Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology Student Union - LMPSU

Hello again LMP students! Thank you to everyone who decided to run for a position on the next LMPSU executive council. It means a lot that so many great students wanted to contribute to the LMP community in this way. To those who won, congratulations and I look forward to seeing what you’ll do for your fellow LMP students next year.

To those who did not win, you should still feel proud for putting in the effort to join the LMPSU executive council, you are still a valued member of the LMP community and will no doubt accomplish amazing things. To keep election results transparent, any of the candidates who ran for a position can request to see the exact vote counts. Please give a warm welcome to the following LMP students who will be your next LMPSU executive council members for the 2022-2023 academic year!

Co-Presidents: Britney Feng and Bonnie Yang
VP Finance: Sapna Humar
VP Social: Rachelle Lee
VP Academic: Kevin Chen
External Affairs Officer: Linus Schweizer
Internal Affairs Officer: Leo Xu
Third Year Representative: Mika Sun
Graphic Designer: Alan Ren
Webmaster: Wenda Zhang

Hello everyone! I am pleased to introduce Dr. Michael Sefton, who will be speaking at our upcoming conference, ‘Repair and Reconstruct: Advancements in Regenerative Medicine’ taking place this Saturday.

Dr. Michael Sefton is University Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry and the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto. He has been active in the preparation of blood compatible materials through heparinization, the microencapsulation of mammalian cells in synthetic polymers and various strategies for vascularizing tissue constructs. He was Director of the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto from 1999-2005 and President of the US Society For Biomaterials in 2006. He is currently Executive Director of Medicine by Design, http://mbd.utoronto.ca/. He has degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto (1971) and MIT (1974) and has been at the University of Toronto since 1974.

He received the Acta Biomaterialia Gold award in 2011 and the Terumo Global Science prize in 2016 (among others). He was elected an international member of the US National Academy of Medicine in 2014 and the US National Academy of Engineering in 2020. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2018.

The conference is FREE to attend and will be held VIRTUALLY. You must register on eventbrite to receive an invite link.

You can register at: www.eventbrite.ca/e/165554894145

If you have any other inquiries, please email us at [email protected]

Hi everyone, I am pleased to introduce Dr. Amy Wong, who will be speaking at our upcoming conference this Saturday, ‘Repair and Reconstruct: Advancements in Regenerative Medicine’.

About Dr. Wong:
Dr. Wong is a Scientist in the Program of Developmental & Stem Cell Biology at the Hospital for Sick Children and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Wong completed her undergraduate degree in the Life Sciences at the University of Toronto in 2001 and went on to achieve graduate degrees at the University of Toronto: a Master of Science (MSc) in Cardiovascular sciences (with Dr. Bradley Strauss, 2001-2003) and a Doctoral degree (PhD) in lung regeneration (with Dr. Thomas Waddell, 2004-2008). She then joined the SickKids Research Institute in early 2009 as a post-doctoral fellow in the labs of Dr. Janet Rossant and Dr. James Ellis. Merging developmental biology concepts and stem cell engineering, Dr. Wong was the first to develop a method to generate airway epithelia that model Cystic Fibrosis (CF) lung disease in-vitro (Nature Biotechnology 2012; Nature Protocol 2015). Airway cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) are now being used to identify targeted and personalized therapies to correct the CF defect. This work was pivotal in the development of the world’s most unique bioresource CF patient iPSC, primary airway cells and whole genome sequencing data (CF Individualized Therapy program’s 100-cell project) to support on-going and future CF research across the globe. Dr. Wong is internationally recognized as a pioneer in using human stem cells to model lung development and disease.

Her lab’s research focus can be divided into 4 project themes: 1) Identify new therapies for CF airway disease – the lab is evaluating new therapeutic avenues to treat individual CF by testing the efficacy of new CFTR modulators (personalized medicine) and employing CRISPR-based gene editing to correct the gene defect or evaluate “mutation-independent” approaches to treat CF. 2) Understand lung disease pathogenesis – the lab leverages the various lung models to better understand differences in COVID-19 disease pathogenesis in children and older adults, and those with pre-existing medical conditions. 3) Investigate how the human lung forms – Combining human primary and stem cell-derived lung tissues and transgenic mouse models, the goal is to map human lung cell lineage development from embryonic to postnatal adult lung. 4) Develop preclinical de novo human lung mimetics – Merging bioengineering, computational modeling and stem cell engineering, the lab aims to develop novel pre-clinical models of human lung tissues for disease modeling and therapy discovery.

The conference is FREE to attend and will be held VIRTUALLY. You must register on eventbrite to receive an invite link.

You can register at: www.eventbrite.ca/e/165554894145

If you have any other inquiries, please email us at [email protected]

Hello everyone! I am pleased to introduce Craig Simmons, who will be speaking at our upcoming conference, ‘Repair and Reconstruct: Advancements in Regenerative Medicine’ taking place this Saturday. Craig Simmons is the University of Toronto Distinguished Professor of Mechanobiology in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. He also serves as the Scientific Director of the University of Toronto Translational Biology and Engineering Program in the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research.

Craig’s research group studies the role of mechanical forces in cardiovascular disease and regeneration, aided by novel microfluidic platforms to model vascularized tissues and organs with high physiological fidelity.

Craig is a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, American Institute for Medical Biomedical Engineering, the Engineering Institute of Canada, and the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering. He has received several research and teaching awards, including the Canada Research Chair in Mechanobiology, the 2015 CP Has Heart Cardiovascular Award from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the 2017 Ontario Professional Engineers Engineering Medal for Research & Development, and the 2017 Northrop Frye Award awarded by the University of Toronto for excellence in linking teaching and research.

The conference will be held on January 8th and is FREE to attend. You can register at: www.eventbrite.ca/e/165554894145

If you have any other inquiries, please email us at [email protected]

Hi everyone, I am pleased to introduce Dr. Michael Laflamme, who will be speaking at our upcoming conference in January, ‘Repair and Reconstruct: Advancements in Regenerative Medicine’.

About Dr. Laflamme:
Dr. Michael Laflamme is the Robert McEwen Chair in Cardiac Regenerative Medicine, Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine, Senior Scientist in the McEwen Stem Cell Institute, Staff Pathologist in the Laboratory Medicine Program at the University Health Network (UHN), and Associate Professor in Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. He leads a research program that is focused on developing novel cardiac cell therapies based on human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), and his laboratory has made a number of important contributions in this area including efficient protocols to guide hPSCs into cardiomyocytes, proof-of-concept transplantation studies with hPSC-derived cardiomyocytes in preclinical models, and the first direct demonstration that hPSC-derived cardiomyocytes can become electrically integrated and activate synchronously with host myocardium in injured hearts. Dr. Laflamme has been the recipient of honors including the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology Young Investigator Award, the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy Outstanding New Investigator Award, and the UHN Inventor of the Year. He also practices cardiovascular and autopsy pathology and is a founding investigator of BlueRock Therapeutics.

The conference will be held on January 8th and is FREE to attend. We will be serving breakfast and lunch at no additional costs! You can register at: www.eventbrite.ca/e/165554894145

If you have any other inquiries, please email us at [email protected]. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the conference!

Hi Everyone,

On September 30, the LMPSU will be hosting an info session on graduate school applications. If you are thinking about professional programs related to Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology in Canada and would like to learn about what to expect, how to pick schools, tips on applications, and more, this is the perfect opportunity for you. Dr. Jeffrey Lee, undergraduate coordinator of the Pathobiology specialist program, will share his knowledge of the process and be around to answer questions. Hope to see you all there :)

Where: Room MSB2377
When: September 30, 5-6PM
Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1233157220521826

LMPSU is happy to announce that we are back with our annual mentorship program! Are you an upper year looking for an opportunity to connect with more LMP students, especially the incoming second year students? The LMPSU mentorship program strives to bring the LMP community together while giving a warm welcome to the new incoming class of LMP specialists. Mentors are an integral part of our goal in creating a sense of community within the different years of study by not only supporting our new class of specialists but by interacting with fellow mentors as well. We are excited to (hopefully) be back in-person so that we can offer opportunities like mentor and mentee socials along with other fun activities for our mentors to take part in. This is a fulfilling opportunity to guide mentees and simultaneously give back to the LMP community. Mentors who commit to our program are also eligible for CCR Recognition. Sign up is through the Google form provided. We look forward to working with everyone!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeKfE6DyFO5Vd5e-uMVr0AirYiP-9CgrbWOreorc3x0L8WIeA/viewform?usp=sf_link

LMPSU Mentorship Signups Welcome to the LMPSU’s 2021-2022 Mentorship Program! We are thrilled that you will be joining our Mentorship Program and its mission to enrich your LMP experience. Whether you are a mentor or a mentee, it is our hope that you will discover the advantages of the LMP program’s tight-knit student c...

Hey guys! Hope your summer is going great :) The LMPSU will be restarting our summer study sessions on our discord server. Feel free to join us at any of the times below for some solid productivity!

Join here: https://discord.gg/pbyQB2Vm
More details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/178482114237318

Hi Everyone!

The LMP faculty is hosting the first of three Strategy hives this coming Monday May 31st 2021 from 4:00 PM - 6:30 PM ! Join us for this interactive discussion on leading and integrating the disruptive innovations that will change the face of LMP.

More info on the event:
Over the past two months, we’ve engaged people from across LMP – faculty, learners, researchers and administrators – in exploring what matters most to you about your work, the Department and your hopes for the future. Overwhelmingly, we’ve heard how much people appreciate and value the unique possibilities of our size, breadth of expertise and supportive community of LMP – and how many ideas you have for a sustainable future.

Your voices have shaped the second phase of our planning, a series of “strategy hives.” Building on the themes you identified in the first phase of engagement, these sessions will bring together a cross section of people around three key strategic questions, to develop priorities, goals and actions for our overall strategy. Each of the “hives” will build on the previous one, and over the three sessions, we will identify a full strategic framework that will guide us for the next five years

This hive will be hosted online via Zoom and facilitated by consultants from The Potential Group and will be highly interactive, with multiple breakout groups and opportunities to shape direction and actions for the future of the Department.

To save your spot, simply register at this link here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/lmp-strategy-hive-1-shaping-the-future-of-lab-medicine-pathobiology-tickets-153325256971

Hope to see you all there!

LMP Strategy Hive 1: Shaping the Future of Lab Medicine & Pathobiology Join us for this interactive discussion on leading and integrating the disruptive innovations that will change the face of LMP

Thank you to everyone who ran for the LMPSU Spring 2021 elections! Please welcome your new LMPSU team for 2021-22!

Co-Presidents: Justin Daisuke Callahan and Nathan Vo
VP Finance: Sapna Humar
VP Academic: Britney Feng
VP Social: Bonnie Yang
External Affairs Director: Manal Quraishi
Internal Affairs Director: Karina Chu
3rd Year Specialist Representative: Fiona Cui
Webmaster: Junaid Ishaq
Graphic Designer: Kai Yuan Chen
Congratulations to all of you and best of luck next year!

Hey Everyone! This is a friendly reminder to anyone who hasn't voted yet that the LMPSU Exec Spring Election period ends tonight 11:59 PM EST. You can vote at: https://voting.utoronto.ca/election/login.xhtml

Best of luck to all candidates :)

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Hey Everyone! Hope you are all enjoying your Sunday :)

This is a quick reminder that voting for the LMPSU Spring Elections has begun. Voting will be available until Wednesday March 31st 11:59 PM EST.

The website for voting is https://voting.utoronto.ca/. All the candidate statements will be available on the virtual ballot. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out.