Stem cell exhibit for kids is a hit with adults too

sgupta — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 06:20:49 +0000

Stem cell exhibit for kids is a hit with adults too sgupta Tue, 11/10/2015 - 01:20

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Students between the ages of four and 14 indulge their passion for science (all photos by Stacey Johnson)

Stacey Johnson

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Stacey Johnson

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Teaching school kids “mere steps from the place where stem cells were discovered”

How much do you remember from science classes about stem cell biology? Perhaps more importantly, how much do your kids – or grandkids – know?

An award-winning stem cell exhibit has been delighting children, parents/grandparents and educators since it arrived at MaRS Discovery District, and Torontonians have a few more days to view it before it moves on to its next location.

Super Cells: The Power of Stem Cells is a free, interactive, museum-quality exhibit that introduces children between the ages of four to 14 years old to the wonders of stem cells. Brought to Toronto by the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM), with funding provided by the University of Toronto to support science public outreach, the tri-lingual exhibit (English, French and Spanish) has quickly become integrated into science curriculums for the schools that have visited.

“It’s fitting to be teaching our young people about stem cells mere steps from the place where stem cells were discovered and we’re hopeful this exhibit sparks their curiosity and passion for science – especially in regenerative medicine,” says Professor Peter Zandstra, chief scientific officer of CCRM.

Read about some of the stem cell research going on at ��˾��ֱ��

Cherie Sachar, a math and science teacher at Robbins Hebrew Academy in Toronto, brought 32 grade 8 students to learn about stem cell science. She’s a fan of Super Cells. "I found the exhibit very interesting and informative and it is something that we should all see to enlighten us about stem cells and the research being done."

CCRM has arranged to have a ��˾��ֱ�� grad student on hand whenever a school group is visiting. (Pictured at right: Theresa Chow, a PhD candidate at ��˾��ֱ�� who is also with the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital, explains the evolution of stem cells to a visiting student.)

Ursula Nosi, a fourth-year PhD candidate with the department of physiology at ��˾��ֱ��, said she really enjoyed her experience of being a volunteer.

"The exhibit was awesome. I think the kids, as well as the teachers, were generally very impressed,” Nosi said. “The teachers were very thankful to get the opportunity to expose the kids to the exhibit and a real ‘scientist.’ Not only were the kids very inquisitive […] but teachers were asking me to explain concepts to them as well."

Super Cells was produced by the Stem Cell Network and Musée Nature Sciences Sherbrooke, with financial support and expertise provided by CCRM, CIRM and the UK’s Cell Therapy Catapult. EuroStemCell contributed content/oversight.

MaRS provided exhibition space and ��˾��ֱ��’s Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering and Science & Engineering Engagement gave financial support to the Toronto exhibition.

Super Cells is open daily from 9 – 6 and closes on Friday, November 13 to travel to California.

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Regenerative medicine conference puts spotlight on Toronto

sgupta — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 17:07:51 +0000

Regenerative medicine conference puts spotlight on Toronto sgupta Fri, 10/30/2015 - 13:07

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Professor Peter Zandstra and University Professor Emeritus James Till were among the world-leading researchers who gathered in Toronto for the Till & McCulloch Meetings (photo by James Poremba)

Stacey Johnson

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Stacey Johnson

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

CCRM

If you or someone you know has benefited from a bone marrow transplant, then you may be more knowledgeable about stem cells and regenerative medicine (RM) than you think.

Bone marrow transplants, a procedure used in treating cancer that has been around for the last 40 years, is just one of the applications of stem cell science. RM includes stem cells, biomaterials and molecules and it is used to repair, regenerate or replace diseased cells, tissues and organs.

“Regenerative medicine is exciting because it offers opportunities to learn about the fundamentals of tissue and organ development, form and (normal and diseased) function, as well as provide new strategies to treat and perhaps one day cure devastating degenerative diseases,” explains Dr. Peter Zandstra of the University of Toronto’s Medicine By Design and Institute of biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME).

The Canadian RM community met in Toronto this week for its annual scientific conference: the Till & McCulloch Meetings, named for the University of Toronto researchers James Till and Ernest McCulloch who discovered transplantable stem cells in 1961.

The conference was a who’s who of world-renowned researchers affiliated with ��˾��ֱ��, such as Dr. Janet Rossant (Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine and SickKids), Dr. Gordon Keller (McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine), Dr. Andras Nagy (Mount Sinai Hospital), Dr. Armand Keating (University Health Network) and Dr. Molly Shoichet and Dr. Milica Radisic (Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering). A quarter of the attendees at the conference had a direct affiliation with the university.

“It was really gratifying to host the Till and McCulloch Meetings in Toronto and have Dr. Jim Till preside over the lectureship and meeting. ��˾��ֱ�� researchers were represented very well at the conference,” says Zandstra, who also heads up the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine. “Molly and Milica showcased exciting work combining stem cell derived cells into biomaterials for transplantation and organ modeling, while Sid Goyal (Physics), presented new work on clonal dynamics during blood stem cell transplantation.”

With its tremendous concentration of stem cell scientists and bioengineers, Toronto boasts one of the largest combined biomedical and biotechnology clusters in North America. More than 11,000 principal investigators and technicians operate from nine teaching hospitals and 37 research institutions.

Toronto’s prominence in this field is expected to grow even stronger when the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, a translation centre working closely with ��˾��ֱ��, brings together Medicine by Design, OIRM and cell manufacturing capabilities under one roof at MaRS Discovery District. The “RM village” being envisioned for downtown Toronto will solidify the city’s reputation as a RM leader and place to watch.

This year’s Till & McCulloch Award Lecture was presented by Timothy Kieffer from the University of British Columbia. He was being recognized for his work in diabetes, including breakthrough research published in Nature Biotechnology last year.

Zandstra, the chief scientific officer for CCRM, and a member of the award selection committee, called the paper “a fantastic example of Canadian leadership in an important and competitive area of regenerative medicine.”

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