Department Calendar of Events

Coming soon is a special iFAST Symposium to celebrate Prof. Perry L. McCarty‘s 90th birthday and honor his outstanding contributions to Environmental Biotechnology.  We invite you to attend this remarkable tribute.  

This special symposium will be spread among three days, December 16-18, 2021, 2.5 hours each day, 3:00 pm-5:30 pm UTC/GMT.  Here is the information you need to know to join the symposium:

Dates:    December 16-18, 2021
Times:   3:00 pm – 5:30 pm UTC/GMT
               10:00 am – 12:30 pm EST
               7:00 am – 9:30 am PST
               11:00 pm – 1:30 am China

Zoom link:  https://zoom.us/j/93481422012

Please see the agenda and check for the latest updates at our event webpage: https://www.ou.edu/ieg/seminars/ifast2112.

 If you have any questions, please contact us at ieg@ou.edu.

On behalf of iFAST and the Symposium Organizing Committee:
Bruce Rittmann (chair), Kenneth Williamson, Craig Criddle, Jaeho Bae, Elizabeth Edwards, & Alison Cupples

Upcoming SOCAAR Seminar:

EnVISIONing reGENEration WITHIN tissues by enhancing cell-based plasticity

Please register via Zoom.

Cindi Morshead to give land acknowledgement and opening remarks

11:05am-11:35am
Penney Gilbert introduces Sally Temple
Sally Temple, Scientific Director, Neural Stem Cell Institute
Using stem cell technology to combat age-related neurodegenerative disease

Cell transplantation therapy to restore vision

11:55am-12:25pm
Valerie Wallace introduces Rachael Pearson
Rachael Pearson, Professor, King’s College London
Stem cell-derived cone photoreceptor transplantation to restore vision

12:40pm-12:50pm
Arturo Ortin-Martinez, Scientific Associate, Krembil Research Institute
Modulating intracellular material transfer in transplanted photoreceptors

12:50pm-1:00pm
Margaret Ho, PhD Student, University of Toronto
A hyaluronan and methylcellulose-based hydrogel to perturb photoreceptor material transfer

1:00pm-1:10pm
Madison Gray, PhD Student, University of Toronto
Tracing synaptic connections in normal and regenerating retina

Gene therapy to promote neuroplasticity

1:20pm-1:50pm
Maryam Faiz introduces Shane Liddelow
Shane Liddelow, Assistant Professor, New York University
Reactive astrocyte heterogeneity in Inflammation and neurodegenerative disease

2:05pm-2:15pm
Justine Bajohr, PhD Student, University of Toronto
Astrocyte reprogramming for brain repair

2:15pm-2:25pm
Rikke Kofoed, Postdoctoral Fellow, Sunnybrook Research Institute
Kate Noseworthy, MSc student, University of Toronto
Focused ultrasound mediates brain plasticity and viral vector delivery

2:25pm-2:35pm
Hussein Ghazale, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto
Glia to neuron conversion in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Stimulating endogenous repair in neural and muscle tissue

2:45pm-3:15pm
Julie Lefebvre introduces Joshua Sanes
Joshua Sanes, Professor, Harvard University
Enhancing neuronal survival and regeneration after retinal injury: insights from single cell
transcriptomics

3:30pm-3:40pm
Emily Gilbert, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto
Metformin-mediated recovery following spinal cord injury: Sex-dependent effects on
inflammation and neural precursor cells

3:40pm-3:50pm
Erik Jacques, PhD Student, University of Toronto
Engineered bio-mimetic niche supports muscle stem cell quiescence

3:50pm-4:00pm
Danielle Jeong, PhD Student, University of Toronto
Characterization of neural stem cells and their niche during CNS remyelination

Molly Shoichet to give closing remarks

Information and registration via Zoom.

Cell Therapy Mini Symposium Poster (Portrait) – updated Jan 18, 2022:

Upcoming SOCAAR Seminar:

External members were required to register to receive the link and passcode. Registration closed at 9am on February 14. 

Prineha Narang, Harvard

Host: Prof. Frank Gu

Quantum systems host spectacular nonequilibrium effects and unconventional transport phenomena, but many of these remain challenging to predict and consequently, technologically unexplored. My group’s research focuses on how quantum systems behave, particularly away from equilibrium, and how we can harness emergent effects in these systems. By creating predictive theoretical and computational approaches to study dynamics, decoherence and correlations in molecules and materials, our work enables technologies that are inherently more powerful than their classical counterparts, ranging from scalable quantum information processing to ultra-high efficiency optoelectronic and energy conversion systems. Capturing these phenomena poses unique computational and theoretical challenges. In fact, the simultaneous contributions of processes that occur on many time and length-scales has eluded state-of-the-art computational physics and model Hamiltonian approaches alike, necessitating a new lens. In this context, I will focus on our work on approaches to describe excited-states in quantum matter, including electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions beyond leading order, and predicting emergent states introduced by external drives. Our approach brings quantum chemistry, quantum optics and condensed matter together to create unexpected and useful properties, including surprisingly long coherence times and propagation lengths, as well as enabling new quantum probes of correlations. I will also discuss our methods in spatially-resolved non-equilibrium transport in quantum matter. By introducing GPU-accelerated large-scale transport frameworks that retain microscopic scattering, we are overcoming long-standing barriers in the field and taking transport in matter to exascale computing. Finally, I will share our vision for the future towards crossing the finite-extended system divide, and leveraging the power of both classical high-performance computing and quantum computation paradigms in predicting new phenomena.
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Professor Prineha Narang came to Harvard University from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she worked as a Research Scholar in Condensed Matter Theory in the Department of Physics. She received an M.S. and Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Prineha’s work has been recognized by many awards and special designations, including a Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, a Max Planck Sabbatical Award from the Max Planck Society, and the IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Computational Physics in 2021, an NSF CAREER Award in 2020, being named a Moore Inventor Fellow by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for pioneering innovations in quantum science, CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and a Top Innovator by MIT Tech Review (MIT TR35).

View the complete 2021-22 LLE schedule

Questions? Please contact Delicia Ansalem, Communications Officer & External Relations Liaison delicia.ansalem@utoronto.ca

BioZone will be hosting Professor Amanda Wright, from the Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, at the University of Guelph on Thursday, February 24th from 3 pm – 4:30 pm.

Abstract

Functional foods deliver health benefits beyond basic nutrition. Natural health product (NHP) is the Canadian regulatory term for over-the-counter supplements that contain health-promoting molecules derived from foods, e.g., vitamins, minerals, herbals, probiotics. Together, these product categories encompass so much of the science and technology surrounding foods and nutrition. Our group works at the food-nutrition interface to support the evidence-basis for a variety of functional foods and NHPs. We have specialized interests in dietary lipids and in understanding how the structure of foods and food ingredients influences bioavailability and metabolic response, mediated by events in the gastrointestinal tract.

For example, what role does triacylglycerol crystallinity play in determining postprandial lipemia and what does this mean for saturated fatty acids? This talk will discuss our application of in vitro digestion and human research methods to relate emulsion properties to gastric microstructure, emptying, and postprandial satiety and lipemia (a risk factor for cardiometabolic diseases) to highlight the benefits of integrated food-nutrition research. Examples drawing on other functional foods will also be presented. Foods have always been functional. Focusing specifically on food structure and applying a physical property lens to what happens in the gastrointestinal tract paves the way for better understanding the nuanced relationships between foods and health, and ultimately to realize the potential for efficacious functional foods and NHPs.

Bridging the gap between microbiology and chemistry in built environments

Prof. Sarah Haines, Assistant Professor
Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering
University of Toronto

We spend the majority of our time indoors where the built environment has important implications for human health, particularly for those with asthma. Asthma disproportionately impacts low-socioeconomic communities due to poor quality housing associated with mold and moisture exposure. One of the main exposures to mold in housing is through the resuspension of floor dust. Microbes grow in carpet dust at elevated relative humidity conditions and release microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs). However, we do not know how the influence of moisture may drive species composition and chemical emissions from microbes in dust and on common building materials. Understanding
these interactions in the indoor environment is the next frontier in environmental engineering and has the potential to lead to substantial improvements in public health.

Utilizing cutting edge techniques, my work has ranged from collecting dust in carpet from homes in Ohio to analyzing dust particles from the International Space Station. Ultimately, results from my work have demonstrated that microbial growth can be quantitatively modeled in buildings, and for the first time demonstrated interactions between chemicals and microbes in house dust under elevated relative humidity conditions. My future work will link climate change, social justice, and viruses to contribute to healthy indoor environments.

Microsoft Teams meeting:
Join on your computer or mobile app
Click here to join the meeting

Or call in (audio only)
+1 647-794-1609,,691691226#   Canada, Toronto

Phone Conference ID: 691 691 226#
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External members were required to register to receive the link and passcode. Registration closed at 9am on March 7.

Desmond Moser, Western

Host: Prof. Jane Howe

The characterization of long-lived minerals, including natural metal deposits of copper, and their corrosion behaviours is an area of shared interest among geo- and materials scientists. This is particularly true in regard to transdisciplinary efforts to improve the design of multi-barrier Deep Geological Repositories for spent nuclear fuel. Examples of our application of micro- and nano-characterization techniques (e.g. EBSD, SIMS, Atom Probe Tomography) will be presented for a range of geomaterials including > 4 billion-year-old weakly-radioactive minerals in Martian meteorites and 1 billion-year-old copper from Earth.

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Professor Desmond Moser has spent most of his career unraveling the evolution of ancient planetary crusts using weakly radioactive and highly resilient microminerals. Increasingly his group is directing their expertise to help understand all aspects of the long-lived natural materials important to designing multi-barrier Deep Geological Repositories for spent nuclear fuel.

Prof. Moser conducts solid Earth and planetary science research using Western’s nationally unique Zircon and Accessory Phase Laboratory (ZAPLab). Micromineral crystal growth and deformation analysis (e.g. CL, EBSD) is integrated with field mapping, microchemical (EDS, WDS), petrologic and mass spectrometry measurements (radiogenic and stable isotopes) at Western and partner institutes. His active projects investigate meteorites, crustal cross-sections, kimberlite xenoliths, sedimentary basins and impact structures in the Americas, Africa and Europe. His ZAPLab team is advancing our knowledge of the timing and nature of processes that form and modify planetary crusts and ore deposits while advancing the growing sub-discipline of accessory mineral science.

View the complete 2021-22 LLE schedule

Questions? Please contact Delicia Ansalem, Communications Officer & External Relations Liaison delicia.ansalem@utoronto.ca

External members are required to register to receive the link and passcode. Registration closed at 9am on March 21.

Co-hosted with the Institute for Water Innovation (IWI)

Benny Freeman, University of Texas at Austin

Host: Prof. Jay Werber

Charged polymer membranes are widely used for water purification applications involving control of water and ion transport, such as reverse osmosis and electrodialysis.  Efforts are also underway worldwide to harness separation properties of such materials for energy generation in related applications such as reverse electrodialysis and pressure retarded osmosis.  Additional applications, such as energy recovery ventilation and capacitive deionization, rely on polymer membranes to control transport rates of water, ions, or both.  Improving membranes for such processes would benefit from more complete fundamental understanding of the relation between membrane structure and ion sorption, diffusion and transport properties in both cation and anion exchange membrane materials. Ion-exchange membranes often contain strongly acidic or basic functional groups that render the materials hydrophilic, but the presence of such charged groups also has a substantial impact on ion (and water) transport properties through the polymer.

We are exploring the influence of polymer backbone structure, charge density, and water content on ion transport properties.  Results from some of these studies will be presented, focusing on transport of salt, primarily NaCl, through various neutral, positively charged and negatively charged membranes via concentration gradient driven transport (i.e., ion permeability) and electric field driven transport (i.e., ionic conductivity).  One long-term goal is to develop and validate a common framework to interpret data from both electrically driven and concentration gradient driven mass transport in such polymers and to use it to establish structure/property relations leading to rational design of membranes with improved performance.

Ion sorption and permeability data were used to extract salt diffusion coefficients in charged membranes.  Concentrations of both counter-ions and co-ions in the polymers were measured via desorption followed by ion chromatography or flame atomic absorption spectroscopy.  Salt permeability, sorption and electrical conductivity data were combined to determine individual ion diffusion coefficients in neutral, cation exchange and anion exchange materials. Manning’s counter-ion condensation models and the Mackie/Meares model were used to correlate and, in some cases, predict the experimental data.
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Professor Benny Freeman is the William J. (Bill) Murray, Jr. Endowed Chair of Engineering in the Chemical Engineering department at The University of Texas at Austin.  He is a professor of Chemical Engineering and has been a faculty member for 30 years.  He completed graduate training in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, earning a Ph.D. in 1988.  In 1988 and 1989, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris (ESPCI), Laboratoire Physico-Chimie Structurale et Macromoléculaire in Paris, France.  Dr. Freeman was a member of the chemical engineering faculty at NC State University from 1989 – 2002, and he has been a professor of chemical engineering at The University of Texas at Austin since 2002.  Dr. Freeman’s research is in polymer science and engineering and, more specifically, in mass transport of small molecules in solid polymers.  His research group focuses on structure/property correlation development for desalination and gas separation membrane materials, new materials for hydrogen separation, natural gas purification, carbon capture, and new materials for improving fouling resistance in liquid separation membranes. He leads the Center for Materials for Water and Energy Systems (M-WET), a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center and serves as Challenge Area Leader for Membranes in the National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI), a five-year, DOE sponsored Energy-Water Desalination Hub to address critical technical barriers needed to radically reduce the cost and energy of water purification.

His research is described in more than 450 publications and 30 patents/patent applications.  He has co-edited 5 books on these topics.  He has won a number of awards, including a Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Disruptive Separations (2017), Fellow of the North American Membrane Society (NAMS) (2017), the Distinguished Service Award from the Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) (2015), Joe J. King Professional Engineering Achievement Award from The University of Texas (2013), American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Clarence (Larry) G. Gerhold Award (2013), Society of Plastics Engineers International Award (2013), Roy W. Tess Award in Coatings from the PMSE Division of ACS (2012), the ACS Award in Applied Polymer Science (2009), AIChE Institute Award for Excellence in Industrial Gases Technology (2008), and the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program Project of the Year (2001).  He is a Fellow of the AAAS, AIChE, ACS, and the PMSE and IECR Divisions of ACS.  He has served as chair of the PMSE Division of ACS, chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Membranes: Materials and Processes, President of the North American Membrane Society, Chair of the Membranes Area of the Separations Division of the AIChE, and Chair of the Separations Division of AIChE. His research has served as the basis for several startup companies, including Energy-X and NALA Systems.

View the complete 2021-22 LLE schedule

Questions? Please contact Delicia Ansalem, Communications Officer & External Relations Liaison delicia.ansalem@utoronto.ca