COVID-19 / en COVID-19 virus disrupts protein production, study finds /news/covid-19-virus-disrupts-protein-production-study-finds <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">COVID-19 virus disrupts protein production, study finds</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2024-04/49557785727_4f7d974360_o-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=xzj9N9Ox 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2024-04/49557785727_4f7d974360_o-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=-CklTA-6 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2024-04/49557785727_4f7d974360_o-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=Z4DsjRXl 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2024-04/49557785727_4f7d974360_o-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=xzj9N9Ox" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2024-04-23T16:58:38-04:00" title="Tuesday, April 23, 2024 - 16:58" class="datetime">Tue, 04/23/2024 - 16:58</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>This transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, isolated from a patient in the U.S. (photo by NIAID)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/jenni-bozec" hreflang="en">Jenni Bozec</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/covid-19" hreflang="en">COVID-19</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/temerty-faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Temerty Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/laboratory-medicine-and-pathobiology" hreflang="en">Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-health-network" hreflang="en">University Health Network</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Post-doctoral researcher Talya Yerlici calls SARS-CoV-2 "a clever saboteur inside our cells, making sure its own needs are met while disrupting our cells’ ability to defend themselves"</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Despite huge advances in our understanding of COVID-19 over the past four years, the disease is still very much among us&nbsp;– and there remains a lot to learn.</p> <p>One thing we do know: Following infection, it’s critical that our cells make new proteins to defend against the virus.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2024-04/yerlici_photo_crop.jpg" width="300" height="300" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>(photo supplied)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>But<strong> Talya Yerlici</strong>, a post-doctoral researcher at the ߲ݴý’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, recently showed&nbsp;how SARS-CoV-2 disrupts the manufacture of proteins.</p> <p>She is the first author of a paper detailing the process that was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(24)00219-5" target="_blank">published recently</a> in the journal <em>Cell Reports.</em></p> <p>Writer <strong>Jenni Bozec</strong> recently spoke with Yerlici –&nbsp;who is based in the lab of Professor <strong>Karim Mekhail</strong> in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology –&nbsp;about the findings.</p> <hr> <p><strong>What have you discovered about how COVID-19 uses proteins?</strong></p> <p>One way SARS-CoV-2 makes us sick is by using a strategy called “host shutoff.” This means that while the virus makes copies of itself, it also slows the production of vital components within our cells. As a result, our bodies take longer to respond to the infection.</p> <p>When SARS-CoV-2 enters our cells, it disrupts the process of making proteins, which are essential for our cells to work correctly. A particular SARS-CoV-2 protein called Nsp1 has a crucial role in this process. It stops ribosomes, the machinery that makes proteins, from doing their job effectively. The virus is like a clever saboteur inside our cells, making sure its own needs are met while disrupting our cells’ ability to defend themselves.</p> <p>We found that Nsp1 is good at blocking ribosomes from making new proteins, but also interferes with the production of new ribosomes. In effect, it shuts down the machinery output and the ability to make the machinery itself – a serious double hit.</p> <p>It does this by blocking the maturation or processing of specialized RNA molecules needed to build ribosomes. This adds a new layer of complexity to our understanding of SARS-CoV-2's interference with the host cell.</p> <p><strong>How could this discovery impact treatment for those with COVID-19?</strong></p> <p>Building on our published research, it will be crucial to understand how Nsp1 works to stop different types of human cells, tissues and organs from making proteins when infected with different variants of SARS-CoV-2 and related coronaviruses.</p> <p>Scientists have been working to find precision medicines that can counteract Nsp1 and help fight against the continually evolving SARS-CoV-2 virus. These drugs aim to help infected cells keep producing proteins and build a robust immune response when dealing with infection. Ongoing research on such drugs should now benefit from testing whether they can block Nsp1 from interfering with both the production and function of ribosomes, and this should help find more effective precision medicines.</p> <p><strong>What drew you to this line of research?</strong></p> <p>This project started because of circumstances during the COVID lockdown. We wanted to help in the fight against the pandemic. However, since I couldn't physically work in the lab, we took the opportunity to analyze next-generation sequencing datasets computationally from home.&nbsp;</p> <p>Looking at published RNA-sequencing datasets, we realized that cells infected with SARS-CoV-2, compared to uninfected cells, may have difficulty processing the RNA molecules needed to build ribosomes. Through this analysis, together with Dr. Mekhail, we developed hypotheses and designed the project.</p> <p>I had the privilege of collaborating closely with the talented members of the Mekhail lab, including <strong>Alexander Palazzo</strong>’s group from the department of biochemistry at Temerty Medicine and&nbsp;<strong>Brian Raught</strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Razqallah Hakem</strong>’s labs at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (University Health Network). This work wouldn't have been possible without the collective efforts of our team and collaborators, and I’m grateful for their contributions. My responsibilities included conducting numerous hands-on experiments and bioinformatics analyses, analyzing the results and preparing the paper for peer review and publication.</p> <p><strong>What were the most challenging and rewarding aspects of this project?</strong></p> <p>The most challenging part was conducting research during a global pandemic, which presented many logistical hurdles –&nbsp;from disrupted lab routines to limitations on collecting and using samples infected with SARS-CoV-2.</p> <p>On the other hand, the opportunity to contribute to our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 viral mechanisms and shed light on potential therapeutic targets was incredibly fulfilling. Seeing our research culminate in a published paper and knowing it could inform future strategies for combating coronaviruses is deeply gratifying.</p> <p><strong>What are your longer-term goals as a scientist?</strong></p> <p>As an independent investigator in my future lab, I want to study how the complex processes of making ribosomes affect the body's natural defense against viruses. It's an area I find compelling and presents ample opportunities for further exploration. One approach I’m particularly interested in is integrating RNA-sequencing with genetic CRISPR and small-molecule chemical screens, targeting distinct stages of ribosome biogenesis across diverse infection or infection-mimicking conditions. Such integrated approaches hold promise for uncovering novel mechanisms underlying the regulation of antiviral responses and should help us find innovative and impactful ways to fight viral infections.</p> <p>This research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 23 Apr 2024 20:58:38 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 307508 at COVID-19 took a mental health toll on mothers, young women and adolescent girls: Researchers /news/covid-19-took-mental-health-toll-mothers-young-women-and-adolescent-girls-researchers <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">COVID-19 took a mental health toll on mothers, young women and adolescent girls: Researchers</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2024-03/GettyImages-1430926228-crop.jpg?h=6c738c3b&amp;itok=LelVC5rw 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2024-03/GettyImages-1430926228-crop.jpg?h=6c738c3b&amp;itok=kHsR-_Vv 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2024-03/GettyImages-1430926228-crop.jpg?h=6c738c3b&amp;itok=8g92VKkw 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2024-03/GettyImages-1430926228-crop.jpg?h=6c738c3b&amp;itok=LelVC5rw" alt="A mother consoles her adolesent daughter "> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2024-03-15T15:31:22-04:00" title="Friday, March 15, 2024 - 15:31" class="datetime">Fri, 03/15/2024 - 15:31</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>(photo by skynesher/Getty Images)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/chloe-panganiban" hreflang="en">Chloe Panganiban </a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/covid-19" hreflang="en">COVID-19</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6847" hreflang="en">Institute for Pandemics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/institutional-strategic-initiatives" hreflang="en">Institutional Strategic Initiatives</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6923" hreflang="en">Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/temerty-faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Temerty Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/institute-health-policy-management-and-evaluation" hreflang="en">Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/centre-addiction-and-mental-health" hreflang="en">Centre for Addiction and Mental Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dalla-lana-school-public-health" hreflang="en">Dalla Lana School of Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mental-health" hreflang="en">Mental Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/women" hreflang="en">Women</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">“The current road towards pandemic recovery needs to consider these at-risk populations. If not, there could be dire long-term consequences for the current generation and ones to come”</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Two new studies supported by the&nbsp;<a href="https://pandemics.utoronto.ca">Institute for Pandemics</a>&nbsp;–&nbsp;a ߲ݴý <a href="https://isi.utoronto.ca">institutional strategic initiative</a>&nbsp;–&nbsp;show that the non-pharmaceutical public health measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with increased mental health visits for mothers with young children, young women and adolescent girls.</p> <p>As governments around the world imposed public health measures to reduce viral transmission, including stay-at-home orders, travel restrictions, and school closures, experts raised concerns about the potential lasting impact on the mental health of individuals, especially those belonging to vulnerable and at-risk populations.</p> <p>In particular,&nbsp;mothers with young children faced obstacles related to parenting and caregiving, while young women and adolescent girls experienced major disruptions to school, social and daily routines.</p> <p>The new studies – which built on&nbsp;previous research showing the COVID-19 pandemic had a larger impact on the mental health of men compared to women – aimed to examine how these pandemic-related non-pharmaceutical interventions have impacted the mental health of these groups.</p> <p>“This work raises concerns about how to contain and address this issue,” says <strong>Geoffrey Anderson</strong>,&nbsp;a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) and lead of the&nbsp;<a href="https://pandemics.utoronto.ca/research-themes/">pandemic recovery theme</a>&nbsp;at the Institute for Pandemics.</p> <p>“The current road towards pandemic recovery needs to consider these at-risk populations. If not, there could be dire long-term consequences for the current generation and ones to come.”</p> <p>The research team also included: <strong>John Moin</strong>, a former post-doctoral researcher funded by the Institute for Pandemics; <strong>Shauna Brail</strong>, an associate professor at U of T Mississauga who directs the&nbsp;Institute for Management &amp; Innovation; and <strong>Simone Vigod</strong>, head of the department of psychiatry at Women’s College Hospital and a professor in the department of psychiatry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine.&nbsp;</p> <p>Both studies compared rates of doctor visits for mental health care in the pre-pandemic period from March 2016 to March 2020 to rates during the pandemic from April 2020 to November 2021.</p> <p>The first, published in the&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.9778/cmajo.20220239"><em>Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) Open</em></a>, found a rapid increase in doctor visits by mothers of young children for mental health care during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period, with most of the care for mood, anxiety, depressive disorders and alcohol and substance abuse.</p> <p>In the second study, published in the&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-073616"><em>British Medical Journal (BMJ) Open</em></a>, the team found an increase in doctor visits for adolescent girls and women aged 14 to 24 for mental health care largely driven by care for mood, anxiety and depressive disorders. Additionally, there was an increase in hospital visits for eating disorders for adolescent girls and women aged 14 to 19.&nbsp; There was no increase in doctor visits or hospitalizations for boys or young men.&nbsp;</p> <p>Both studies show that the implementation of public health measures during the pandemic was associated with increased usage of mental health services among mothers of young children, young women and adolescent girls, and&nbsp;point to potential lessons for future public health crises.</p> <p>“Our research raises concerns about the mental health impacts of public health measures on vulnerable women,” says Anderson. “We need to address these impacts as key part of any effective and equitable pandemic recovery strategy and we need to pay more attention to these consequences in future public health crises”.</p> <p>"We saw the rapid and ongoing application of non-pharmaceutical interventions as public health measures throughout the pandemic,” says Moin, who was the lead author of both studies. “We also now know that they were associated with abrupt and prolonged changes in the utilization of mental health services. This association should be considered for future public health planning and strategy.”</p> <p><strong>Renzo Calderon</strong>, another post-doctoral fellow funded by the Institute for Pandemics, is leading a team that is further exploring this observed trend.</p> <p>Despite nearly four years having passed since the beginning of the restrictions, the pandemic continues to alter the landscape of mental health. Hence, the researchers’&nbsp;focus is not solely on exploring the overarching trends but also on better understanding if there are specific socio-demographic groups of women who were particularly affected.</p> <p>Preliminary results indicate that the demand for mental health services around specific issues such as eating disorders and substance abuse, especially among young women, has not yet diminished.</p> <p>Such a targeted approach aims to uncover nuanced insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these problems and lead to more effective interventions.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 15 Mar 2024 19:31:22 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 306745 at Breast milk may have protective effects against COVID-19: Researchers /news/breastmilk-may-have-potential-protective-effects-against-sars-cov-2-researchers <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Breast milk may have protective effects against COVID-19: Researchers</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2024-01/IMG_7071-crop.jpg?h=e14f7e00&amp;itok=oTGbsM4T 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2024-01/IMG_7071-crop.jpg?h=e14f7e00&amp;itok=3fomH5it 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2024-01/IMG_7071-crop.jpg?h=e14f7e00&amp;itok=q7SfWvdS 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2024-01/IMG_7071-crop.jpg?h=e14f7e00&amp;itok=oTGbsM4T" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2024-01-29T13:38:03-05:00" title="Monday, January 29, 2024 - 13:38" class="datetime">Mon, 01/29/2024 - 13:38</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>Samantha Ismail led a study by researchers at U of T and its partner hospitals that looked for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in human breast milk (supplied image)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/betty-zou" hreflang="en">Betty Zou</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/covid-19" hreflang="en">COVID-19</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/emerging-and-pandemic-infections-consortium" hreflang="en">Emerging and Pandemic Infections Consortium</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/institutional-strategic-initiatives" hreflang="en">Institutional Strategic Initiatives</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sinai-health" hreflang="en">Sinai Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sunnybrook-health-sciences" hreflang="en">Sunnybrook Health Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/temerty-faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Temerty Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/laboratory-medicine-and-pathobiology" hreflang="en">Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/vaccines" hreflang="en">Vaccines</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">“COVID-19 vaccination and infection result in antibodies in human milk that have neutralizing capacity"</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The COVID-19 pandemic was an especially harrowing time for pregnant people and new parents.</p> <p>The uncertainties about how the new coronavirus could affect a pregnant person and their developing fetus&nbsp;– not to mention&nbsp;being cut off from support networks – left many expecting parents feeling isolated and anxious.</p> <p>“It was a very surreal time,” says&nbsp;<strong>Jenny Doyle</strong>, a Toronto mom who gave birth to her first child, Elliott, in 2020 and spent hours researching how the first vaccines made available the following year might affect her and her child. “At the time, vaccines for infants were still so far away. I remember hoping that some of the protection I’d received from my vaccine would pass through to Elliott.”</p> <p>Now,&nbsp;new findings&nbsp;from a study led by researchers at the ߲ݴý and its partner hospitals suggest that is the case.</p> <p><a href="https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(23)66182-9/fulltext#%20">Published in the <em>American Journal of Clinical Nutrition</em></a>, the study looked for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in breast milk from three different cohorts: individuals who contracted COVID-19 while pregnant or nursing, routine milk bank donors and individuals who received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine while pregnant or nursing.</p> <p>The researchers detected antibodies in breast milk from roughly half of the people in the COVID-19 positive cohort.&nbsp;That’s compared to less than 5 per cent of routine milk bank donors, who did not have any known exposures to COVID-19. In the vaccinated cohort, they found that antibodies levels were higher in people who had received the Moderna vaccine compared to those who had received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Unexpectedly, people who had shorter intervals between their first and second doses had higher antibody levels than those who waited longer between their immunizations.</p> <p>“That finding definitely surprised me,” says&nbsp;<strong>Samantha Ismail</strong>, the study’s first author who completed her master’s degree in the lab of&nbsp;<strong>Deborah O’Connor</strong>, the Earle W. McHenry Professor and chair of Temerty Medicine’s department of&nbsp;nutritional sciences. “In [blood] serum, it’s the other way around where longer intervals between doses typically result in higher antibody levels, suggesting that something different is happening in this lactating population.”</p> <p>In addition to Ismail and<strong>&nbsp;</strong>O’Connor, the study was led by&nbsp;<strong>Sharon Unger</strong>, medical director of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.milkbankontario.ca/">Roger Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank</a> at Sinai Health and a U of T professor of medicine and nutritional sciences, and&nbsp;<strong>Susan Poutanen</strong>, microbiologist and infectious disease consultant and Sinai Health and U of T associate professor of laboratory medicine and pathobiology.</p> <p>The team took the study one step further by showing that some breast milk samples could prevent SARS-CoV-2 from infecting cells in a lab setting. Within the COVID-19 positive cohort, milk that contained antibodies against the virus were more likely to be neutralizing and immunization with the Moderna vaccine was associated with a stronger neutralizing capacity than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.</p> <p>The researchers also found a small but significant number of breast milk samples that prevented SARS-CoV-2 infection despite having undetectable levels of antibodies, suggesting that there could be other components in human milk that are active against SARS-CoV-2.</p> <p>While these findings provide strong evidence to support the potential protective effects of human milk, Ismail cautions that the study alone is not enough to prove that breast milk provides tangible protection against COVID-19.</p> <p>“COVID-19 vaccination and infection result in antibodies in human milk that have neutralizing capacity, but we don’t know for sure how the neutralizing capacity seen in the lab translates to protection in infants,” says Ismail, who is now a second-year medical student at U of T.</p> <p>She points out that previous studies have shown a clear protective effect of antibodies in human milk against other viruses like enterovirus and rotavirus. To date, such studies have not been done with COVID-19.</p> <p>Even so, the findings provide reassuring news to parents like Doyle, who breastfed her son longer than she had intended to ensure that he was still getting breast milk when she received her second COVID-19 vaccine.</p> <p>“Trying to figure out how to protect this tiny being in that scary and bleak time, I was grasping at every little piece of information and whatever little piece of hope we had.”</p> <p>The study was supported by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and was a collaboration between the department of microbiology at Sinai Health System/University Health Network, the Roger Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank at Sinai Health System and the&nbsp;Toronto High Containment Facility, where the live SARS-CoV-2 neutralization studies were completed.</p> <p>It involved contributions from several members of the <a href="https://epic.utoronto.ca/">Emerging and Pandemic Infections Consortium</a>, a <a href="https://isi.utoronto.ca/">U of T institutional strategic initiative</a>. In addition to O’Connor, Poutanen and Unger, they include <strong>Scott Gray-Owen</strong>, of Temerty Medicine’s department of molecular genetics,&nbsp;<strong>Samira Mubareka</strong>, of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Temerty Medicine’s department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology, and&nbsp;<strong>Jennie Johnstone</strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Allison McGeer&nbsp;</strong>– both<strong>&nbsp;</strong>of Sinai Health and Temerty Medicine’s department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 29 Jan 2024 18:38:03 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 305729 at Ontario sees 17 per cent decrease in access to youth sports: MLSE, U of T report /news/ontario-sees-17-cent-decrease-access-youth-sports-mlse-u-t-report <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Ontario sees 17 per cent decrease in access to youth sports: MLSE, U of T report</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2024-01/mlse-launchpad-website-image-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=tJSmu9WQ 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2024-01/mlse-launchpad-website-image-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=hxA20yfn 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2024-01/mlse-launchpad-website-image-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=A90hCq-P 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2024-01/mlse-launchpad-website-image-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=tJSmu9WQ" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2024-01-26T13:41:36-05:00" title="Friday, January 26, 2024 - 13:41" class="datetime">Fri, 01/26/2024 - 13:41</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>Young people run on a basketball court at MLSE Launchpad, a 42,000 sqaure-foot facility for sport and development in downtown Toronto (photo courtesy of MLSE Launchpad)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/jelena-damjanovic" hreflang="en">Jelena Damjanovic</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/covid-19" hreflang="en">COVID-19</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-kinesiology-physical-education" hreflang="en">Faculty of Kinesiology &amp; Physical Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sports" hreflang="en">Sports</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/youth" hreflang="en">Youth</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Annual Change the Game research report cited social isolation and affordability as biggest barriers to youth participation</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A new report on the state of youth sports in Ontario&nbsp;found a 17 per cent decrease in access compared to the previous year across various demographic groups, with social isolation and affordability reported as the greatest barriers to participation.</p> <p>The annual <a href="https://ssl.mlse.digital/foundation/MLSE_CTG-Report-2024-Jan17.pdf">Change the Game research report</a>, created through a partnership between <a href="https://www.mlsefoundation.org/?gad_source=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAzc2tBhA6EiwArv-i6eEwa-jYgh0ZuW4fGhrUk_-Oh38_toTJmwQqW6y3TDiw3urcmjB4rhoC4P4QAvD_BwE" target="_blank">MLSE Foundation</a> and ߲ݴý researcher&nbsp;<strong>Simon Darnell</strong>, also cited gender, racial and household disparities as factors contributing to a lack of access to sports, with 38.5 per cent of six- to 10-year-olds reporting experiencing racism or discrimination in sports.</p> <p>Overall, 36 per cent of Ontario youth reported not having access to safe places to play sports in 2023. When asked what would improve the quality of youth sports culture, the most frequent response was “an environment where I can make friends.”</p> <p>“I was more disappointed than surprised by the results,” said Darnell, an associate professor in U of T’s Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KPE) and&nbsp;director of the Centre for Sport Policy Studies (CSPS). “We know that the COVID-19 pandemic forced some youth out of sport altogether and made sport increasingly inaccessible for others who tried to remain. And we knew that getting kids back to sport after they dropped out was going to be challenging.</p> <p>“We also know that many elements or aspects of social life are increasingly inaccessible in our world today. So, what this points to is the importance of securing accessibility and inclusion as key values and policy priorities in youth sport provision.”</p> <p>The Change the Game research project was conceived in 2021 as an anonymous online survey of Ontario youth about their experiences with access, engagement and equity issues in sport. The most recent study was the largest to date, with more than 10,000 survey responses&nbsp;– bringing the total number of youth voices collected over three years of research to 25,000.&nbsp;</p> <p>This year, the project also collaborated with youth sport organizations, including U of T’s <a href="https://varsityblues.ca/feature/BVA">BIPOC Varsity Association</a>, Toronto FC Academy, Argos Rowing Club and <a href="https://ausomeottawa.com/" target="_blank">Ausome Ottawa</a>, which suggested solutions to the barriers expressed by research participants in the first two years of the study.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Victor Adarquah</strong>, a PhD student in U of T’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, was the lead research assistant on the project, receiving valuable hands-on experience in applying research to address real-world issues.</p> <p>“This project was an incredible opportunity to bridge my interest in community and social impact work with research,” said Adarquah. “I found it especially rewarding to experience the fast-paced nature and real-time application of the research findings. The work here doesn't just sit on a shelf, it's actively informing and shaping ongoing initiatives.”<br> <br> <strong>Tanya Mruck</strong>, vice-president of community engagement and social impact at MLSE, said the data collected in the Change the Game research study will serve as an important resource that will help guide the investments and community engagement priorities of the MLSE Foundation.&nbsp;Study insights will also be available publicly through an&nbsp;online report, interactive data dashboard&nbsp;and open access dataset.<br> <br> “What this project demonstrates is that sharing of resources and expertise through collaborations between universities and community or industry partners is both possible and beneficial,” said Darnell. “When we embarked on this collaborative project back in 2021, we wanted to better understand how youth in Ontario engage in sport in order to build a more equitable sport system for them. Along the way, it became the largest youth sports study of its kind in Canada – one which will provide sport and recreation providers, policymakers, funders and future researchers with valuable data and recommendations to change the game for the better.”</p> <h3><a href="https://www.thestar.com/sports/amateur/mlse-foundation-report-finds-alarming-drop-in-access-for-ontario-youth-playing-sports/article_d10947be-b470-11ee-9d01-675ce8890a4f.html">Read&nbsp;more about the 2023 Change the Game report in the <em>Toronto Star</em></a></h3> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 26 Jan 2024 18:41:36 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 305730 at Why is COVID-19 more severe in some people? Researchers use genetics, data science to find out /news/why-covid-19-more-severe-some-people-researchers-use-genetics-data-science-find-out <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Why is COVID-19 more severe in some people? Researchers use genetics, data science to find out</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-10/GettyImages-1232624749-crop.jpg?h=537fbfcc&amp;itok=uJHlW7yx 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-10/GettyImages-1232624749-crop.jpg?h=537fbfcc&amp;itok=wbmIcvoZ 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-10/GettyImages-1232624749-crop.jpg?h=537fbfcc&amp;itok=HnVkaLX7 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-10/GettyImages-1232624749-crop.jpg?h=537fbfcc&amp;itok=uJHlW7yx" alt="Toronto area hospital nurses attend to a COVID-19 patient in 2021"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-10-25T10:08:53-04:00" title="Wednesday, October 25, 2023 - 10:08" class="datetime">Wed, 10/25/2023 - 10:08</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>(Photo by Cole Burston/AFP/Getty Images)&nbsp;</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/tyler-irving" hreflang="en">Tyler Irving</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/covid-19" hreflang="en">COVID-19</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/data-sciences-institute" hreflang="en">Data Sciences Institute</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/institutional-strategic-initiatives" hreflang="en">Institutional Strategic Initiatives</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/princess-margaret-cancer-centre" hreflang="en">Princess Margaret Cancer Centre</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sinai-health" hreflang="en">Sinai Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6923" hreflang="en">Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/temerty-faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Temerty Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/unity-health" hreflang="en">Unity Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dalla-lana-school-public-health" hreflang="en">Dalla Lana School of Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hospital-sick-children" hreflang="en">Hospital for Sick Children</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mount-sinai-hospital" hreflang="en">Mount Sinai Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/st-michael-s-hospital" hreflang="en">St. Michael's Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/statistical-sciences" hreflang="en">Statistical Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-health-network" hreflang="en">University Health Network</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/women-s-college-hospital" hreflang="en">Women's College Hospital</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">With the help of U of T's Data Sciences Institute, researchers from the university and partner hospitals gathered more than 11,000 full genome sequences from across Canada</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Why do some people have a more severe course of COVID-19 disease than others? A genome sequence database created by an international collaboration of researchers, including many from the ߲ݴý and partner hospitals,&nbsp;may hold the answers to this question – and many more.</p> <p>The origins of the Canadian COVID-19 Human Host Genome Sequencing Databank, known as&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cgen.ca/project-overview">CGEn HostSeq</a>, can be traced to the earliest days of the pandemic.</p> <p><strong>Lisa Strug</strong>,<strong>&nbsp;</strong>senior scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and academic director of U of T’s <a href="https://datasciences.utoronto.ca/">Data Sciences Institute</a>, one of several U of T <a href="https://isi.utoronto.ca/">institutional strategic initiatives</a>, says genetic data was top of mind for her and other researchers in&nbsp;late 2019 and early 2020 as reports of a novel form of coronavirus emerged from China and then other locations across the globe.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-10/Strug%2C-Lisa--9APR2020_TCAG_DSC5851--crop.jpg" width="300" height="300" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Lisa Strug (Photo courtesy The Hospital for Sick Children)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>“In my research, I use data science techniques to map the genes responsible for complex traits,” says Strug, who is a professor in U of T’s departments of statistical sciences and computer science in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and in the biostatistics division of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.</p> <p>“We knew that genes were a factor in the severity of previous SARS infections, so it made sense that COVID-19, which is caused by a closely related virus, would have a genetic component, too.</p> <p>“Very early on, I started getting messages from several scientists who wanted to set up different studies that would help us find those genes.”</p> <p>Over the next few months, Strug – who is also the associate director of SickKids’ <a href="https://www.tcag.ca/" target="_blank">Centre for Applied Genomics</a>, one of three sites across Canada that form <a href="https://www.cgen.ca/" target="_blank">CGEn</a>, Canada’s national platform for genome sequencing infrastructure for research – collaborated with nearly 100 researchers from across U of T and partner hospitals and institutions, as well as other researchers from across Canada to enrol individuals with COVID-19 and sequence their genomes.</p> <p>Some of the key team members from the Toronto community included:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Stephen Scherer</strong>, chief of research at SickKids Research Institute and a <a href="https://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards-funding/university-professors/">University Professor</a> in U of T’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, as well as director of the U of T McLaughlin Centre</li> <li><strong>Rayjean Hung</strong>, associate director of population health at the&nbsp;Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health,&nbsp;and a professor in U of T’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health</li> <li><strong>Angela Cheung</strong>, clinician-scientist at University Health Network, senior scientist at Toronto General Hospital Research Institute&nbsp;and a professor in U of T’s&nbsp;Temerty Faculty of Medicine</li> <li><strong>Upton Allen</strong>, head of the division of infectious diseases at SickKids and a professor in U of T’s&nbsp;Temerty Faculty of Medicine</li> </ul> <p><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The projected was initiated by Scherer and CGEn’s&nbsp;Naveed Aziz, along with Strug, and a $20-million grant was secured from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, administered through Genome Canada.</span></p> <p>“We had to go right to the top to get this project funded fast and our labs and teams worked seven days a week on the project right through the pandemic,”&nbsp;Scherer recalls.</p> <p>Identifying associations between individual genes and complex traits typically requires thousands of genomes&nbsp;– both from those with the trait and those without. Though there was no shortage of cases to choose from, it was critical to gather and sequence DNA&nbsp;– and then organize the data in a way that would be ethical, efficient and useful to researchers now and in the future.</p> <p>“One of our key mandates at the Data Sciences Institute is developing techniques and programs that ensure that data remains as open, accessible and as re-producible as it can be,” Strug says.</p> <p>“That vision was brought to bear as we assembled the data infrastructure for this project&nbsp;– for example, ensuring that consent forms were as broad as possible so that this data could be linked with other sources, from electronic medical records to other health databases.</p> <p>“We wanted to be sure that even after the COVID-19 pandemic was over this could be a national whole genome sequencing resource to ask all kinds of questions about health and our genes. The development of the database and its open nature also enabled Canada to collaborate effectively with similar projects in other countries.”</p> <div class="story_sidebar_wrapper" style="float: right; background-color: grey; padding: 25px 15px 25px 15px; color: white; margin-left: 25px; margin-bottom: 25px; font-size: 1.5rem;"><span class="sidebar_content_title" style="display: block; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase;margin-bottom: 15px;">Partner hospitals and institutions:</span> <ul style="line-height: 1.6; padding-left: 25px;"> <li style="color: white; font-size: 1.5rem;">The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)</li> <li style="color: white; font-size: 1.5rem;">Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health</li> <li style="color: white; font-size: 1.5rem">Mount Sinai Hospital, Sinai Health</li> <li style="color: white; font-size: 1.5rem">St Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto</li> <li style="color: white; font-size: 1.5rem">University Health Network (UHN)</li> <li style="color: white; font-size: 1.5rem">Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, UHN</li> <li style="color: white; font-size: 1.5rem">Ontario Institute for Cancer Research</li> <li style="color: white; font-size: 1.5rem">Women’s College Hospital</li> <li style="color: white; font-size: 1.5rem">Toronto General Hospital, UHN</li> <li style="color: white; font-size: 1.5rem">Baycrest Health Sciences</li> </ul> </div> <p>In the end,&nbsp;<a href="https://bmcgenomdata.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12863-023-01128-3" target="_blank">the project gathered more than 11,000 full genome sequences from across Canada</a>, representing patients with a wide range of health outcomes. Those data were then combined with even more sequences from patients in other countries under what came to be called the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative.</p> <p>It didn’t take long for patterns to start to emerge. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03767-x" target="_blank">A&nbsp;paper published in&nbsp;<em>Nature</em>&nbsp;in 2021</a>&nbsp;identified 13 genome-wide significant loci that are associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection or severe manifestations of COVID-19.</p> <p>Since then, even more data have been added, and subsequent analysis has confirmed the significance of existing loci while also identifying new ones. The most recent update to the project,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06355-3" target="_blank">published in&nbsp;<em>Nature</em>&nbsp;earlier this year</a>, brings the total number of distinct, genome-wide significant loci to 51.</p> <p>“Identification of these loci can help one predict who might be more prone to a severe course of COVID-19 disease,” says Strug.</p> <p>“When you identify a trait-associated locus, you can also unravel the mechanism by which this genetic region contributes to COVID-19 disease. This potentially identifies therapeutic targets and approaches that a future drug could be designed around.”&nbsp;</p> <p>While it will take many more years to fully untangle the effects of the different loci that have been identified, Strug says that the database is already showing its worth in other ways.</p> <p>“It can be difficult to find datasets with whole genome sequence and approved for linkage with other health information that are this large, and we want people to know that it is open and available for all kinds of research well beyond COVID through a completely independent data access committee,” she says.</p> <p>“For example, several investigators from across Canada have been approved to use these data and we’ve even provided funding to trainees to encourage them to develop new data science methodologies or ask novel health questions using the CGen HostSeq data.”</p> <p>“This was a humongous effort, where researchers from across Canada came together during the COVID-19 pandemic to recruit, obtain and sequence DNA from more than 11,000 Canadians in a systematic, co-operative, aligned way to create a made-in-Canada data resource that will hopefully be useful for years to come. I think that was really miraculous.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 25 Oct 2023 14:08:53 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 304033 at Rebuilding public trust after COVID-19: U of T experts review law, ethics and policymaking /news/rebuilding-public-trust-after-covid-19-u-t-experts-review-law-ethics-and-policymaking <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Rebuilding public trust after COVID-19: U of T experts review law, ethics and policymaking</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-10/20230919_142339-crop.jpg?h=65fedc26&amp;itok=EbM0g0oz 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-10/20230919_142339-crop.jpg?h=65fedc26&amp;itok=qtW7YLrg 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-10/20230919_142339-crop.jpg?h=65fedc26&amp;itok=5oYMJo3G 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-10/20230919_142339-crop.jpg?h=65fedc26&amp;itok=EbM0g0oz" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-10-13T10:08:09-04:00" title="Friday, October 13, 2023 - 10:08" class="datetime">Fri, 10/13/2023 - 10:08</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>Trudo Lemmens, a professor in U of T’s Faculty of Law, is co-leading&nbsp;a study about the impact of COVID-19 public health measures on disadvantaged communities (photo by Nina Haikara)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/nina-haikara" hreflang="en">Nina Haikara</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/covid-19" hreflang="en">COVID-19</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/equity" hreflang="en">Equity</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-law" hreflang="en">Faculty of Law</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/public-health" hreflang="en">Public Health</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Disability rights, disability justice and disability advocacy have been an increasing focus of&nbsp;<strong>Trudo Lemmens’s</strong> research – particularly in the wake of COVID-19.</p> <p>“The recent COVID-19 pandemic revealed again how various measures and policies often uniquely impact on persons with disabilities,” says Lemmens, a ߲ݴý Faculty of Law professor who holds the Scholl Chair in Health Law and Policy with cross-appointments to U of T’s&nbsp;Temerty Faculty of Medicine,&nbsp;Dalla Lana School of Public Health&nbsp;and&nbsp;Joint Centre for Bioethics.</p> <p>“The voices of disabled persons were largely ignored, and the disability community was not meaningfully involved in the decision-making process.”</p> <p>Lemmens and co-principal investigator <strong>Alison Thompson</strong>, an associate professor and a bioethicist at U of T’s&nbsp;Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, as well as former members of the COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, are leading a global interdisciplinary study on “Rebuilding public trust after COVID-19: Examining public health measures and their impacts on disadvantaged communities.”</p> <p>Their research, supported by the <a href="https://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/nfrf-fnfr/special/2022/competition-concours-eng.aspx">Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s (SSHRC)&nbsp;New Frontiers in Research Fund&nbsp;for post-pandemic recovery</a>, aims to shed light on the challenges faced by disadvantaged communities during the pandemic and provide insights to rebuild public trust and address health disparities.</p> <p>“Viruses don’t discriminate, societies do,” says Thompson, who has worked on ethics and policymaking issues both nationally and internationally and was a member of the&nbsp;Ontario COVID-19 Bioethics Advisory Table.</p> <p>“We need to listen to persons living with disabilities, for example, about how their concerns can be better addressed, and how policy processes can be made more inclusive and responsive to the needs of people who are disproportionately harmed because of pre-existing, unjust social conditions.”</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-center"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/scale_image_750_width_/public/2023-10/alison_thompson_feature.jpg?itok=Li3_sVJb" width="750" height="563" alt="&quot;&quot;" class="image-style-scale-image-750-width-"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Alison Thompson (supplied image)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>Their post-pandemic recovery research is born in part out of earlier work by the project's team members, including&nbsp;Deborah Stienstra, a professor of political science and director of the Life Work Well Research Centre at the University of Guelph, and Kevin Bardosh, an applied medical anthropologist at the University of Washington. The work was also informed by policy discussions on clinical triage policies with the <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en" target="_blank">Ontario Human Rights Commission</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/" target="_blank">ARCH Disability Rights Centre</a>, and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aodaalliance.org/" target="_blank">AODA Alliance&nbsp;</a>(Accessibility for Ontarians with Disability Alliance).</p> <p>Stienstra’s report, “Consistently excluded: A disability inclusion analysis of Canada’s COVID-19 policies,” was featured during the Faculty of Law’s ongoing&nbsp;<a href="https://www.law.utoronto.ca/scholarship-publications/workshops-and-seminars/health-law-ethics-and-policy-seminar-series">Health Law, Policy &amp; Ethics Seminar Series</a>, which was organized by Lemmens.</p> <p>Another seminar featured the collaborative research paper – “The Unintended Consequences of COVID-19 Vaccine Policy: Why Mandates, Passports, and Segregated Lockdowns May Cause more Harm than Good” – written by Bardosh, Lemmens, and others involved in the new project.&nbsp;A recording of the discussion for "Unintended Consequences"&nbsp;has since received more than 77,000 YouTube views.</p> <p>“Experts have been recommending development of pandemic policies for a long time – since SARS-CoV [severe acute respiratory syndrome] in Ontario – and still it appears we were unprepared and failed to have equitable policies in place,” Lemmens says.</p> <p>He adds that other countries introduced different measures and policies during COVID-19 and that we can learn from various approaches.&nbsp;Fernando Aith, a visiting professor of health law at University of São Paulo, is part of the research team that will be exploring Brazil’s approaches.</p> <p>“Brazil had one of the highest COVID-19 fatality rates in the world. Denialism, mistaken political and administrative decisions, lack of co-ordination between the different Brazilian federative entities, stand out among the problems faced throughout the pandemic, which killed more than 700,000 people in the country,” says Aith.</p> <p>“A comparative study between Brazil-Canada will allow us to understand the similarities and differences of these countries in confronting the pandemic, and thus consolidate strategic knowledge to prevent future public health emergencies."</p> <p>Lemmens says public health policy has traditionally emphasized the importance of building, strengthening, and maintaining public trust. To that end, researchers will explore how&nbsp;the implementation or absence of&nbsp;different measures, such as testing strategies, vaccine and mask mandates, clinical triage policies and public health communication have influenced public trust – particularly between already disadvantaged communities, health authorities and other institutions such as universities.</p> <p>“Our research is built on this premise that trust is key to promote public health in the long-term and to ensure compliance with public health measures,” Lemmens says. “But during the pandemic, measures and policies – often of a rights-restrictive nature&nbsp;– were implemented&nbsp;or withdrawn&nbsp;without discussion with those particularly affected.”</p> <p>He says it can be argued that the seriousness and urgency of the public health threat may have hindered elaborate consultation, but stresses that the need for inclusion in decision-making is a must.</p> <p>“In our research, we want to explore what the impact is on how governments, health-care institutions and universities acted during the pandemic, and whether things could have been done differently, particularly from a disability justice perspective. We want to come up with more inclusive public health governance approaches,” he says.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Could we design an advisory committee structure that involves more stakeholders from the disability community, racialized minorities, Indigenous Peoples and those living in poverty? How would such a different governance structure function during a pandemic?”</p> <p>By examining the intersection of public health policies and societal factors, the project can help inform future policymaking and public health interventions.</p> <p>“We shouldn’t too quickly turn the page and move on as if everything went well,”&nbsp;says Lemmens. “We need to learn from our experiences.”</p> <div class="align-center"> <div class="field field--name-field-media-oembed-video field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item"><iframe src="/media/oembed?url=https%3A//youtu.be/QjUskKTq_Qc%3Ffeature%3Dshared&amp;max_width=0&amp;max_height=0&amp;hash=ti7Q1Uo-4WwZrK7y_edZaFo_oQaU2PgbFHNOunSlUJ4" width="200" height="113" class="media-oembed-content" loading="eager" title="The Unintended Consequences of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates: Why They May Cause More Harm than Good"></iframe> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 13 Oct 2023 14:08:09 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 303458 at U of T researchers contribute to Canada-wide COVID-19 immunity study /news/u-t-researchers-contribute-canada-wide-covid-19-immunity-study <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">U of T researchers contribute to Canada-wide COVID-19 immunity study</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-08/GettyImages-1227506145-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=GJKKLUj1 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-08/GettyImages-1227506145-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=5j_woFSy 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-08/GettyImages-1227506145-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=wFE3Zi4v 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-08/GettyImages-1227506145-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=GJKKLUj1" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-08-14T14:54:11-04:00" title="Monday, August 14, 2023 - 14:54" class="datetime">Mon, 08/14/2023 - 14:54</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>(Juan&nbsp;Gaertner/Science Photo Library/Getty Images)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A new study involving researchers from the ߲ݴý suggests that, by last spring, <a href="https://www.covid19immunitytaskforce.ca/more-than-75-of-canadians-had-immunity-to-sars-cov-2-due-to-infection-by-march-2023/">75 per cent of people across Canada</a> had developed antibodies in response to COVID-19 infections.</p> <p>Using aggregate data from various collaborating pan-Canadian teams, researchers found that few people showed SARS-CoV-2 infection in their blood during the country’s pre-vaccination and vaccine rollout phases – 0.3 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively.</p> <p>By mid-June 2022, however, infection rates jumped to 47 per cent and increased to 75 per cent by March 2023 as the highly transmissible and immune-evasive Omicron variant spread across the country. Infection appears to be slowing, though it continues to rise among older adults.</p> <p>The findings – <a href="https://www.cmaj.ca/content/195/31/E1030">published in the&nbsp;<em>Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ)</em></a> – used data from <a href="https://canpath.ca/">CanPath (the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health)</a>, which is based at U of T’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.</p> <p>“We aimed to untangle the relationship between vaccination status – including the number of doses, brands, and time between doses – and infection risk while accounting for prior infection, adherence to recommendations from public health officials and other factors which impact immunity such as age,” says&nbsp;study investigator <strong>Kimberly Skead</strong>, who is national scientific co-ordinator for CanPath and recently defended her PhD in molecular genetics at U of T and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.</p> <p>Since 2020, CanPath, with other national partners, has been tasked by the&nbsp;Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)&nbsp;and <a href="https://www.covid19immunitytaskforce.ca">the&nbsp;COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF)</a>&nbsp;to support a national COVID-19 serological surveillance study. In March 2020, with $5.2 million in funding, the CanPath team began collecting COVID-19 data from more than100,000 Canadians, including dried blood spots at three different time points: pre-vaccination (March 2020 to November 2020); vaccine rollout (December 2020 to November 2021); and the Omicron waves (December 2021 to March 2023).</p> <p>Following the health of its 330,000 participants over the long term, CanPath is well-positioned among CITF collaborators to provide vital insights&nbsp;into the nature and duration of immune response and the need for and timing of vaccine booster doses.</p> <p>“CanPath’s extensive participant base has been instrumental in enabling us to find these differences in exposure and immunity across Canada,” says study investigator&nbsp;<strong>Philip Awadalla</strong>, who is national scientific director for CanPath and a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine.</p> <p>“The results from our studies, combined with the wealth of data and ongoing research from our collaborators, can contribute to different vaccine responses as the pandemic progresses.”</p> <p>Certain measures can be taken to ensure that our ongoing narrative remains one of resilience, adaptability, and safeguarding our collective well-being, the researchers say.</p> <p>“Given the lingering risks of post-COVID conditions and the vulnerability of certain individuals to severe outcomes, a proactive approach is essential,” says&nbsp;<strong>Victoria Kirsh</strong>, a study investigator who is a scientific associate at <a href="https://www.ontariohealthstudy.ca">Ontario Health Study</a> and an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.</p> <p>“To safeguard against future variants, it’s important to continue monitoring COVID-19’s spread and roll out booster campaigns ahead of upcoming waves.”</p> <h3><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-vaccination-infection-immunity-pandemic/">Read more about the study in the <em>Globe and Mail</em></a></h3> <h3><a href="/news/u-t-experts-tapped-help-lead-covid-19-immunity-task-force">Read more about the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force</a></h3> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-add-new-author-reporter field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Add new author/reporter</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/megan-fleming" hreflang="en">Megan Fleming</a></div> </div> </div> Mon, 14 Aug 2023 18:54:11 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 302643 at On-line toolbox shares ideas and adaptations from U of T community members /bulletin/line-toolbox-shares-ideas-and-adaptations-u-t-community-members <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">On-line toolbox shares ideas and adaptations from U of T community members</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ksoobria</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-08-14T11:36:42-04:00" title="Monday, August 14, 2023 - 11:36" class="datetime">Mon, 08/14/2023 - 11:36</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The events of the pandemic underlined the need for the university to consolidate and share knowledge regarding operations, and to continue to update and improve its processes. It was a time that brought into sharp focus U of T’s core mission of teaching and research. It also demonstrated the value of cross-functional teams working across campuses toward common goals, and the role of these teams in enabling an agile response to changing circumstances.</p> <p>The University Resilience Project Team, initiated by Vice-President &amp; Provost Cheryl Regehr in spring 2022, has completed its work in partnering with campuses and divisions to launch nine initiatives in response to feedback it collected from the community. One of these initiatives is an <a href="/utogether/innovations">on-line toolbox</a>, now part of the <a href="/utogether">߲ݴý website</a>. The toolbox is a source of examples and advice contributed by U of T staff and faculty developed in response to the pandemic.</p> <p>“The goal of the toolbox is to inspire further thinking and problem-solving in the post-pandemic era,” said Professor Nick Rule, Vice-Principal (Academic) &amp; Dean, U of T Mississauga and who led the RPT as Provostial Advisor on University Resilience.</p> <p>“The RPT’s work illuminated the community’s need to discuss and acknowledge the significance of the pandemic. Compiling the innovative work of our faculty and staff through this resource is an important part of our path forward.”</p> <p>The RPT was initiated by the Provost as a way for members of the university community to reflect on their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to consolidate and retain the knowledge gained during that period.</p> <p>From April to September of 2022, RPT members conducted extensive consultations with the U of T community, focusing on the following key questions: lessons learned, identifying obstacles, things to change and innovations and practices to keep.</p> <p>The RPT spoke with 300+ academic, administrative and student leaders from every division and campus in small sessions; received 224 responses in a web-based survey advertised to the entire U of T community; and gave 43 presentations to operational units, senior leadership and members of Governing Council.</p> <p>Having heard from the community, the RPT worked in partnership with campuses and divisions to implement nine initiatives in response to the feedback received in their consultations. These initiatives fall into three categories: navigation, engagement and future proofing. The work of sustaining these initiatives is continuing in the hands of the RPT’s collaborative partners.</p> <p>More details about the work on the RPT are available on the <a href="https://www.provost.utoronto.ca/committees/university-resilience-project/">Provost’s website</a>.</p> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>On-line toolbox shares ideas and adaptations from U of T community members</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-08/GettyImages-1134900255.jpg?h=ed803980&amp;itok=yRzCzZuP 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-08/GettyImages-1134900255.jpg?h=ed803980&amp;itok=V1lm88eB 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-08/GettyImages-1134900255.jpg?h=ed803980&amp;itok=pBiyb-U6 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-08/GettyImages-1134900255.jpg?h=ed803980&amp;itok=yRzCzZuP" alt="hands typing on laptop"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-cutline field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">(photo by Watchara Piriyaputtanapun/Getty Images)</div> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden clearfix"> <ul class="links field__items"> <li><a href="/news/tags/covid-19" hreflang="en">COVID-19</a></li> <li><a href="/news/tags/cheryl-regehr" hreflang="en">Cheryl Regehr</a></li> <li><a href="/news/tags/governing-council" hreflang="en">Governing Council</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Communications Staff</div> <div class="field field--name-field-hide field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> Mon, 14 Aug 2023 15:36:42 +0000 ksoobria 302640 at U of T researchers find vulnerability in COVID-19 variants that reduces transmissibility /news/u-t-researchers-find-vulnerability-covid-19-variants-reduces-transmissibility <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">U of T researchers find vulnerability in COVID-19 variants that reduces transmissibility</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-06/52501328252_503017a8e7_o-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=fp6T1vsN 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-06/52501328252_503017a8e7_o-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=UYMwJwGo 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-06/52501328252_503017a8e7_o-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Bni4c9-z 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-06/52501328252_503017a8e7_o-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=fp6T1vsN" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-06-12T16:45:36-04:00" title="Monday, June 12, 2023 - 16:45" class="datetime">Mon, 06/12/2023 - 16:45</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>(illustration by NIAID)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/anika-hazra" hreflang="en">Anika Hazra</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/covid-19" hreflang="en">COVID-19</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/temerty-faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Temerty Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/donnelly-centre-cellular-biomolecular-research" hreflang="en">Donnelly Centre for Cellular &amp; Biomolecular Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/biochemistry" hreflang="en">Biochemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medical-research" hreflang="en">Medical Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/molecular-genetics" hreflang="en">Molecular Genetics</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Researchers at the ߲ݴý have found that Omicron variants of the COVID-19-causing virus can be hindered in their ability to infect people by mutations in the spike protein that prevent the virus from binding to and entering cells.</p> <p>The spike protein is a distinctive feature of viruses, found on their outside surface. The researchers found that mutations in this protein influence the sensitivity of Omicron variants to chemical reduction&nbsp;– a process that can prevent Omicron variants from spreading and could potentially be delivered to patients through aerosol therapy.</p> <p>“While infection by the Omicron variant usually leads to milder symptoms, this variant is unique in how easily it can spread,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zhong-Yao"><strong>Zhong Yao</strong></a>, lead author on the study and senior research associate <a href="http://local.biochemistry.utoronto.ca/stagljar/">in the lab</a> of&nbsp;<a href="https://biochemistry.utoronto.ca/person/igor-stagljar/"><strong>Igor Stagljar</strong></a>, a professor at U of T’s&nbsp;<a href="https://thedonnellycentre.utoronto.ca/">Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research</a>.</p> <p>“Our study clearly demonstrates a significant vulnerability of Omicron to chemical reduction&nbsp;– one that is either not found or is much less potent in previous variants of coronavirus.”</p> <p>The team's <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022283623001985?via%3Dihub#s0080">findings were published</a> in the <em>Journal of Molecular Biology</em>.</p> <p>The researchers found that Omicron-specific mutations in the virus’s spike protein reduce its ability to bind to a key receptor in host cells, called ACE2. The spike protein’s receptor-binding domain, the surface of which comes into contact with the ACE2 receptor, consists of multiple disulfide bonds. Two of these bonds, involving the C480-C488 and C379-C432 disulfides, are highly susceptible to cleavage through chemical reduction, the team showed.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-center"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/scale_image_750_width_/public/2023-06/Zhong%20and%20Igor.jpeg?itok=aTXaCCmB" width="750" height="500" alt="&quot;&quot;" class="image-style-scale-image-750-width-"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Researchers Zhong Yao, left, and Igor Stagljar (supplied images)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>The internal environment of a cell is in a naturally reduced state compared to the surface, and does not usually support disulfides bonds. In contrast, extracellular proteins and protein domains contain disulfide bonds that are oxidized, creating a structural conformation that helps them bind to receptors.</p> <p>Breaking disulfide bonds changes the conformation of the proteins, so they can no longer fit into their receptors. Treating the Omicron spike protein with a reducing agent breaks the disulfide bonds at the surface, inhibiting the spike protein from binding to the ACE2 receptor.</p> <p>“While mutations, in general, have increased the transmissibility of Omicron subvariants, as well as their ability to evade the immune system, this vulnerability to disulfide cleavage presents potential target areas for treating Omicron infections,” said Stagljar, who is also a professor of&nbsp;biochemistry&nbsp;and&nbsp;molecular genetics&nbsp;at U of T’s&nbsp;<a href="https://temertymedicine.utoronto.ca/">Temerty Faculty of Medicine</a>.</p> <p>One potential treatment method that takes advantage of Omicron’s structural vulnerability is aerosol therapy. Reducing agents can be toxic to the body at higher levels and can potentially harm non-target proteins. Aerosol therapy overcomes this obstacle by delivering the reducing agent directly to the lungs, which can tolerate a higher concentration level of the reducing agent than the rest of the body.</p> <p>The researchers found that Omicron variants were particularly sensitive to an antioxidant called bucillamine, which is in a Phase 3 clinical trial by Revive Therapeutics to evaluate its safety and efficacy.</p> <p>“While Omicron is less deadly overall, it still poses a threat to older, immunocompromised and unvaccinated groups,” Yao said.</p> <p>“It’s helpful to understand the mechanism through which Omicron variants are transmitted between people, so that we can harness it for therapeutic treatments and be more prepared.”</p> <p>The research was supported by the PRiME COVID-19 Task Force, COVID Relief, the Toronto COVID-19 Action Fund and the Temerty Knowledge Translation grant.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 12 Jun 2023 20:45:36 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 301963 at Derrick Rossi, the stem cell scientist who co-founded Moderna, receives honorary degree /news/derrick-rossi-stem-cell-scientist-who-co-founded-moderna-receives-honorary-degree <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Derrick Rossi, the stem cell scientist who co-founded Moderna, receives honorary degree</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-06-09T16:04:37-04:00" title="Friday, June 9, 2023 - 16:04" class="datetime">Fri, 06/09/2023 - 16:04</time> </span> <div class="field field--name-field-youtube field--type-youtube field--label-hidden field__item"><figure class="youtube-container"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ST0zTV05PtM?wmode=opaque" width="450" height="315" id="youtube-field-player" class="youtube-field-player" title="Embedded video for Derrick Rossi, the stem cell scientist who co-founded Moderna, receives honorary degree" aria-label="Embedded video for Derrick Rossi, the stem cell scientist who co-founded Moderna, receives honorary degree: https://www.youtube.com/embed/ST0zTV05PtM?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> </figure> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/scott-anderson" hreflang="en">Scott Anderson</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6899" hreflang="en">Convocation 2023</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/covid-19" hreflang="en">COVID-19</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dalla-lana-school-public-health" hreflang="en">Dalla Lana School of Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/factor-inwentash-faculty-social-work" hreflang="en">Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/honorary-degree" hreflang="en">Honorary Degree</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/vaccines" hreflang="en">Vaccines</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A stem cell scientist and successful biotechnology entrepreneur, <strong>Derrick Rossi</strong> knew he was onto something big in 2009, when his Harvard University lab was able to successfully modify messenger RNA – molecules that relay genetic information in the body.</p> <p>He immediately recognized the potential to develop new treatments for disease and co-founded the biotechnology firm Moderna – the name a play on “modified mRNA.”</p> <p>What the ߲ݴý alumnus couldn’t anticipate at the time was the arrival, a decade later, of COVID-19 – and the role Moderna would ultimately play in developing a vaccine that would save countless millions of lives.</p> <p>“That was not foreseen,” <a href="/news/lab-saving-lives-moderna-co-founder-derrick-rossi-becoming-serial-entrepreneur">he told <em>U of T News</em> in 2021</a>.</p> <p>Today, for his ground-breaking scientific research that has been translated into effective therapeutics with global impact, and for his extraordinary contributions to global public health and biotechnology innovation, Rossi will receive a Doctor of Laws,&nbsp;honoris causa, from the ߲ݴý.</p> <p>Rossi was born in Toronto, the youngest of five children to Maltese immigrant parents. He attended Dr. Norman Bethune High School in Scarborough, where he says a science class instilled in him a passion for molecular biology. “As soon as I learned about molecular biology that was it, I knew what I wanted to be,” <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/heroes-of-the-pandemic-meet-the-canadian-hockey-dad-behind-covid-19-vaccine-developer-moderna">he told the <em>National Post</em> in 2020</a>.</p> <p>He went on to earn two degrees in molecular genetics at U of T, then a PhD from the University of Helsinki. He did a post-doc at Stanford University, and in 2007 was appointed assistant professor at Harvard University, where he ran his own lab.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-center"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/scale_image_750_width_/public/2023-06/DZ6_1633-crop.jpg?itok=1YXTWI9C" width="750" height="500" alt="&quot;&quot;" class="image-style-scale-image-750-width-"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>From left: Dalla Lana School of Public Health Dean Adalsteinn Brown, Derrick Rossi, Chancellor Rose Patten and President Meric Gertler (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>Rossi’s research focused on stem cells. In particular, he was interested in determining whether he could modify the messenger RNA molecules to relay genetic code to human cells. “Genes and mutations in genes underlie pretty much all human genetic diseases, which is a large fraction of human diseases,” Rossi said in the interview with U of T News.</p> <p>He realized that if you could “reprogram” a cell to bypass bad genes and mutations, then you could, in theory, treat a large range of genetic disorders, from Parkinson’s disease to sickle cell anemia and more.</p> <p>Rossi initially didn’t expect the discovery to serve as a platform for a new kind of vaccine. The reason was financial, not scientific: vaccines are generally not very profitable. “It’s not something that a biotech company would be thinking about because there’s not much money to be made there,” he told U of T News.</p> <p>The exception, it turns out, is a global pandemic.</p> <p>Having undergone a career transition in 2010 from scientist to scientist-entrepreneur, Rossi says his research became increasingly focused on real-world applications. “As a biologist in a lab, you can answer a question that’s really interesting but isn’t going to move the needle on patient health at all,” he told U of T News. “Or you can ask a different question that, if you get an answer to it, might solve a [patient’s] problem.</p> <p>“As soon as I realized that, pretty much all the questions we asked in my lab had that type of focus.”</p> <p>He notes that co-founding Moderna gave him the entrepreneurial “bug.” Since leaving the company in 2014 (he is still an investor), he has co-founded four other biotech startups: Intellia Therapeutics, which uses the genome editing technology CRISPR/Cas9 to create novel medicines for genetic diseases; Magenta Therapeutics, which is developing ways to use stem cell transplants to reset patients’ immune systems to cure autoimmune and other diseases; Stelexis Therapeutics, which focuses on the discovery of drug targets for cancerous stem cells: and Convalo Therapeutics, which has identified promising drug targets for treating neurological disorders.</p> <p>Rossi, who retired from Harvard in 2018, is a recipient of the Princess of Asturias Award for scientific research – an honour previously conferred on Stephen Hawking and AI pioneer and U of T <a href="https://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards-funding/university-professors/">University Professor</a> Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton. He serves as a mentor at the Rotman School of Management’s <a href="https://creativedestructionlab.com/">Creative Destruction Lab</a> and conducts many media interviews in an effort to expand public knowledge about vaccine efficacy and safety. In 2011, <em>Time</em> magazine named Rossi one of the world’s 100 most influential people.</p> <p>In his convocation address today to graduate students in social work and public health, Rossi urges them to choose the road less travelled. “And if there isn’t a road there? That’s even better. Grab a machete and whack your way through the jungle of life, forging your own path. By doing so, you will maximize your life experience by colouring it in hues and pigments that you didn’t even know existed ... this is also a great strategy to prepare oneself for whatever may come your way in the future.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 09 Jun 2023 20:04:37 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 301959 at