Glioblastoma multiforme – MRTT2 ax landscape “patient brain scan with glioblastoma shown in red.” Creative Commons. In 2015, Jason Moffat walked into Sheila Singh’s office at McMaster University and gave her a small vial of clear liquid. The vial contained ten milliliters, or two teaspoons, of an injectable antibody, created in Moffat’s lab in Toronto, with a street value of around $100,000. “You better be careful with that,” Singh remembers Moffat telling her at the…

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In 2016, I stumbled upon the concept of a “blog carnival” and I was excited to give it a whirl. It was so much fun and such a success that, five years later, it is now a regular summer feature on Signals. You can look forward to it in the same way that “Torontonians” look forward to the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) – a giant fair with rides, games, entertainment, odd food and much more…

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Credit: Flickr Finally, COVID-19 is no longer the only topic dominating the news cycle, although it took several months before mainstream media felt they could move away from covering a global pandemic that was likely affecting every person on the planet. In some ways it was a relief to know that the urgency had lessened and other news was appropriate to report on again. Not that media have stopped reporting on COVID-19 stories…. COVID-19 has…

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Credit: Flickr As the nations of the world very slowly emerge out of the various states of lockdown and adjust to the new normal of social distancing, working from home, and staggering shifts, it gives us an opportunity to reflect on the past six months of world-changing events driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s Signal’s blog carnival has asked its writers to put their minds to work to assess the negative impact of COVID-19…

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Credit: Flickr Brent McPherson has spent over 25 years in the supply chain sector, managing clients and teams in both local and regional roles (APAC), covering many industries and sectors. Over the past 10 years, his main focus has been on the healthcare sector. From a commercial perspective, he has worked in start-up organizations concentrating on marketing and sales strategies. Having studied in several fields, such as business management, international trade, supply chain and sales, he brings a unique perspective to his role. Brent…

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Buss, Robert William; Dickens’s Dream; Charles Dickens Museum, London; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/dickenss-dream-191221 It is difficult to imagine how many times the opening lines to Charles Dickens’ classic A Tale of Two Cities, written over 160 years ago, has been used to describe the world’s current state of affairs. Yet, I am challenged to identify any other time during my lifetime, and most of my parents’, when the human condition has been this good and this bad, simultaneously.…

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Credit: Pixabay Regenerative medicines could have life-saving potential by dampening inflammation The COVID-19 pandemic is one of modern medicine’s greatest challenges. There have been 20 million (and counting) confirmed cases worldwide and, if predictions are right, the worst is yet to come in the absence of a preventative or therapeutic drug. There is, however, cause for optimism with a long list of vaccines and antibody-based therapies currently in development. Besides these drugs, scientists are also…

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Phil Vanek is responsible for technical due diligence and evaluation of potential investments, as well as guiding operational, R&D and strategic initiatives carried out at portfolio companies. An entrepreneurial and strategic international business leader, Phil joins Gamma Biosciences from GE Healthcare’s Cell and Gene Therapy business unit where he directed strategy and portfolio growth. Phil received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Georgetown University Medical Center followed by an IRTA fellowship at the National Cancer…

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Lung organoid cells provided by the author Elisa D’Arcangelo holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Toronto. She is working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, using tissue engineering and organoid approaches to understand the lung cancer microenvironment and its role in tumour recurrence. Other science pursuits include making perfect ravioli and imperfect pottery. The escalating spread of the SARS-Cov2 virus has been a public reality since the…

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Science and art are two worlds that, when blended together, ignite creative collaborations among scientists, educators and artists. Understanding how the arts contribute to science and education has been a topic of interest for academic scholars raising awareness about the importance of science communication – the practice of informing and educating audiences on science-related topics. #Think Accuracy and #Infodemic – Coronavirus Outbreak: Mapping and Countering Misinformation Professors Sean Caulfield and Tim Caulfield at the University…

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