaviour. Recent evi-dence has pointed to a callous-unemotional
behavioural subtype, which is thought to be a forerunner to
psychopathic behaviour. In-dividuals who are callous and
unemotional are likely to have interpersonal difficulties with
trust, attachment, and recognizing and interpreting emotional cues.
There is also evidence that callous-unemotional traits are
heritable and, consequently, our lab has been exploring possible
genetic factors.
There is an emerging literature on the role of oxytocin (OXT)
and vasopressin (AVP) in human social behaviour, stimulated by the
groundbreaking study by Winslow et al. (1993), which identified OXT
and AVP to be central mediators in monogamy and selec-tive
aggression in Prairie voles. The OXT-AVP system has been studied
for its effects on complex social behaviours and
aggres-sion-related disorders. Animal studies have shown that
traits such as attachment and pair-bonding are associated with OXT,
while AVP is associated with maternal and territo-rial
aggression.
The structures of OXT and AVP are very similar. Both are located
on chromosome 20, but are oriented in opposite transcrip-tional
directions in mammals. The receptors are widely distributed
throughout the brain, perhaps accounting for their manifold and
diverse effects.
In humans, OXT has been associated with empathy-mediated
generosity. It is thought to function as an anxiolytic hormone as
it decreases the release of stress hormones, aided in part by its
action at the OXT recep-tor in the amygdala. OXT administration has
been shown to reduce amygdalar activity in response to
fear-inducing visual stimuli and anxiety levels appear to be linked
to aggres-sion in several animal models. In humans, OXT may act to
decrease anxiety by increas-ing recognition and feelings of
affiliation. Also, lower OXT levels in cerebrospinal fluid have
been associated with increased ag-gression. AVP, on the other hand,
has been shown to enhance cognition for sexual stim-uli in human
males and increased AVP levels in cerebrospinal fluid have been
associated with increased aggression.
Given these putative important social effects
of the OXT-AVP system, perturbations in this neuro-humoral
system may be expected to interfere with social behaviour.
Investi-gators have speculated that the OXT-AVP system may
contribute to such disorders as Autism and Schizophrenia, and more
re-cently callous-unemotional traits. Callous-unemotional traits
reflect deficits in social behaviour, such that empathy or the
ability to recognize emotional cues in the faces of others may be
compromised. Investigations of the genes and receptors of the
OXT-AVP system may offer clues to understanding the etiology and
biological underpinnings of cal-lous-unemotional aggressive
behaviour. Aforementioned evidence suggests the OXT-AVP system may
be a principal mediator in human behaviour, and may contribute to
the development and manifestation of callous-unemotional aggressive
behaviour. It is likely that multiple genetic variants of modest
ef-fect may be associated with aggressive anti-social behaviour.
That is, genes from multiple systems, such as the neurotransmitters
sero-tonin and dopamine and the neuro-humoral OXT-AVP system, among
others, all contrib-ute in varying ways to aggressive antisocial
behaviour. For this reason, research in our lab on the genetics of
childhood aggression has recently expanded its focus to the
neuro-humoral OXT-AVP system.
Specifically, we will be studying genetic markers associated
with the OXT-AVP sys-tem that could help explain aggressive
anti-social behaviour in children and adolescents. Pho
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While it is not well known what causes childhood aggressive
antis