Research & Innovation

“Godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton was already on his way to becoming a household name when he won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for foundational work leading to today’s artificial intelligence boom.

Two months later, his celebrity has hit a whole new level.

The University Professor emeritus at the ��߲ݴ�ý says he now gets recognized on the street and that strangers regularly ask him for selfies. On a recent flight to Toronto, one flight attendant even grabbed the intercom to announce his presence on the plane. That’s in addition to a torrent of requests to speak to media, appear on podcasts and read academic papers.

As he prepares to travel to Stockholm on Dec. 10 to officially accept the honour alongside co-winner John J. Hopfield of Princeton University – which will be celebrated via watch parties and other “Nobel Week” events at U of T – Hinton says he plans to put his growing fame to good use.

“It will be useful when I talk about AI risks,” he says, referring to the warning bell he began sounding in 2023 about the potential existential threat posed by rapid and unchecked AI development.

“It will make people take me more seriously.”

For example, he was recently invited to be part of a webinar with Nobel Peace Prize laureates on whether AI should be used to decide if and when to launch nuclear weapons – a foreboding new twist on a Cold War-era threat that has preoccupied fellow U of T Nobel laureate John Polanyi, a University Professor emeritus of chemistry.

“I think it’s a bad idea,” Hinton says for the record.

Yet, as scary as such a scenario is to contemplate, Hinton has focused on what he considers an equally grave threat to humanity: the moment when machine intelligence surpasses that of our own.

That’s why he’s called on governments to develop regulations to guide AI development and deployment. It’s also why he’s urging companies to devote more funding to AI safety research as they rush to explore the myriad ways the technology can be used to make our lives better – from finding cures for deadly diseases to discovering new materials to help combat climate change.

At U of T, Hinton has also taken on an advisory role at the Schwartz Reisman Institute of Technology and Society, where researchers are at the forefront of exploring AI safety and other issues around the adoption of new technologies. In particular, he highlights the work of Roger Grosse and David Duvenaud – both AI safety experts who are associate professors in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science and Schwartz Reisman Chairs in Technology and Society (he says Grosse convinced him to go public with his concerns last year after he left a senior research position at Google).

The institute and U of T more broadly have an opportunity to become a world leader in figuring out how to guard against AI threats, he says. “I think that can be a world-class centre for figuring out whether there’s a way to make a superintelligence – which we all think is coming – not want to take control.”

Hinton’s moment in the spotlight has been a long time coming – and is testament to his curious mind, persistent nature and willingness to go against the grain.

As a child attending a “mildly Christian school” in England, he says he often felt like an outsider because he refused to accept the idea of a god without evidence (he remains an atheist). Decades later, Hinton again found himself on the fringe as he and a handful of researchers, including the Salk Institute for Biological Science’s Terry Sejnowsky, who did his PhD research under Hopfield, explored the idea that the human brain was essentially a bunch of connection strengths between neurons – not a series of logical expressions, as many in the field then believed.

That key insight now forms the basis of today neural nets.

“There were many times when I could easily have given up and sort of joined the mainstream,” Hinton says. “But I think my experience as a child made me far more resistant to that.”

A self-described cognitive scientist who works in the field of computer science, Hinton says he was surprised to win a Nobel Prize in Physics. But the Nobel committee noted he used ideas from physics to create the Boltzmann machine, which can be used to recognize elements in data. The Boltzmann machine, in turn, was based on the Hopfield network, which was invented by his co-laureate.

(photo by Johnny Guatto)

Hinton is donating an early Boltzmann chip, about the size of a postage stamp, to the Nobel Prize Museum – and has decided to use the money from his win to set up a prize for young researchers at the annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems. He has also donated to a Canadian charity that supports works with Indigenous communities to address water challenges, and has plans to give to another that supports neurodiverse young adults.

For young researchers hoping to follow in his footsteps? Hinton advises: focus on a problem that really excites you, don’t become swayed by conventional thinking, persevere until you know you’re wrong – and feel free to wander between different research disciplines.

“If you're really interested in chasing a criminal, you don't stop at a state border,” he says. “That's a stupid thing to do – so, the boundaries of fields, you just ignore them.”

Should you eat soy after menopause? U of T researchers dispel myth about soy and cancer

rahul.kalvapalle — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 00:53:18 +0000

Should you eat soy after menopause? U of T researchers dispel myth about soy and cancer

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 12/03/2024 - 19:53

Cutline

A study led by researchers at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine's department of nutritional sciences found that soy isoflavones – estrogen-like compounds – had no effect on key markers of estrogen-related cancers (photo by Yagi Studio/Getty Images)

Betty Zou

Topic

Breaking Research

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Unity Health

Nutritional Sciences

St. Michael's Hospital

Subheadline

“We hope our study will help people feel more comfortable including soy foods in their diet"

A study led by experts at the ��߲ݴ�ý's Temerty Faculty of Medicine is providing reassuring evidence on consumption of soy foods during postmenopause.

In a systematic review and meta-analysis of 40 trials in over 3,000 participants, U of T researchers gathered results on the effects of soy isoflavones – estrogen-like compounds naturally found in plants – on biological outcomes related to risk of endometrial and other female-related cancers.

Their results, published in Advances in Nutrition, found that isoflavones had no effect on key markers of estrogen-related cancers, supporting the safety of soy as a food as well as potential therapy.

“The risk of cardiovascular disease increases substantially as women* go through menopause, so soy can offer dual benefits during this particular phase of life,” says the study’s senior author Laura Chiavaroli, an assistant professor in Temerty's department of nutritional sciences and affiliate scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto.

Assistant Professor Laura Chiavaroli (left) and PhD student Gabrielle Viscardi (supplied images)

Yet, Chiavaroli notes many people are hesitant to eat soy foods because they contain isoflavones, which have a similar structure to estrogen. In animal studies, large doses of isoflavones have been linked to a higher risk of cancer.

“Something we hear very often is that people have a lot of concern about consuming soy because there are so many conflicting messages out there,” says Gabrielle Viscardi, a second-year PhD student in the department of nutritional sciences and the study’s lead author.

This is despite the fact that several health advocacy groups, including the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, already recommend soy foods as part of a healthy diet. Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have both recognized soy – a high-quality and complete source of protein – as effective in reducing the risk of heart disease

Soy foods have also been shown to alleviate hot flashes associated with menopause, which affect many women and impact their quality of life.

The trials considered for the U of T study followed postmenopausal women from around the world who had consumed either soy isoflavones or a non-isoflavone control for at least three months.

The researchers concluded that consumption of soy isoflavones did not affect the four key estrogen-related markers, namely: thickness of uterus lining, vaginal maturation index (a measure of estrogen status) and levels of circulating estrogen and follicle-stimulating hormone.

Their findings support the idea that soy isoflavones behave differently from human estrogen, particularly when it comes to cancers that depend on estrogen to develop. “We have estrogen receptors throughout our bodies but, contrary to the hormone estrogen, isoflavones from soy don’t bind to all the estrogen receptors equally,” says Viscardi, who is also a registered dietitian. “That’s why we see a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system and no effect on the female reproductive system.”

This difference in biological activity explains why soy isoflavones have been considered as a possible alternative to hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which is used to treat menopause symptoms by replacing the estrogen that the body stops producing during this period.

Chiavaroli notes some people don’t want to take HRTs and are seeking alternative options.

Further, HRTs may also not be a good option for people at an increased risk of estrogen-sensitive cancers like breast cancer, as well as those with a history of heart disease and stroke. For these individuals, consuming soy foods as part of a balanced diet could help manage their menopausal symptoms while also reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Chiavaroli says the study's findings also align with Health Canada’s dietary guidelines that encourage people to choose plant-based proteins more often, a move that would also convey benefits for the environment.

“We hope our study will help people feel more comfortable including soy foods in their diet without being concerned that it’s going to increase their risk of estrogen-dependent cancer,” says Chiavaroli.

The study was funded by the United Soybean Board (U.S. Department of Agriculture) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research through the Canada-wide Human Nutrition Trialists’ Network.

* Although menopause is sex-specific, the study retains use of the term "women" as it is used conventionally in studies and guidelines on menopause

PhD student's radiopharmaceutical to play key role in clinical trial for lung cancer treatment

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 20:59:25 +0000

PhD student's radiopharmaceutical to play key role in clinical trial for lung cancer treatment

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 11/26/2024 - 15:59

Cutline

Stephanie Borlase developed a radiopharmaceutical, which will be used during a clinical trial at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, to track delivery of immunotherapy drugs across the blood-brain barrier (photo by Dana Thompson)

Eileen Hoftyzer

Topic

Breaking Research

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Graduate Students

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Subheadline

The compound developed by U of T's Stephanie Borlase will be used to track delivery of immunotherapy drugs to metastases in the brain

A radiopharmaceutical developed by ��߲ݴ�ý PhD student Stephanie Borlase is poised to play a key role in a clinical trial that could inform improvements to lung cancer treatment.

The trial at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, planned for 2025, will test whether ultrasound can disrupt the blood-brain barrier and increase uptake of immunotherapy into brain metastases – tumours caused by cancer cells spreading to the brain from elsewhere in the body.

Although immunotherapy has shown potential as a treatment for lung cancer, it is not able to cross the blood-brain barrier. Borlase’s radiopharmaceutical, which she developed as part of her doctoral research at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, will be used to track delivery of immunotherapy drugs to brain metastases with a PET (positron emission tomography) scan.

“This project provides me with the opportunity to learn different aspects of research and be on the forefront of patient treatments,” says Borlase. “It is such an amazing opportunity to be able to see what is happening in the hospital with current patients and clinical trials and know that my research is actually getting to patients.”

Borlase completed her undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Manitoba, before seeking out a PhD program where she could conduct research that could potentially be translated into therapies for patients with hard-to-treat cancers.

In 2022, she began her PhD with Professor Raymond Reilly, director of the Centre for Pharmaceutical Oncology (CPO), whose research focuses on developing radiopharmaceuticals to image and treat cancer.

By attaching radioactive isotopes to highly targeted agents, radiopharmaceuticals allow clinicians to image tumours through scans and deliver therapeutic doses of radiation directly to the tumour.

Borlase has been working towards pairing the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (also known by the brand name Keytruda) with a radioactive isotope that can be imaged by PET – resulting in a radiopharmaceutical that could allow physicians to determine whether the therapy enters the brain and concentrates better in tumours after the application of focused ultrasound.

For the first two years of her PhD, Borlase worked in the CPO’s Good Manufacturing Practices facility to prepare the new radiopharmaceutical for clinical trials, optimizing and formulating the drug in a quality suitable for use in humans, and testing it in pre-clinical models.

Reilly says that this is an exceptional experience for a graduate student. “One of the greatest impacts and rewards of pharmaceutical sciences research is to see your work advanced to a clinical trial to make a difference in patient outcomes, which Stephanie has this wonderful opportunity to do,” he says.

“Not only is she developing the radiopharmaceutical, but she will be working closely with the oncologists and imaging specialists to design and conduct the trial and will get first-hand experience in seeing the results of her PhD research in the PET images of the patients in the trial.”

The trial follows on the heels of another study in which clinicians and scientists at Sunnybrook used a radiopharmaceutical provided by Reilly’s team to track the delivery of a breast cancer drug to brain metastases, resulting in the first evidence that the technique improved uptake of the drug.

For her part, Borlase says she hopes the trial will lead to better therapies for a form of cancer that is notoriously difficult to treat.

“I always hope that researchers can develop new treatments for cancer because it is such a terrible disease that is never going to disappear. Even if we cannot completely cure the brain metastases, we can work to prolong survival to give these individuals more time with their families and friends,” says Borlase, who recently received a Research Training Award from the Canadian Cancer Society and Brain Canada Foundation.

“It's such a rare opportunity for PhD students to be able to work with clinician-scientists or oncologists and actually see their research translate into a clinical setting, so the fact that I am able to do this is incredible.”

R u there? Using abbreviations in your texts reduces the chance of getting a reply: Study

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 14:07:13 +0000

R u there? Using abbreviations in your texts reduces the chance of getting a reply: Study

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 11/25/2024 - 09:07

Cutline

(photo by Envato)

Topic

Research & Innovation

Rotman School of Management

U of T Scarborough

Subheadline

Researchers find that people who use common messaging shorthands such as "lol" and "ttyl" are perceived as putting less effort into the conversation

Tapping out smartphone messages using shorthand such as “btw” (by the way) or “tbh” (to be honest) may feel breezy and efficient – but a new study warns these and other common abbreviations may make it less likely to get a response.

Whether you’re on a dating app or messaging with fellow gamers, it turns out that using abbreviations makes people believe you’re putting less effort into the conversation. They’ll find your message less sincere and not as worthy of a reply as the exact same text written in full.

“Abbreviations imply informality and casualness – so we thought if somebody uses one, you might read that as a signal of closeness and be more likely to respond,” says study co-author Sam Maglio, a marketing professor in the department of management at the ��߲ݴ�ý Scarborough and the Rotman School of Management.

“We figured that was perfectly plausible and we found out that was perfectly wrong. An abbreviation makes the other party tune out.”

The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, was based on the results of experiments in the lab and the field, survey data and archival field data.

One experiment examined Tinder conversation histories submitted by 700 users across five continents. Researchers calculated the percentage of abbreviations participants used in their messages on the popular dating app. They found that for every one-per-cent increase in abbreviations, average conversation length decreased by about seven per cent.

When other Tinder users were surveyed, 80 per cent believed their matches wouldn’t care if they used abbreviations. But that wasn't reflected in the data – regardless of profile characteristics, topics discussed, message length or the sophistication of word choices.

Another experiment focused on Discord, a messaging platform popular among young people. They sent almost 2,000 messages to members of a Discord channel dedicated to anime TV shows, asking for a show recommendation.

“We set ourselves up to fail. We tried to find the most challenging arena for this effect to work: young people who live online – and it still worked,” says Maglio.

The Discord messages were probing whether reactions changed based on the type of abbreviations used. That includes: phonological abbreviations that condense words based on how they sound, such as “plz” or “thnx”; acronyms and initialisms like “hru” (how are you?) and “ttyl” (talk to you later); subbing letters or numbers for words, as in “u 2”; and contractions, which shorten words by removing letters, such as “rlly” or “wud.” All forms of abbreviations were less likely to get a reply than their spelled-out counterparts on the platform. The only exception was for the messages that used phonological abbreviations (although this exception was not noted in a subsequent experiment).

In a virtual speed dating experiment, roughly 200 young Americans were paired up for five-minute dates. Half were encouraged to integrate words from one of two lists – an abbreviated version and a spelled-out one – into their conversations. Dates had a much greater desire to continue talking to non-abbreviated texters and viewed them as more sincere. More of their dates also offered to share their contact information to continue chatting after the experiment.

The researchers’ lab-based tests yielded similar results – and the thousands of participants who participated in these studies all rated how much effort they felt were put into the texts, how sincere they felt the sender was being and how likely they were to reply.

The results were the same across the board: abbreviations meant less effort, less sincerity and a lower desire to reply.

“It’s possible that some participants treated the sincerity question as a kind of general ‘good or bad’ evaluation,” says study co-author David Fang, a U of T alumnus.

“We mainly chose sincerity because it's important for relational building. Participants are taking a stab at defining what they perceive sincerity to be – for instance expressing genuineness in the interaction.”

U of T and Siemens Canada partner to transform energy grid

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 20:11:53 +0000

U of T and Siemens Canada partner to transform energy grid

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 11/22/2024 - 15:11

Cutline

Siemens Canada CEO and President Faisal Kazi (L), and Leah Cowen, U of T's vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives, shake hands after signing an institutional partnership agreement focused on advancing sustainability energy systems (photo by Liz Beddall)

Sayyeda Masood

Topic

Our Community

Climate Positive Energy

Industry Partnerships

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

Leah Cowen

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Sustainability

Subheadline

Strategic industry-academic collaboration aims to accelerate adoption of green energy technologies

The ��߲ݴ�ý has signed a multi-year agreement with Siemens Canada that seeks to transform the energy grid and boost Canada’s ability to provide clean energy to communities.

The partnership will bring together U of T’s cutting-edge research, commercialization and policy expertise with Siemens’s industry-leading experience in sustainable energy management and intelligent infrastructure – all with a view to advancing Ontario’s energy transition goals and contributing to Canada’s target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

“The ��߲ݴ�ý is delighted to strengthen our relationship with Siemens by entering into this institutional partnership agreement,” said Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives, at a signing ceremony held Nov. 21 at Hart House.

“This framework agreement will generate broad and deep mutual value enabling both Siemens and U of T to build a green future together as global organizations with global ambitions.”

The partnership expands on U of T’s existing ties with Siemens: the company is partner in U of T’s Grid Modernization Centre, which brings together companies and U of T researchers to advance decarbonization of the electric grid while supporting innovation in clean energy technologies, policy advocacy and financing. The centre is led by Climate Positive Energy, a U of T institutional strategic initiative that leverages research expertise across the university to support efforts to curb carbon emissions, reimagine energy systems and facilitate an equitable transition to a clean energy future in Canada and globally.

“We are thrilled to strengthen our partnership with the ��߲ݴ�ý through signing this framework agreement,” said Faisal Kazi, president and CEO of Siemens Canada. “Today marks not just another step but the continuation of a collaborative journey we’ve nurtured over many years. I look forward to seeing continued leadership and innovation as a result of this agreement.”

The partnership with Siemens Canada is part of ongoing efforts across the university to address grid modernization and accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future powered by clean energy.

For example, researchers on all three campuses are currently contributing to efforts to transform Canada’s energy grid – and the infrastructure that powers homes, buildings and electric vehicles – into an intelligent and secure grid. The resulting “smart grid” will leverage the latest advances in AI to appropriately direct energy to the points of highest need at critical times to avoid power outages.

The undertaking combines two areas where U of T is among the world leaders – sustainability and AI. U of T was named the most sustainable university in the world in the 2024 QS World University Rankings, and is a longstanding leader in AI research, thanks in part to the efforts of luminaries like University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton, whose foundational discoveries and inventions were recently recognized with a Nobel Prize.

At the same time, U of T researchers are also at the forefront of addressing emerging challenges associated with the transition to a smart grid. That includes security considerations – which will be among the key areas of focus for U of T’s partnership with Siemens, a leading supplier of electrical components to utilities.

For example, Professor Deepa Kundur, chair of the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, leads a research group that’s exploring exploring how to defend power utilities from cyberattacks.

Working with industrial partners across different sectors, these and other U of T researchers are helping companies make better use of resources and enabling safe access to emerging green technologies.

Going forward, U of T’s collaboration with Siemens will expand beyond energy systems to encompass other crucial sectors such as AI, automation and advanced manufacturing.

Learn more about industry partnerships at U of T

Learn more about Climate Positive Energy

Where are they now? 4 startups that won big at U of T Entrepreneurship Week

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 20:11:45 +0000

Where are they now? 4 startups that won big at U of T Entrepreneurship Week

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 11/22/2024 - 15:11

Cutline

Clockwise, from top left: Xatoms, Genecis Bioindustries, TransCrypts and HDAX Therapeutics (photos by Alyssa K. Faoro, Don Campbell – TransCrypts photo supplied – and Matthew Volpe)

Talar Nersesian

Topic

Our Community

Entrepreneurship Week

Entrepreneurship

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Startups

U of T Scarborough

Subheadline

U of T Entrepreneurship's annual pitch competition has helped accelerate the growth of several innovative and promising startups

When you’re a startup founder, a little extra cash can be the difference between going big – or going out of business.

“The first major expenses we needed for our company, I charged to my credit card. Starting a business when you’re 22 years old can be stressful,” explains Zain Zaidi, co-founder of TransCrypts, a document verification platform that got its start at the ��߲ݴ�ý.

In an effort to ensure that more early-stage companies have the chance to grow, U of T Entrepreneurship (UTE) has held an annual pitch competition each year during Entrepreneurship Week – an event now known as the Desjardins Startup Prize.

The competition – which, in recent years, has been part of a broader partnership with Desjardins Group and includes an annual Speaker Series – offers more than $100,000 in prizes, ranging from $5,000 for third place in the early-stage category to $40,000 for first place in the late-stage category. There is also a people’s choice award.

Marilyn Horrick, Desjardin's senior vice-president, market growth, brand expansion and partner relations outside Quebec, shakes hands with U of T President Meric Gertler at a Desjardins Speaker Series event (photo by Alyssa K. Faoro)

“Entrepreneurs are incredible drivers for innovation when they get the resources they need,” says Guy Cormier, president and CEO of Desjardins Group. “Desjardins Group is empowering young, ambitious minds to turn big ideas into solutions that make a positive impact in their communities.

“The guidance they get from UTE to help them do that is invaluable.”

With the Desjardins Startup Prize accepting applications until Nov. 29, here are startups that have won previously won awards at the U of T-hosted pitch competition – and then went on to enjoy future success.

Genecis Bioindustries

Luna Yu, the founder of Genecis Bioindustries, competed in the early-stage category in 2018 (photo by Don Campbell)

Genecis Bioindustries founder Luna Yu competed for the top startup prize in 2018 in the early-stage category. At the time, Genecis was working on securing patents and developing its core technology of turning food waste into biodegradable plastics. The company didn’t have any commercial adopters or investors but was working to build partnerships and validate its technology with their stakeholders.

“Winning the prize was a turning point for us at Genecis,” says Yu. “It provided the resources and recognition we needed to move from an idea to a growing company and it validated the potential impact of our technology on a larger scale.”

Genecis invested the prize money in key areas such as research and development, team growth and infrastructure to scale production of its product.

Since its big win in 2018, Genecis has scaled its proprietary technology, secured high-profile investments from Amazon and Khosla Ventures, and earned several government grants, totalling $35 million. Genecis also recently launched the consumer-brand “Mad Tea” to commercialize biopolymers.

TransCrypts

Ali Zaheer (left) and Zain Zaidi co-founded TransCrypts (supplied image)

TransCrypts co-founders Ali Zaheer and Zain Zaidi competed for the startup prize in 2022 as a late-stage company. Back then, they had raised just US$200,000 and were in the beta testing stage.

The company, which is helping to automate HR workflows, was co-founded in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic – a time when its founders questioned if the future they were building this company for would even exist.

“Winning this prize told me that maybe the idea I was working on wasn’t a bad one. It told me the thousands of hours and the years of work wasn’t for nothing,” says Zaidi. “This competition gave me the validation that this is what I should put my efforts towards.

“It told me to shoot for the stars and continue building this company.”

TransCrypts invested their prize money into rapidly prototyping and improving the product and hiring developers. Zaidi describes the competition as “great practice for pitching,” saying the experience was his introduction to the real world.

TransCrypts stands out for its commitment to giving back. Last year, Zaidi and Zaheer built a medical record database that helped hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine and Turkey receive quality health care despite war and uncertainty.

Fast forward to 2024, TransCrypts is an alumnus of the globally recognized Techstars program, has raised US$4 million and is backed by investors including Mark Cuban.

HDAX Therapeutics

Nabanita Nawar (photo by Matthew Volpe)

HDAX Therapeutics delivers meaningful medicine to unlock the full therapeutic potential of drugs and improve quality of life for patients suffering from neurological and cardiometabolic diseases.

Co-founder Nabanita Nawar competed for the prize in the late-stage category in 2022. Back then, HDAX Therapeutics had just incorporated, filed their first patent and raised some non-dilutive funding.

“This was one of the biggest recognitions for us,” says Nawar of the prize’s impact on herself and her co-founder Pimyupa Manaswiyoungkul. “The impact that this award had was huge. It really got people to recognize who we are in the U of T and Toronto ecosystems. It set the stage for our next big wins and the relationships that we were building… The startup prize was a great kick-start to help all the pieces of the puzzle come together,”

HDAX Therapeutics recently closed its seed funding round, which raised over $5 million, while both Nawar and Manaswiyoungkul – immigrants and scientists-turned-entrepreneurs – are listed on Forbes magazine’s 30 under 30 list.

Xatoms

Diana Virgovicova, Xatoms founder and CEO, pitches her company to a panel of judges at the Desjardins Startup Prize (photo by Alyssa K. Faoro)

Xatoms is on a mission to bring clean water to underrepresented groups around the world using the power of AI and quantum chemistry.

Diana Virgovicova, the company’s co-founder, competed for the prize in the early-stage category earlier this year – at which point Xatoms was very focused on research and development.

“The Desjardins Startup Prize showed me to believe in my business and the impact we are making. It encouraged me to think bigger,” says Virgovicova, who has received many awards and recognitions, including an award of excellence from the royal family in Sweden. “It opened so many doors for Xatoms – opportunities that helped grow our business tenfold.”

Within just a span of seven months, Xatoms reached the final round of the Hult Prize, becoming the first Canadian team in over a decade to do so. It also collected over $500,000 in awards at StartupFest in Montreal and recently received the Clean 50 Emerging Leader Award.

Virgovicova, along with co-founder Kerem Topal Ismail Oglou and Shirley Zhong, currently has three water purification pilot operations in Kenya, South Africa and the United States.

From left to right: Marilyn Horrick, Diana Virgovicova and U of T Entrepreneurship Director Jon French holding a $15,000 cheque for Xatoms (photo by Alyssa K. Faoro)

To treat glioblastoma, researchers focus on tumour vulnerabilities

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 14:21:00 +0000

To treat glioblastoma, researchers focus on tumour vulnerabilities

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 11/21/2024 - 09:21

Cutline

From left to right: researchers Graham MacLeod, Fatemeh Molaei and Stéphane Angers, director of U of T’s Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (supplied images)

Anika Hazra

Topic

Breaking Research

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research

Cancer

Research & Innovation

Subheadline

"Our study increases our understanding of this type of cancer and proposes a different approach to treating it that will hopefully improve the prognosis of patients"

A team led by researchers at the ��߲ݴ�ý has uncovered new targets that could be the key to effectively treating glioblastoma, a lethal type of brain cancer.

The targets were identified through a screen for genetic vulnerabilities in patient-derived cancer stem cells that represent the variability found in tumours.

The study was published recently in the journal Cancer Research.

“Glioblastoma tumors have evaded treatment thus far because their composition is highly variable both within and between tumours,” said Graham MacLeod, co-first author on the study and senior research associate at U of T’s Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research.

“The tumours vary quite a bit from person to person, and even within a single tumour there are multiple cell types that harbour differences at the genetic level.”

Glioblastoma is the most common type of brain cancer in adults. It is also the most challenging to treat due to the resistance of glioblastoma cancer stem cells, from which tumours grow, to therapy. Cancer stem cells that survive after a tumour is treated go on to form new tumours that do not respond to further treatment.

A key finding of the research is that the variability among glioblastoma cancer stem cells can be observed across a gradient between two cell subtypes. On one end is the developmental subtype, which resembles cells in which normal neurodevelopment has gone awry. On the other is the injury-response subtype, which is an inflammatory state. The aim of the study was to identify potential treatment methods to target each subtype, thereby tackling tumours in a more holistic manner.

This study follows earlier research published in Cell Reports that identified vulnerabilities in glioblastoma cancer stem cells that impact their sensitivity to chemotherapy. The next step was to study how vulnerabilities in glioblastoma cancer stem cells vary in a large and diverse set of patient-derived cell lines to identify the most common of these vulnerabilities in each of the subtypes.

The team performed screens in glioblastoma stem cell lines from 30 patients, making this the largest screening study of its kind. The patient-derived cell lines were generated by the lab of Peter Dirks, chief of the division of neurosurgery at SickKids and a U of T professor of surgery and molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. Within the cancer stem cell samples, the team found genes responsible for the proliferation of the two cell subtypes that could be targeted to prevent tumour growth. Combining drugs to target both cell subtypes simultaneously could potentially make for a more effective glioblastoma treatment.

“A lot of the research on glioblastoma is conducted with a limited number of immortalized cell lines grown in serum,” said Fatemeh Molaei, co-first author on the study and graduate student at the Donnelly Centre and the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. “These cells aren’t the best model as they don’t resemble true glioblastoma cells as much as we would like. The findings from our study represent what we see in a patient’s tumour more accurately because our cell lines are derived directly from a large group of patients.

“It’s through our screens of this group of cell lines that we were able to identify the OLIG2 and MEK genes as drug targets for the developmental cell subtype and the FAK and B1-Integrin genes as targets for the injury-response subtype.”

Stéphane Angers, principal investigator on the study and director of the Donnelly Centre, said it had already been established that there are different subtypes of glioblastoma stem cells, but that their differences are not currently being addressed in the clinic.

“In the future, our results will help in designing new treatments that are tailored to patients by targeting the predominant cell subtype, or both subtypes simultaneously,” said Angers, who is also a professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and Temerty Faculty of Medicine. “The ability of glioblastoma to adapt to therapeutic treatment is its greatest strength and our biggest challenge. Our study increases our understanding of this type of cancer and proposes a different approach to treating it that will hopefully improve the prognosis of patients.”

This research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Light in a bottle: U of T researchers use AI to capture photons in motion

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 15:07:26 +0000

Light in a bottle: U of T researchers use AI to capture photons in motion

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 11/19/2024 - 10:07

Cutline

A scene rendered using videos from an ultra-high-speed camera shows a pulse of light travelling through a pop bottle, scattering off liquid, hitting the ground, focusing on the cap and reflecting back (supplied image)

Krystle Hewitt

Topic

Breaking Research

Artificial Intelligence

Computer Science

Faculty of Arts & Science

Graduate Students

Research & Innovation

Subheadline

A novel AI algorithm simulates what an ultra-fast scene – such as a pulse of light speeding through a pop bottle – would look like from any vantage point

Close your eyes and picture the iconic “bullet time” scene from The Matrix – the one where Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, dodges bullets in slow motion. Now imagine being able to witness the same effect, but instead of speeding bullets, you’re watching something that moves one million times faster: light itself.

Computer scientists from the ��߲ݴ�ý have built an advanced camera setup that can visualize light in motion from any perspective, opening avenues for further inquiry into new types of 3D sensing techniques.

The researchers developed a sophisticated AI algorithm that can simulate what an ultra-fast scene – a pulse of light speeding through a pop bottle or bouncing off a mirror – would look like from any vantage point.

David Lindell (supplied image)

David Lindell, an assistant professor in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, says the feat requires the ability to generate videos where the camera appears to “fly” alongside the very photons of light as they travel.

“Our technology can capture and visualize the actual propagation of light with the same dramatic, slowed-down detail,” says Lindell. “We get a glimpse of the world at speed-of-light timescales that are normally invisible.”

The researchers believe the approach, which was recently presented at the 2024 European Conference on Computer Vision, can unlock new capabilities in several important research areas, including: advanced sensing capabilities such as non-line-of-sight imaging, a method that allows viewers to “see” around corners or behind obstacles using multiple bounces of light; imaging through scattering media, such as fog, smoke, biological tissues or turbid water; and 3D reconstruction, where understanding the behaviour of light that scatters multiple times is critical.

In addition to Lindell, the research team included U of T computer science PhD student Anagh Malik, fourth-year engineering science undergraduate Noah Juravsky, Professor Kyros Kutulakos and Stanford University Associate Professor Gordon Wetzstein and PhD student Ryan Po.

The researchers’ key innovation lies in the AI algorithm they developed to visualize ultrafast videos from any viewpoint – a challenge known in computer vision as “novel view synthesis.”

Traditionally, novel view synthesis methods are designed for images or videos captured with regular cameras. However, the researchers extended this concept to handle data captured by an ultra-fast camera operating at speeds comparable to light, which posed unique challenges – including the need for their algorithm to account for the speed of light and model how it propagates through a scene.

Through their work, researchers observed a moving-camera visualization of light in motion, including refracting through water, bouncing off a mirror or scattering off a surface. They also demonstrated how to visualize phenomena that only occur at a significant portion of the speed of light, as predicted by Albert Einstein. For example, they visualize the “searchlight effect” that makes objects brighter when moving toward an observer, and “length contraction,” where fast-moving objects look shorter in the direction they are travelling. The researchers were also able to create a way to see how objects would appear to contract in length when moving at such high speeds.

Anagh Malik (supplied image)

While current algorithms for processing ultra-fast videos typically focus on analyzing a single video from a single viewpoint, the researchers say their work is the first to extend this analysis to multi-view light-in-flight videos, allowing for the study of how light propagates from multiple perspectives.

“Our multi-view light-in-flight videos serve as a powerful educational tool, offering a unique way to teach the physics of light transport,” says Malik. “By visually capturing how light behaves in real-time – whether refracting through a material or reflecting off a surface – we can get a more intuitive understanding of the motion of light through a scene.

“Additionally, our technology could inspire creative applications in the arts, such as filmmaking or interactive installations, where the beauty of light transport can be used to create new types of visual effects or immersive experiences.”

The research also holds significant potential for improving LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor technology used in autonomous vehicles. Typically, these sensors process data to immediately create 3D images right away. But the researchers’ work suggests the potential to store the raw data, including detailed light patterns, to help create systems that perform better than conventional LIDAR to see more details, look through obstacles and understand materials better.

While the researchers’ project focused on visualizing how light moves through a scene from any direction, they note that carries “hidden information” about the shape and appearance of everything it touches. As the researchers look to their next steps, they want to unlock this information by developing a method that uses multi-view light-in-flight videos to reconstruct the 3D geometry and appearance of the entire scene.

“This means we could potentially create incredibly detailed, three-dimensional models of objects and environments – just by watching how light travels through them,” Lindell says.

How were the earliest galaxies formed? U of T researcher hunts for clues

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 22:07:04 +0000

How were the earliest galaxies formed? U of T researcher hunts for clues

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 11/15/2024 - 17:07

Cutline

(photo by Andy Jibb)

Tina Adamopoulos

Topic

Our Community

Black Research Network

Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Research & Innovation

Space

Subheadline

Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope, Jacqueline Antwi-Danso is examining the light emitted by distant, "quenched" galaxies to learn about their chemical composition and other properties

Everything we thought we knew about galaxy formation was thrown into question in the 1990s after astronomers discovered two distant, massive galaxies that had completely stopped – or “quenched” – their star formation.

“The discovery meant that these galaxies [had to be] older than the age of the universe, which is physically impossible,” says Jacqueline Antwi-Danso, the NSERC Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at ��߲ݴ�ý’s David A. Dunlap department for astronomy and astrophysics in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

“When we look at the formation histories of these distant quenched galaxies, the observations suggest that they formed too quickly and too early compared to what we see in cosmological simulations.”

Unlike familiar massive galaxies like the Milky Way, which have up to a trillion stars and are characterized by luminous, spiral-like arms of active star formation, distant, quenched galaxies are composed of old stars and look like small orange-red blobs. This is because their light has been “stretched out” to infrared wavelengths due to the expansion of the universe, which also makes them fainter and harder to spot.

Moreover, the distant galaxies in question formed within a billion years of the Big Bang (which happened nearly 14 billion years ago). In other words, they formed their stars extremely rapidly – unlike any galaxy observed in the present-day.

Better understanding these distant galaxies is a high priority for researchers since their extreme star-formation processes are uncomfortably close to the limits permitted by current galaxy formation physics.

At U of T, Antwi-Danso is hunting the earliest distant quenched galaxies in the universe and is particularly interested in finding out how these galaxies formed and when they stopped creating stars. She is building on findings from a study she participated in as a PhD student at Texas A&M University that led to two critical discoveries. The first was the identification of two new distant quenched galaxies that confirmed current thinking on how these distant galaxies formed – “namely,” Antwi-Danso says, “that these galaxies form too early and too quickly based on what theory predicts.”

The study – which used the 8-meter telescope at the Gemini South Observatory based in Chile and surveyed large areas of the sky with new imaging filters – also highlighted that astronomers can reliably use ground-based telescopes to observe distant quenched galaxies as old as 12.5 billion years. Detecting galaxies any earlier than this requires space-based data, the researchers say.

Astronomers are now rethinking long-standing models of galaxy formation as they observe distant quenched galaxies with supermassive black holes at their centres that emit energetic radiation. This is important, Antwi-Danso says, because the differing models for light emission from stars and supermassive black holes can affect estimates of the physical properties of these distant galaxies.

Harnessing the power of space-based technology

Distant galaxies are difficult to detect because the light they emit is shifted to infrared wavelengths, which is mostly blocked by the Earth’s atmosphere. So, the next stages of Antwi-Danso’s research will leverage the power of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

The JWST – which launched in December 2021 – is about 100 times more sensitive than the largest ground-based infrared telescopes and can observe galaxies in a fraction of the time of its predecessors. In fact, it has doubled the number of spectroscopic observations of the most distant, quenched galaxies within only two years of operation.

To further observe the two distant galaxies she discovered from Chile, Antwi-Danso will use JWST data to examine their spectra – the light emitted by these galaxies over a range of wavelengths – to reveal information like chemical composition. These and other findings will help provide a more accurate understanding of the galaxies’ formation histories and can be compared with updated cosmology simulations. That, in turn, may yield new insights about potential tensions between theory and observations.

Antwi-Danso is also part of the CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS), a multi-institutional collaboration that uses gravitational lensing – a phenomenon where a massive object acts as a cosmic magnifying glass – to study the building blocks of the earliest galaxies. Within that collaboration, Antwi-Danso is also a researcher on the Technicolor Survey, which employs multiple filters on the JWST’s near-infrared camera to observe quenched galaxies at wavelengths that are inaccessible from the ground.

“We want to find galaxies that contain the first generations of stars, and then model their observations with galaxy formation models to infer their physical properties and star formation histories,” Antwi-Danso says.

With the technological advantages provided by the JWST to push the boundaries of distant galaxy observations, Antwi-Danso’s research will provide valuable insights into understanding how early galaxies came to be.

“We’re really excited to see where the results lead and to compare those observations with current theoretical predictions for these distant massive galaxies.”

Read a Q&A with Jacqueline Antwi-Danso

Researchers shed light on the experiences of caregivers in Nunavut's family service system

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 18:22:13 +0000

Researchers shed light on the experiences of caregivers in Nunavut's family service system

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 11/14/2024 - 13:22

Cutline

Researchers at OISE and the Umingmak Centre have released a report that provides insights into the experiences of caregivers of children involved in Family Services in Iqaluit, Nunavut (photo by Saffron Blaze)

Marianne Lau

Topic

Breaking Research

Nunavut

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Research & Innovation

Subheadline

Nunavut's Umingmak Centre partnered with the Critical Health and Social Action Lab at OISE to better understand the needs of caregivers and enhance child advocacy in the territory

Researchers at the Umingmak Centre, a child advocacy centre in Nunavut, and the ��߲ݴ�ý’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) have released a study that identifies systemic challenges in Nunavut’s child welfare system – and recommends strategies to strengthen caregiver support.

Available in Inuktitut and English, the study is one of the first to directly engage caregivers in Nunavut and emphasizes the importance of understanding of Inuit culture. It found that difficulties in information sharing, resource insecurities, caregiver exploitation and institutional harm are critical issues impacting caregivers’ experiences within Family Services.

The study noted that respondents talked about these challenges differently depending on their backgrounds, including race and socioeconomic status. Unlike their settler counterparts, few Inuit caregivers said they felt burnt out or expressed a need for psychological supports – a phenomenon researchers attributed to a profound and deeply personal sense of exhaustion that has cut across generations.

The report’s authors say the findings underscore a critical need for significant reforms in child welfare, including culturally safe support mechanisms for caregivers following disclosures of child maltreatment and abuse.

“Improving caregiver relationships with services could lead to more community members offering to become caregivers, reducing the number of children leaving the territory into the foster care system,” says study co-lead Romani Makkik, a senior researcher at the Umingmak Centre who is Inuk.

The researchers also highlight the importance of respectful engagement with Inuit communities and the equitable provision of resources that acknowledge and address historical and ongoing systemic injustices.

“Families thrive when they receive meaningful information in a culturally safe, timely, and respectful manner," says Jeffrey Ansloos, an associate professor of Indigenous health and social policy at OISE who is Cree and English, and a citizen of Fisher River Cree Nation. “Achieving this requires a fundamental shift in power dynamics and a focus on relational accountability in service delivery, leadership, and research.

“While much work remains to improve child advocacy in Nunavut, Inuit leadership and strong support for Inuit families must be central. This is why Umingmak’s work is so important.”

Caregivers involved in Family Services have long faced unique challenges and a lack of support while navigating child protection processes in Nunavut. For Inuit caregivers, this is exacerbated by the experience of intergenerational trauma, anti-Inuit racism, and the complex history of Family Services and law enforcement complicity in settler colonization across Inuit Nunangat (the Inuit homeland).

In response, the Umingmak Centre opened in Iqaluit in 2019 to provide trauma-informed, culturally safe care for children and families involved in Family Services due to abuse. A critical gap soon emerged: while caregivers sought services for children, they rarely sought support for themselves, despite the distress that child welfare processes may cause – especially for those facing intergenerational trauma, racism or a lack of cultural safety.

To better understand the needs of caregivers and enhance child advocacy, the Umingmak Centre partnered with the Critical Health and Social Action Lab (CHSA Lab) at OISE, an Indigenous-led research centre led by Ansloos that focuses on advancing health justice through community partnerships.

Between October 2022 and July 2023, the research team conducted 30 interviews with Inuit and settler caregivers who had interacted with the Umingmak Centre, as well as Inuit and settler service providers.

Challenging power dynamics in research

One challenging aspect of the project was ensuring the researchers did not replicate the institutional harms they were studying through their own methods, says Cara Samuel, a doctoral candidate at OISE who acted as project co-ordinator for the study.

The team used a collaborative story analysis method for interpreting the interviews. Guided by the principles of Unikkaaqatigiinniq (storytelling) and Iqqaumaqatigiinniq (all knowledge coming into one), the team analyzed interviews in their entirety to preserve the integrity of each individual’s story.

“Often, how we approach research inadvertently reinforces inequitable power dynamics that prioritize Western or Southern knowledge,” says Samuel. “We wanted to elevate Inuit Qauijimajatuqangit (Inuit knowledge) and cultural resources in our research paradigm and centre lived experience.”

Community leadership and partnership

The CHSA Lab’s emphasis on community partnership ensured genuine collaboration and shared decision-making at every stage of the project.

“We were partners, which means equity in leadership and shared responsibilities for the work and its outcomes,” says Samuel.

“Research is only powerful when led by the community it serves, and we were fortunate to work with dedicated partners in Nunavut committed to justice for Inuit families,” adds Ansloos, who is the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Studies in Health, Suicide Studies, and Environmental Justice. “Our team worked hard to engage a wide range of people, but Umingmak's research leadership, Romani Makkik, and her long-standing relationships and trusted work in the community made our deeper engagement with Inuit caregivers possible.”

Makkik says that the report will play a crucial role in improving Umingmak’s services and shaping future programs – and that the Umingmak Centre hopes to strengthen its partnerships with government services and community organizations to improve services for children and caregivers across Nunavut more broadly.