That’s Professor Lindsay Schoenbohm, of U of T Mississauga’s Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, commenting about how global society is going to have to get serious about dealing with the forces that have created climate change if our planet is to remain healthy in the future.

Schoenbohm and 15 other U of T researchers in the early stages of their careers are featured in a new publication from the Office of the Vice President, Research called Life in 2027: Ideas about tomorrow from our next generation.

“The focus of this report is how global society will fare in the near future,” said Professor Paul Young, Vice President, Research. “The researchers we feature represent the next generation of scientists and scholars who will be among those leading progress on the challenges we all face now. We chose 2027 to highlight how research today might impact tomorrow as U of T enters its third century of operation.”

The report profiles some of the university’s most accomplished early career researchers, asking them about everything from global warming to why we have so much trouble with work-life balance.

Young notes that Life in 2027 acts as a companion piece to Excellence, Innovation, Leadership: The University of Toronto Strategic Research Plan, 2012-2017, which was published earlier this year. “The work of all of these researchers links directly to our strategic research plan, which sets out the priorities U of T must develop to create an environment in which researchers like these can do their work.”

Professor Indigo Esmonde of U of T’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education is another of the Life in 2027 researchers. Esmonde is combining a background in math and a commitment to social justice to imagine a different world.

“I work with teachers who want to bring social justice issue into the math classroom. Thinking deeply about issues of equity is more often done in social studies classrooms, but if math is not a part of it then we’re missing something. One of the biggest reasons to learn math is to make the world a better place.”

Other researchers profiled include:

Jennifer Murphy, Chemistry; Daniel Wigdor, Computer Science and Mathematical & Computational Sciences, U of T Mississauga; Anne-Claude Gingras, Molecular Genetics and Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital; Daniel Roth, Paediatrics and the Hospital for Sick Children; Joyce Poon, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Sabine Stanley, Physics; Matthew Roorda, Civil Engineering; Holger Syme, English & Drama, U of T Mississauga; Emma Master, Cell & Systems Biology; Christopher Cochrane, Political Science and U of T Scarborough Department of Social Science; Suzanne M. Cadarette, Pharmacy; Julie McCarthy, Department of Management, U of T Scarborough and Rotman School of Management; Imogen Dickie, Philosophy; and Aziza Chaouni, Architecture, Landscape and Design.

The Life in 2027 package also includes By the Numbers, a detailed look at U of T’s research performance by way of sophisticated statistical analysis.

• Read the report
• Read the statistical supplement

Joyce Poon of the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is working on making computing greener. She’s one of four University of Toronto researchers awarded a prestigious Canada Research Chair on March 13.

“The way we compute is transitioning to what we call cloud computing,” said Poon. “Data is no longer stored on your computer or your phone.” Think of your gmail account—you can access it anywhere there’s an Internet connection because the actual content is stored in remote servers and downloaded as needed.

“One of the challenges of cloud computing is the enormous power consumption required to run the data centres where everything is stored. Their current global power consumption is 220 billion kilowatt hours a year. In the U.S. alone the cost of this energy is about $10 billion a year, and it’s growing at an exponential rate.”

Traditionally, metal wires are used to create connections within data centres, as well as within individual computers and on chips inside computers. As the CRC in Integrated Photonic Devices, Poon is exploring how these connections might be made with light instead, which would be much more energy efficient.

“We already use fibre optics to communicate over long distances,” she said. “The challenge is to develop devices that are ultra-compact, high-speed and consume very little energy.”

Poon will lead a team developing these devices, many of which are hundreds of times smaller than the width of a human hair.

The Canada Research Chairs program, administered by the federal government, invests $300 million annually as part of a strategy to attract and retain the most promising researchers. To date, the program has invested more than $315 million in U of T researchers.

Three other professors join the ranks of U of T’s other 238 CRCs:

Constantin Christopoulos of civil engineering is the CRC in Seismic Resilience of Infrastructure. Contemporary building codes aim to save lives in the event of an earthquake but have little effect in terms of preventing material damage to buildings or disruption of essential services in a city. Christopoulos aims to change this by developing a new generation of earthquake-resistant infrastructure.

Andreas Laupacis of medicine and St. Michael’s Hospital is the CRC in Health Policy and Citizen Engagement. He will develop a website to encourage dialogue about health policy in Ontario and use a new film-based research technique to explore the tensions that have arisen among patients with Multiple Sclerosis, doctors, researchers and politicians over a controversial new treatment called “liberation therapy.”

Milica Radisic of chemical engineering and applied chemistry and the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering is the CRC in Functional Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering. She is working on engineering new cardiac tissue, which could ultimately be used to replace damaged tissue. Along the way, the samples of healthy and diseased human heart tissue she creates will be used as models for drug testing and delivery.

The following professors saw their existing CRCs renewed:

• Gabrielle Boulainne of molecular genetics and the Hospital for Sick Children (CRC in Molecular and Developmental Neurobiology);
• Warren Chan of the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (CRC in Nanomedicine);
• Leah Cowen of molecular genetics (CRC in Microbial Genomics and Infectious Disease);
• Joseph Culotti of molecular genetics and Mount Sinai Hospital (CRC in Molecular Neurogenetics);
• Darrell Desveaux of cell and systems biology (CRC in Plant-Microbe Systems Biology);
• Daniel Dumount of medical biophysics and the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (CRC in Angiogenic and Lymphangiogenic Signalling);
• John Floras of medicine and Mount Sinai Hospital (CRC in Integrative Cardiovascular Biology);
• Cheryl Grady of psychiatry and Baycrest (CRC in Neurocognitive Aging);
• Thomas Kislinger of medical biophysics and the University Health Network (CRC in Proteomics in Cancer Research);
• Freda Miller of molecular genetics and the Hospital for Sick Children (CRC in Developmental Neurobiology);
• Jennifer Murphy of chemistry (CRC in Atmospheric and Environmental Chemistry);
• Jennifer Ryan of psychiatry and Baycrest (CRC in Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory);
• Simon Sharpe of biochemistry and the Hospital for Sick Children (CRC in Structural Biology of Membrane Active Proteins); and
• Juan-Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker of immunology and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (CRC in Developmental Immunology).

Professor Paul Young, U of T’s vice-president (research) offered his congratulations to the new and renewed CRC holders. “We at the University of Toronto are proud that so many of our faculty members have been awarded CRCs. This is a testament to the scholarly excellence and consistent leadership shown by our researchers. I extend my thanks, on behalf of U of T, to the government of Canada for its continued support of our researchers—and of research across the country—through the CRC program.”

But the technology isn’t quite right – yet. Fortunately, U of T Mechanical and Industrial Engineering professor Aimy Bazylak is on the case.

She is focussing on the fact that fuel cell performance is compromised by water build-up. And her investigation into this phenomenon just got a big boost from the Province of Ontario’s Early Researcher Awards (ERA) program.

Bazylak is one of 21 U of T professors in the early stages of their research careers whose work has been honoured with funding from the ERA, which helps recently-appointed Ontario researchers to build their teams and enables Ontario to attract and retain the best and brightest research talent. Each researcher receives $140,000 toward their projects.

“This research work is important to helping us meet our health care challenges while fostering long-term job creation and economic growth. Ontario is a leader in health care innovation and this furthers that position,” said Brad Duguid, Minister of Economic Development and Innovation.

Bazylak says the ERA will enable her to “lead my research group to advance the understanding and development of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, which convert hydrogen and oxygen to electricity, with only water and heat as local by-products. This funding will enable me to use state-of-the-art x-ray radiography to study the microscale features of the fuel cell and develop a powerful modelling tool for designing the next generation of fuel cells.”

U of T President David Naylor hailed the value of the ERA.

“The University of Toronto appreciates the Ontario government’s commitment to path-breaking research in the arts and humanities, social sciences and sciences alike,” said Naylor. “The Early Researcher Awards are an important step in supporting promising young researchers as they seek solutions to the most pressing issues of our time.”

Another ERA recipient, Professor Indigo Esmonde of U of T’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, is combining her scholarly background in mathematics with a commitment to social justice.

“The Early Researcher Award will benefit my research by allowing me to take my work in new directions,” says Esmonde. “With the support of a strong graduate student research team, I plan to work directly with youth community activists in Toronto and across the province, helping them to use mathematics effectively to understand and take action on issues in their communities.”

U of T performed well in the ERA competition, capturing 33 per cent of all the awards given to Ontario institutions. In addition, five U of T faculty members who applied through U of T partner hospitals were also awarded ERAs.

Professor Paul Young, U of T’s Vice President, Research, notes that “while U of T has always done well in the ERA competition, our results in this round are stunning. This is a clear reflection of the quality of our early career researchers and the innovation inherent in their work. On behalf of the University, I applaud our new ERA winners and we offer our thanks to the Province of Ontario.”

In addition to Bazylak and Esmonde, other ERA winners include:

Philip Kim, Banting and Best Department of Medical Research (BBDMR); Ashish Jagadish Khisti, Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE); Kagan Kerman, Department of Physical and Environmental Science, U of T Scarborough (UTSC); Marc Johnson, Biology, U of T Mississauga (UTM); Sean Hum, ECE; Megan Frederickson, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Natalie Enright Jerger, ECE; Timothy Ching-yee Chan, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering; Amy Caudy, BBDMR; Peter Loewen, Political Science, UTM; Tina Malti, Psychology, UTM; Jennifer Mitchell, Cell and Systems Biology; Khandker Nurul Habib, Civil Engineering; Daman Panesar, Civil Engineering; E. Natalie Rothman, History, UTSC; Nicholas Rule, Psychology; Ruslan Salakhutdinov, Statistics; Nancy Salbach, Physical Therapy; Tricia Seifert, OISE.

View descriptions of the ERA researchers’ work here.

Read more about the Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform.

Crop farming enables food to be produced and it creates and sustains jobs for farmers and numerous related sectors of the economy.

But when prolonged drought strikes an area (think wheat in Egypt or corn in Africa) crop yield, livelihoods – and the economy – can be destroyed. And drought may well intensify around the world as climate change causes huge variations in precipitation and temperature.

U of T alumnus Dr. Julian Northey is striving to use genetic science to help drought-stricken areas keep their crops growing.

Northey, who received his PhD in molecular genetics from U of T in 2009, has formed a company, Frontier Agri-Science Inc. (FAS), to further develop what he calls a “genetic technology” that could be adapted into various types of crop seeds to improve water efficiency and drought resistance in the plant.

The technology is based on graduate research Northey conducted while under the supervision of Professor Peter McCourt, of U of T’s Cell and Systems Biology Department.

“There’s a plant hormone called abscisic acid that is involved in a plant’s response to drought. I have discovered a genetic pathway that hyper-sensitizes the plant to that hormone, making the plant more drought resistant.”

Dr. Julian Northey

“Since the technology was at an early stage in its development, IPO and FAS structured a licensing deal that gives FAS the ability to develop and mature the technology,” says Peter Azmi, business development officer, life sciences at IPO.

“We’re confident our technology will translate well into crops but the goal right now is to do the genetic research,” says Northey.

Northey and his team will use two approaches. One is based on direct genetic modification, where scientists tweak the genetics of an organism. The other method is breeding or inducing mutations within the genome and then looking for plants that have the desired genetic characteristics.

And Northey is developing a business model that is as novel as the research. Fundamentally he wants to see control of the crops maintained in the farmer’s hands.

He explains that the current system for marketing GMO technology by multinationals and other seed companies is that before a growing season, seed is sold to farmers and they are legally restricted from saving and replanting the next generation of seed. “Aside from hybrid technology in, for example, corn, many people, including myself, are opposed to that business model because it abolishes a fundamental right of a farmer to save and replant his own seed.”

Northey prefers an open access model, which involves giving seed directly to farmers and allowing them to save and replant it. Farmers would pay for the use of the genetic technology based on a percentage of their gross yield, in essence a royalty-based structure. If you produce little, you pay little, a built in crop insurance.

“We feel this model is more sustainable and advantageous to the farmer,” says Northey. “Rather than maximizing profit to a corporation, it is maximizing value to the farmer.”

Northey takes his inspiration from a highly publicized incident in India where a multinational sold GMO cotton seed to farmers, who then experienced failed crops and increased indebtedness. Due to the high upfront cost of the GMO seeds, farmers borrowed money to purchase non-native varieties of cotton. After repeated years of failed crops, farmers were left without crop or seed stock thereby putting them into severe debt.

“Over 100,000 farmers in India have committed suicide, possibly exacerbated by this phenomenon. I want to develop a business model that is fair to the farmer.”

Professor Peter McCourt isn’t surprised that Northey has been able to combine science, business and social impact in his work. “Although Julian was trained in the genetic sciences in my laboratory, he also had an entrepreneurial spirit that let him take his experimental results and turn them into a product that may be extremely useful to society as a whole.”

U of T’s Vice President, Research Professor Paul Young feels “this is exactly the kind of role we like to see IPO playing. Our mandate is to assist U of T faculty members in transferring their knowledge and innovations to society. We are happy to help Julian as he and his team build Frontier Agri-Science Inc.”

Pictured here (from left):

Nobel Laureate and U of T Chemistry Professor John Polanyi (for whom the John C. Polanyi Award is named), Vice President, Research Professor Paul Young, Prof. Eugene Fiume of Computer Science (Synergy Award for Innovation), Dr. Alex Hayat of Physics (Howard Alper Postdoctoral Prize), Prof. Brendan Frey of the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Electrical and Computer Engineering and Prof. Benjamin Blencowe of the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (both winners of the Polanyi Award), Prof. Dick Peltier of Physics (Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering), U of T President Prof. David Naylor, Matthew Florczynskis, master’s student at the Institute of Medical Sciences (Andre Hamer Postgraduate Prize) and Prof. Michael Luke, chair of Physics. With Peltier winning the Herzberg (considered Canada’s top science and engineering prize), U of T has won three of the past four Herzbergs (the other winners are Prof. Polanyi and Prof. Geoffrey Hinton of Computer Science).

For the full story see U of T takes home a slate of NSERC awards.

This same phenomena can occur on the molecular level. It’s possible to make two proteins that are exact mirror images, or “reflections,” of each other. In nature, proteins are made of L-amino acids. However, if you make proteins using the mirror image D-amino acids you can make the exact mirror image of a protein. These mirror image proteins aren’t recognized by the enzymes that naturally degrade proteins or by the immune system, so they can hang around longer in the body, potentially making them more effective as drugs.

Professor Sachdev “Dev” Sidhu of molecular biology has started a company, appropriately named Reflexion Pharmaceuticals, to make an entirely new class of drug molecules in mirror image form. In addition to evading the body’s usual ways of eliminating drugs, Reflexion’s drugs are made chemically at a fraction of the cost of making traditional biologic drugs.

The core technology, which the company licensed from the Whitehead Institute, involves first making a mirror image of the protein to which the drug will bind (the target protein). Dr. Sidhu then uses his expertise in molecular and phage library design to find a protein that can bind to and inhibit the activity of the target protein. By then making the mirror image of the protein he’s discovered, he can inhibit the original, non-mirror, target protein. Dr. Sidhu, together with U of T postdoctoral fellow Maruti Uppalapati, has successfully used this technique to discover a novel mirror image inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a protein which stimulates new blood vessel growth.

There are several approved drugs that inhibit VEGF and are used to treat a variety of serious diseases, including colon, kidney, lung and breast cancers and the eye disease, including wet age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the developed world. The currently marketed VEGF-inhibiting drugs generate over $10 billion in annual revenues.

The first step in Reflexion’s drug discovery process is to make the target protein in mirror image form, something that can only be done chemically. For this, Dr. Sidhu teamed up with Reflexion co-founder and U of Chicago professor, Stephen Kent.

Dr. Dana Ault-Riché, Reflexion’s CEO says, “Steve is the best person in the world at making proteins using chemistry and Dev is the best phage library designer, so Reflexion has the two best people it could possibly have joining forces to make its technology work.”

In addition to cancer and eye diseases, Reflexion has plans to use its technology to make drugs for a variety of other conditions including inflammatory diseases like arthritis and osteoporosis, infectious diseases and chronic pain.

Founded in 1972, the Connaught Fund was created from the sale of Connaught Laboratories, which first mass-produced insulin, the Nobel award-winning discovery of U of T professors Frederick Banting, Charles Best, James Collip and J.J.R. Mcleod. The university has stewarded the fund in the years since, awarding more than $120 million to U of T researchers for work that will have a transformative impact. Today, the fund invests approximately $3 million annually in emerging and established scholars.

“Congratulations to all the winners,” said Professor Paul Young, U of T’s vice-president (research) and chair of the Connaught Committee. “The competition was stiff this year, which reflects the fact that U of  T is home to many excellent researchers. These projects have the potential to make an enormous impact in their respective fields of study and in society at large, and we were delighted to support them.”

Two projects received the Summer Institute Award, which brings together international graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and other researchers to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and creative new research methods:

• Tim Bressmann of speech-language pathology received $141,300 to run three intensive one-week programs over the next three years in “Imaging methods in speech and swallowing research” and
• James Graham of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics received $50,000 for the “Extreme Astronomical Instrumentation Summer Institute,” to be held once.

Eleven researchers received Connaught Innovation Awards of between $40,000 and $80,000 each to help with technology development, commercialization and knowledge transfer. They are:

• Stewart Aitchison of electrical and computer engineering and the Institute for Optical Sciences  for “Development of a portable cytometer for global health”;
• Timothy Bender of chemical engineering and applied chemistry and the Institute for Optical Sciences for “Precommercialization of novel compositions of matter: multifunctional organic materials for organic solar cells (electronically conductive and light absorbing boron subphthalocyanines)”;
• Constantin Christopoulos of civil engineering for “Development of cast steel yielding bracing systems for the enhanced seismic protection of infrastructure”;
• Michael Glogauer of Dentistry for “Colourimetric Rinse Test to Screen for Periodontal (Gum) Disease”;
• Eugenia Kumacheva of chemistry for “A microfluidic method for studies of gas‐liquid Reactions”;
• Howard Lipshitz of molecular genetics for “Synthetic antibodies against RNA‐binding proteins for research and diagnostics”;
• Milos Popovic of the Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering for “System and therapeutic intervention for restoration of voluntary upper limb function in individuals with severe paralysis following stroke or spinal cord injury”;
• Dwight Seferos of chemistry and the Institute for Optical Sciences  for “Synthesis of Materials of Interest for Plastic Solar Cells”;
• Molly Shoichet of chemical engineering and applied chemistry and the Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering for “Injectable hydrogel for local delivery to the brain”;
• Yu Sun of mechanical engineering and the Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering for “Development of a high‐speed, low‐cost ektacytometer for mechanical characterization of RBCs (red blood cells)”; and
• Shahrokh Valaee of electrical and computer engineering for “Dynamic RSS radio map learning and generation for location estimation.”

Finally, based on letters of intent, the committee also invited three researchers to move forward with full applications for the Global Challenge Award. This award of up to $1 million brings together the university’s top researchers with leaders from other sectors. Through its three program elements—the Connaught Distinguished Visiting Scholar, the Connaught International Symposium and the Connaught Research Cluster—the award enhances the university’s contributions to global society.

The leaders of the three projects proceeding to the final around are:

• Brenda Banwell of paediatrics for “Global migration and human autoimmune disease”;
• Lee Bartel of music for “Music medicine in aging: exploring foundations, examining means, and establishing applications”; and
• James Orbinski of public health sciences for “Participatory governance in primary health care for greater equity in global health.”

Young said that the committee plans to announce the New Researcher Award recipients in April and the final Global Challenge winner in June.

Excellence, Innovation, Leadership: The University of Toronto Strategic Research Plan, 2012-2017 (SRP) is structured on seven thematic areas that engage the U of T research community and its partners in the challenges that face global society in the 21^st century.

“Speaking as an independent scholar, I had some conceptual trouble with the very idea of a strategic plan for research.  However, by consulting widely with first-class researchers from a range of disciplines, I believe we’ve found the right balance,” says Professor Paul Young, vice president (research).

“The plan does not impose priorities.  Rather, it provides a broad umbrella under which a range of excellent researchers can work, be it singly or in teams of almost any imaginable size.   Put another way, the strategic plan highlights the challenges global society is facing, and aligns those challenges with an articulation of the diverse strengths of U of T’s scholarly community.   That means we can champion the continuing excellence of basic research within disciplines, even as we set the stage for external support of thematic or problem-based multidisciplinary research.”

At the same time, Young notes, this strategic foundation will enable the U of T research community to remain responsive to new areas of priority as they arise.

“We’re living in a period of tremendous change.  The social media revolution enables us to be better informed than ever before, there has been a sea change in democracy in areas such as the Mid East, the global economy remains unstable and ever-challenged, and the scientific community is poised to make significant advances in health and technology that will change global society.  This SRP puts U of T in a position to plan for research in these and other areas.  We need a foundation from which to respond and plan as priorities change.”

The SRP’s seven thematic areas are:

• EXPLORE: Our Place in the Universe
• SUSTAIN: Humanity and the Environment
• PROMOTE: Healthy People, Healthy Communities, Healthy World
• ENGAGE: Minds, Language, Cultures, Values
• ADVANCE: Institutions, Peace and Prosperity
• ENABLE: Technologies for the 21^st Century
• BUILD: Community and Liveable Societies

The content of each thematic area of the SRP outlines the dynamics of each theme – for instance, in the “BUILD: Community and Liveable Societies” theme, examples of sub-themes include Liveable Cities, Human Rights, Justice and Humanitarianism and Immigration, Internationalization, Multiculturalism and Identity.

“The great benefit to society of U of T is that we offer such a breadth of expertise. The problems that face people everywhere are never rooted in one component.  Hurricane Katrina, for example, raised questions in the areas of poverty, race, ethics, engineering, public health, politics, economics, as well as an understanding of the nature of hurricanes from a scientific perspective.  This SRP pairs the multidisciplinary nature of global problems and of U of T’s faculty and will enable our multidisciplinary work to thrive.”

Functionally, Young says the SRP also plays a crucial role in enabling U of T to progress on a number of fronts:

• Helping U of T faculty members to be aware of each other’s research and scholarly activities, thus enabling multidisciplinary work
• Similarly, providing current and prospective research partners outside the university – for example, in the private sector or government – to see the breadth and depth of U of T’s research
• Enabling U of T to remain competitive in major research investment programs, such as the Canada Research Chairs, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Canada Excellence Research Chairs and the investment programs sponsored by the Province of Ontario.

U of T’s first strategic research plan was launched in 2000, specifically to support the university’s partnership with the then newly-created Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Canada Research Chairs program.

“That first plan was an excellent initiative and helped to guide our early progress in these important programs.  Since then, much has changed and much will change.  We consulted widely for this new SRP and we believe it will be an extremely valuable foundation for us to grow U of T’s research standing and achievements for the next five years and beyond.”

Young adds that a strong research enterprise adds to U of T’s ability to make a positive difference to the world.

“Combine the more than 15,000 students we graduate every year and who enter the global workforce with the new ideas our scholars generate and the spin-off companies created through our research and it is clear that U of T contributes in a significant way to answering the tough questions that face the world.  The SRP will play a major role in U of T making this impact.”

The SRP is available online at http://www.research.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/UofT-SRP-Oct-21-2011.pdf