The Krembil Foundation has awarded a $330,000 grant to Derek Wilson, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and director of the Centre for Research in Mass Spectrometry (CRMS), for his research project “Understanding the Molecular Origins of Neurodegenerative Disease”.

Wilson's lab specializes in developing novel mass-spectrometry methods to investigate biomedical problems at a molecular level. The funded project focuses on the causes of Alzheimer's, a neurodegenerative disease affecting an estimated 44 million patients worldwide, and with a global disease burden of over $600 billion.

Derek Wilson

"Recent studies have indicated the pharmaceutical community is not making the kind of progress it had hoped for with its latest crop of Alzheimer's drugs," said Wilson. "This has led a number of researchers to suspect that new research directions need to be investigated to better understand Alzheimer's and how it originates in the brain at a molecular level. Discoveries at this level enable us to then hunt for new ways of tackling the disease at its root. The chemistry-based, analytical methods we are developing in my lab, and at CRMS more broadly, are uniquely suited to tackling these questions."

The Krembil Foundation is a charitable family foundation that invests in promising biomedical research in addition to other academic research areas. Its founder Robert Krembil is 91��ɫ graduate (MBA '71), and the foundation has made a number of investments in the Schulich School of Business for scholarships and also supports Professor Kari Hoffman’s neuroplasticity research in the Faculty of Health. Under the leadership of Mark Krembil (CEO), the Krembil Foundation makes grants in a number of promising areas, seeking out "high-risk, high-reward" initiatives with potential for major impact.

"The Krembil Foundation recognizes Prof. Wilson's work as addressing a crucial set of questions needed for rational drug design for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases," said Dr. Kate Williams, the Health Science Grants Manager at the Krembil Foundation.  "We see this funding as an excellent opportunity to invest in fundamental scientific discovery in the area of neurodegeneration."

“Congratulations to Derek on his success, and thanks to the Krembil Foundation for their support,” said Ray Jayawardhana, dean of the Faculty of Science. “I’m delighted that the Krembil Foundation has chosen to support the work of one of our most enterprising and innovative scientists.”

Wilson said he is grateful not only for the foundation’s financial partnership, but also its approach. "They really took the time to understand the research.  They have come alongside us in such an incredibly helpful and supportive way."  The Foundation's commitment to fundamental research is also key.  "There is a significant need to fund basic scientific research in Canada," said Wilson.  "It's heartening to work with people like the Krembils who understand this challenge, and who are ready to do something about it."

"Only fundamental science can provide the platforms from which new drug discovery programs can be launched.  The Krembils understand that like few others do," said Wilson.

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91��ɫ West MPP Mario Sergio made the announcement Tuesday. 91��ɫ’s research investment of $50,000 will match the funds for the award. 

The Early Researcher Awards program helps promising, recently appointed Ontario researchers build research teams of undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research associates and technicians. The goal of the program is to improve Ontario’s ability to attract and retain the best and brightest research talent. Ontario’s Early Researcher Awards investment will support 71 projects and 334 researchers and their teams across the province. 

Left: Derek Wilson

Wilson is researching why and how misfolded protein “amyloid plaques” form in the brain and disrupt normal brain activity – a process that can lead to the development of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Wilson’s team will conduct molecular level studies, which reveal the chemical interactions and structural features of proteins that cause them to misfold and clump together. Ultimately, his research aims to understand the underlying causes of neurodegenerative diseases and help identify new approaches for treatment.  

“This funding is crucial for young researchers,” said Wilson, a chemistry professor in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies who is also a member of 91��ɫ’s Centre for Research in Mass Spectrometry and 91��ɫ’s Centre for Research on Biomolecular Interactions. “I am grateful to the provincial government for supporting our research.”  

“The Early Researcher Awards program is a prime example of the province’s ongoing commitment to strengthen and support globally competitive research being conducted at the University,” said Robert Haché, vice-president, research & innovation, at 91��ɫ. “The awards recognize cutting-edge research that is undertaken by researchers early in their careers, as they seek effective solutions to real-world challenges.”

“We’re proud of the remarkable talent we have at 91��ɫ and the exceptional work our Toronto researchers do,” said Sergio. “Their contributions are making the world a better place, starting right here with new ideas and jobs in our community.”  

“Some of the world’s best researchers work here and across Ontario. Their ideas fuel job creation and economic growth, and our government is proud to support them,” said Glen Murray, Ontario minister of research & innovation.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Researchers at 91��ɫ’s Centre for Research in Mass Spectrometry (CRMS), Mount Sinai Hospital and the University Health Network have identified protein biomarkers that may aid in the diagnosis and prognosis of endometrial cancer, which affects the lining of the uterus. The researchers hope that a partnership with the private sector will expedite clinical testing and eventually move their discovery from the research bench to patients’ bedsides.

Endometrial cancer is the most common form of cancer in the female reproductive tract. In 2009, 4,400 Canadian women were diagnosed with endometrial cancer, making it the fourth-most-common cancer among Canadian women after breast, lung and colorectal cancers.

Although 85 per cent of diagnosed women show a five-year survival rate from endometrial cancer, and the overall survival rate is 79 per cent, those numbers have remained static for the last 20 years. Currently, endometrial cancer is often detected when unusual uterine blood discharges prompt a diagnostic investigation. These discharges can sometimes be the first signal that cancer is present, yet they may appear after the cancer has already progressed to a more advanced stage. Hysterectomies, with or without lymph node dissections, are currently the primary treatment; patients may also receive adjuvant therapy (radiation or chemotherapy), depending on the disease’s type, stage and grade.

Enter protein biomarkers – biological substances associated with a particular disease that can ideally be detected in the blood to aid the disease’s diagnosis and/or prognosis.

“We have identified several proteins that are present in much higher concentrations in endometrial cancer cells compared to normal cells,” says Professor Michael Siu (right), director of the , 91��ɫ’s associate vice-president research, science & technology, and professor in the Department of Chemistry in the Faculty of Science & Engineering. “These differences in protein expression have been verified in the lab on a couple of hundred patient samples; early results for testing in blood are very encouraging. By working with the private sector, we hope to be able to expedite clinical testing of the panel of biomarkers and develop a diagnostic kit for endometrial cancer.”

Siu’s research team includes Dr. Terry Colgan, head of gynecological pathology and cytopathology at , and Alex Romaschin, formerly with the and now a scientist with the Keenan Research Centre of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital.

Over the last five years, the team has published eight papers on endometrial cancer biomarkers in prestigious international journals and a number of additional articles are in various editorial and reviewing stages. Siu’s team has attracted over $1.3 million in external research funding for this endometrial cancer research, as well as an additional $1.8 million in funding for biomarkers of other cancers.

Siracor, a private-sector company founded by biotechnology entrepreneur Joel Cheng, has licensed the intellectual properties of the endometrial cancer biomarkers. Siracor is 100 per cent Canadian-owned, but has a global view and reach. “Endometrial cancer affects women all over the world,” says Cheng. “By developing kits that will expedite the detection of the disease and at an earlier stage, Siracor hopes to be a part of the scientific solution that will lessen this cancer’s impact worldwide.”

91��ɫ’s technology transfer service leads the patenting and licensing of the endometrial cancer biomarkers in collaboration with its counterparts at Mount Sinai Hospital and the University Health Network. It’s part of ongoing efforts to make sure research is not kept on the shelf.

“Technology transfer is a specialized service 91��ɫ offers to all researchers whose findings have commercial potential,” says Stan Shapson, 91��ɫ's vice-president research & innovation. “Strong basic research discoveries can lead to important applications, as we hope will be the case in this instance by improving endometrial cancer detection and treatment options. Through careful collaboration with industry, 91��ɫ is using initiatives such as this to maximize the benefit of our research findings to patients and their families.”

By David Phipps, director, Research Services and Knowledge Exchange, and Elizabeth Monier-Williams, Research Communications Officer

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91��ɫ Professor K.W. Michael Siu has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the highest honour a Canadian scholar can achieve in the arts, humanities and sciences.

This year’s new Fellows will be inducted at a ceremony to be held Nov. 28 in Gatineau, Que.

A specialist in mass spectrometry whose work is highly regarded by researchers around the world, Siu is also known for service to his field in a number of professional organizations, including president of the Canadian Society for Mass Spectrometry and chair of the Canadian National Proteomics Network Board of Directors.

Right: Professor K.W. Michael Siu

"We are tremendously proud that Professor Michael Siu is elected as a Fellow to the Royal Society," said Stan Shapson, 91��ɫ vice-president research & innovation. "Michael Siu is a pioneering scientist who has made significant contributions to advance research in chemistry, and especially in mass spectrometry, and has made great strides in establishing collaborations and partnerships regionally and internationally."

The citation for his election as a Fellow to the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences reads:

“Professor K.W. Michael Siu is one of Canada's foremost bioanalytical and biophysical chemists and an exceptional mass spectrometrist with an outstanding record of innovation and accomplishment. He has made most-significant contributions to understanding the structures, energetics, and ionization and gas-phase chemistries of protonated and metalated peptides as well as peptide radical ions, developing new mass spectrometry (MS) instrumentation in collaboration with Canadian industry, and developing innovative MS technologies and methodologies for proteomics, especially in the discovery, identification, verification and quantification of protein biomarkers for better diagnostics and prognostics of cancers.”

Siu is a Distinguished Research Professor (see YFile May 8, 2007) who did his PhD at Nova Scotia’s Dalhousie University and arrived at 91��ɫ in 1998 after a successful career at the National Research Council Canada (NRC) where he first developed some of the pioneering techniques that he uses to help other scientists in their investigations as well as his own. He is director of 91��ɫ's , holds an Industrial Research Chair funded by the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council and MDS Analytical Technologies (formerly Sciex), and is developing new instrumentation and methodologies in mass spectrometry in collaboration with the industrial partner.

He is also collaborating with researchers from Mount Sinai Hospital, St. Michael’s Hospital, University Health Network and the Hospital for Sick Children on discovering and verifying protein biomarkers for endometrial, head and neck, brain, and renal cancers. Siu also has extensive collaboration within and outside of 91��ɫ on proteomics and fundamental chemistry relevant to mass spectrometry.

Since 2005, Siu has also been 91��ɫ's associate vice-president research, science & technology.

He is the recipient of numerous distinctions, including a New Pioneers Award (see YFile, Jan. 22, 2007), the Maxxam Award for distinguished contribution in the field of analytical chemistry (see YFile Aug. 2, 2006), the 2005 Lossing Award (see YFile Jan. 20, 2006) and the Gerhard Herzberg Award from the Canadian Society for Analytical Sciences and Spectroscopy (see YFile, Sept. 13, 2004).

In an article first published in 91��ɫU �������������Ա�’s 2007 Special Research Edition, Siu said he was “in the right place at the right time” to ride the technological revolution in biomolecular analysis: electrospray ionization – a Nobel Prize-winning discovery that made it possible to analyze and measure proteins with hitherto unheard of sensitivity and accuracy. “The concept of moving proteins from the solution to the gas phase in order to weigh them accurately was completely revolutionary. This was entirely virgin territory,” Siu explained. He and his colleagues at NRC quickly modified an existing mass spectrometer and began exploring the new technology’s capabilities. As the technique opened up new possibilities, Siu’s work earned him recognition as an innovator and much sought-after collaborator.

Published in 91��ɫ's e-newsletter YFile.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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