Peter Zandstra enjoying the beauty of British Columbia Few people have made bigger contributions to the Canadian regenerative medicine ecosystem than Dr. Peter Zandstra. He is co-founder of two companies advancing cutting-edge biotechnologies for therapeutic use (Notch Therapeutics and ExCellThera, both of which are developing technologies set to transform the lives of patients) and he’s the founding Director of the University of British Columbia’s School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME), a school that is building the next generation of Canadian bioengineers. He is also the co-founder and Ch ..read more

Dr. Tak Mak. Credit: PMCC, UHN Toronto, Canada’s Tak Mak, OC, OOnt, FRS, FRSC, has won the prestigious Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research, valued at US$100,000. Dr. Mak, who has his lab at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC), is widely known for his discovery of the T-cell receptor in 1983 and pioneering work in the genetics of immunology (the study of the immune system). CBC Radio’s “As It Happens” interviewed Dr. Mak this week after the award announcement was made. I was in my car and sat in my driveway (as w ..read more

Michael Pirovolakis If you’ve watched the 1992 movie Lorenzo’s Oil, based on the true story of parents searching for a treatment for their son’s rare neurological disease, adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), then the real-life story of the Pirovolakis family might feel familiar. The Pirovolakis family lives in Toronto, Canada. In 2019 their son Michael was born and later diagnosed with spastic paraplegia (SPG50), a rare neurodegenerative disorder that affects fewer than 100 cases around the world. Not willing to accept their son’s fate of paralysis and moderate to severe intellectual disability with ..read more

Can you name 10 Black Canadians who have made significant contributions to life in Canada? That was a question posed by Vicki Olatundon, a motivational speaker, during a Black History Month presentation. (More on this later.) Here’s another question: what does Black representation in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) look like in Canada? From the Statistics Canada website, 71,365 Black Canadians 25 years and older had a postsecondary certificate, diploma or degree in STEM (in 2016). Also, In 2021, Black Canadians in the core age group (25 to 54 years) were more likely to hold ..read more

Mentorships should be transformational relationships, mutually beneficial for both the mentor and the mentee, and in Canada’s biotech industry they are essential. As the industry continues to grow, the need for qualified, skilled workers has increased. There is a significant gap from entry-level to executive positions that permeates the industry, as Michael May and Peter Zandstra wrote about here. It’s exciting to see the progress that has been made since that 2018 blog post, including the launch of the Canadian Advanced Therapies Training Institute. Mentorship is a proven tool to invest in th ..read more

In 2019 I wrote an open letter to Joe Rogan, asking him to be more judicious in how he discusses stem cells on his popular – 12.8 million subscribers – podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. Much to my surprise, I didn’t hear back from Joe or his people although I tagged him on Twitter several times. (Yes I’m being sarcastic.) Would I have liked the opportunity to discuss my letter and its contents – stem cell therapies, stem cell tourism, where we are with the science and approvals – with him? Absolutely. In early January 2023, I saw an article by Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne titled “My ..read more

Have you heard of Henrietta Leavitt, Annie Cannon and Williamina Fleming? They are to astronomy what Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson are to NASA and the space race. If the latter three names are familiar, you probably saw the movie Hidden Figures, or read the book upon which it is based: Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, by Margot Lee Shetterly. All six women worked as “computers” – a job description dating from the 1600s. Hidden Figures tells the story of the three African American women who worked for ..read more

Credit: Canva Although winter is still here and many university students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) studies are swamped with assignments and tests, now is the time to start on the hunt for a summer job in the field. In fact, many summer internships are already posted and job offers are being extended. For many students the job hunt can be daunting, and this can result in it being put off. In this blog post, I hope to ease this anxiety by helping with the first steps: sourcing summer jobs in the STEM field and creating a compelling resume to catch the eye of potential ..read more

Last year saw the organizers behind Advanced Therapies Week (ATW) move the conference from Miami to Miami Beach to accommodate a larger audience. As the Covid-19 pandemic was still going strong in January 2022, making international travel more difficult, attendance was lower than anticipated. In fact, on-site testing resulted in some delegates being turned away at the door after testing positive. Networking events were muted. Fast forward to this January and the conference climate appears to have returned to its pre-pandemic heyday, with in-person events taking place and people excited to see ..read more

Source: Wiki Commons While you all know me as a writer for Signals, I actually spend most of time working clinically. When wearing my health-care provider hat as a physician assistant in orthopaedics, I’m often asked about the use of stem cell therapy for the treatment of arthritis. Beyond the fact that stem cell therapy is not currently approved for arthritis treatment in Canada (with the exception of clinical research studies), I found that I didn’t really have much more information to offer patients. And I had questions of my own. So, I became inspired to learn more about the issue, and a ..read more