IBBME Annual Report 2011–2012
Enable Educate Advance Engage Build IBBME STRATEGY IN ACTION 2011-2012
A Message from the Director IBBME’s Strategic Plan was unveiled in 2010, and though we have a few years left to the current plan that continues through 2015, a remarkable amount of progress has been made towards realizing some of our major goals. Significant new assets that we have acquired and built over the past year include a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the three parent faculties of Applied Science and Engineering, Dentistry and Medicine to facilitate growth and establish a long term operating base; the launch of the new curriculum for the Engineering Science program; the expansion of IBBME’s alumni registry from roughly 200 to nearly 800; the introduction of two new graduate courses (Imaging and Molecular Materials); and the expansion of our core faculty pool by five new faculty members. This adds to other assets established in the first year of the plan, which included the foundation of a communications office, the expansion of the clinical engineering/biodesign components of our programs, a new renovated undergraduate teaching laboratory and renovations of offices and laboratories in the west wing of the Mining Building, and the creation of two graduate courses (new Biomedical Statistics, and a revised Signal Processing course). This past year we also initiated plans for a long-awaited undergraduate BME program by establishing a steering committee which mapped the direction for the program, currently in the development phase. At the same time, we have worked hard to define our positioning at the University of Toronto and to determine our ranking relative to our institutional benchmark peers in the areas of publication, patents, and commercialization. We have come a very long way during our 50th anniversary year, yet our potential for significant growth suggests that we still have a ways to go. Our greatest obstacle to growth continues to be physical space—both the quality and amount of space available to our faculty and students. IBBME currently only has space for approximately 54% of its core faculty in its main facilities and any future faculty hires will rely completely on other partner units for housing those hires. With the Institute’s new student growth in 2011-12 reaching 30% and total PhD student growth at 20% there needs to be a realignment of our physical assets in order for the Institute to keep pace with its peer benchmarkers in the US. Hence, the Institute has initiated planning within the context of the University’s Boundless campaign to focus on both temporary and long term growth and has received a strong endorsement of support from all three Deans on this effort. Scholarship funding for international scholars, key to our international recognition, continues to lag, and renders us less competitive to our US benchmark schools—despite our relatively low tuition rate in comparison with the US and the significant growth in graduate student stipend support from $3.78M in 2010-11 to $4.99M in 2011-12. This problem has begun to be addressed with the launch of the Golden Anniversary campaign fund this past year. We have yet to unlock our Alumni community’s potential to help us achieve our goals of external recognition and to engage in student mentoring and fundraising activities. However, significant progress has been made with the annual alumni and awards banquet, career day and guest speaker activity this past year. It is our belief that we now have in place key resources that we require to meet these challenges. First and foremost, IBBME enjoys a talented, passionate administrative staff and faculty that work hard every day to further the goals of the Institute. While IBBME’s remarkable students bring in over $1.5M annually in external scholarships, our collaborative resources in the hospitals, as well as our campus networks, continues to be a rich source of inspiration and opportunity for all parties involved. Biomedical engineering represents the number one growth industry, contributing to health care products and services which generate approximately 11% of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) (>13% in the US), and showing a projected 72% job growth rate by the US Department of Labour. In 2012, Canadian companies in the health care sector led the Toronto Stock Exchange with 20% Year To Date growth. As we direct our resources towards advancing our academic strategy even further, each of our faculty and staff are to be commended for their hard work and dedication. IBBME’s future looks bright indeed in their capable hands.
dr. paul santerre Director, IBBME
Enable ENABLE A CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE furthering strateg ic goals
2011-12 was a year that saw many of the action points from IBBME’s 2010 strategic plan broadly implemented. Major action has been taken towards each of these strategic planning points, and in subsequent years we anticipate that even greater milestones will be reached. Establish a marketing and advancement strategy In 2011-12, IBBME’s two Communications officers made remarkable headway in creating marketing materials, foundational networks of operation, and communications infrastructure. IBBME also saw a remarkable expansion of its media relations through stories that travelled the globe (see page 16). Initiate a significant expansion of IBBME’s research strength in Neuro/Sensory systems & Rehabilitation applied to diseases of aging and stroke recovery. The Institute made yet another appointment (Kei Masani) in the Neuro/Sensory Systems & Rehabilitation theme, bringing the total number of core faculty appointments in this theme up to 3 in the past two years. Take the leadership role in establishing a more inclusive undergraduate biomedical engineering program IBBME made great strides in its goal to establish an undergraduate biomedical engineering program in 201112. A program model has now been agreed upon by IBBME’s three partner faculties, and the program is expected to roll out in 2014. Expand the graduate curriculum opportunities Two new graduate courses were established in the past academic year, with with the curriculum of a third course revised (see page 6).
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26% A full quarter of IBBME’s core faculty holds a distinguished chair
A Year of Making History In a year that saw IBBME celebrate its golden anniversary at the University of Toronto with two days of events on October 9 and 10th, 2012, the Institute also signed an historic Memorandum of Understanding with its three contributing faculties, granting the Institute a lasting model of operational and resource support (see page 18).
APPOINTMENTS
Associate Professor Julie Audet takes over the Coordination of the Graduate Program this year from Professor Christopher Yip. Professor Yip and Associate Professor Kevin Truong have taken on the challenge of co-chairing the Undergraduate Biomedical Option in the Engineering Science Program while Associate Professor Craig Simmons is on sabbatical. New Core Faculty IBBME welcomes Kei Masani at the rank of Assistant Professor in the Neural, Sensory System and Rehabilitation and Engineering in a Clinical Setting themes. Dr. Masani has been investigating the physiological systems needed to control walking, sitting and standing towards creating assistive technologies for aging populations. Dr. Masani has also been developing novel methods to relieve muscle fatigue during functional electrical stimulation (FES), a unique therapy developed within IBBME by Professor Milos Popovic.
Assistant Professor Alison McGuigan joined IBBME’s core faculty in the late summer of 2012. A former cross-appointed professor in the Biomaterials, Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine theme from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, McGuigan’s lab focuses on the question of how cells integrate local and global signaling cues to make organizational decisions.
112 Scholarships held by IBBME students in 2011–12
IBBME students held a total of 112 scholarships, including an impressive 38 CIHR, 81 NSERC, 2 NSERC Vanier Awards, and 24 OGS scholarships in the 2011-12 academic year.
New Cross Appointments Mallar Chakravarty, Assistant Professor, from the Faculty of Psychiatry Faculty Promotions – FULL PROFESSOR Tom Chau devises novel communications assistance devices for severely disabled children at the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and Holland Bloorview Research Institute, where he is the Director, Bloorview Research Institute and VP, Research. He was named one of UofT’s top ten inventors for 2012. Warren Chan holds a Canada Research Chair in Bionanotechnology for his research into the proteomic and genomic changes associated with abnormal cells (e.g., cancer cells or virally-infected cells) and tissues.
Cultivating Progress In 2011-12, IBBME’s Paul Santerre held 5 pre-tenure faculty breakfasts for its faculty located in the hospitals and on campus to help younger faculty members strategically advance their careers. Over 10 faculty were in attendance at these meetings.
named chairs and canada research chairs held by ibbme core faculty, 2011-12 Warren Chan Canada Research Chair,Tier II, Nanomedicine Tom Chau Canada Research Chair,Tier II, Pediatric Rehabilitation Tony Easty Baxter Chair in Health Technology Alex Mihailidis Barbara G. Stymiest Research Chair in Rehabilitation Technology Milos Popovic Toronto Rehab Chair in Spinal Cord Research Milica Radisic Canada Research Chair,Tier II, Functional Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering Michael Sefton Michael E. Charles Professor of Chemical Engineering Molly Shoichet Canada Research Chair,Tier I,Tissue Engineering
Craig Simmons Canada Research Chair,Tier II, Mechanobiology Aaron Wheeler Canada Research Chair, Bioanalytical Chemistry Chris Yip Canada Research Chair,Tier II, Molecular Imaging Peter Zandstra Canada Research Chair,Tier I, Stem Cell Bioengineering
AWARDS & HONOURS
IBBME’s students continue to be ranked among the top in the world, and nowhere can this be seen so clearly as their results in awards and funding competitions. In the 2011-12 academic year, IBBME students held a total of 112 scholarships, including an impressive 38 CIHR, 81 NSERC, 2 NSERC Vanier Awards, and 24 OGS scholarships. Students and faculty were celebrated at the Annual Alumni & Awards Banquet, held on October 9th, 2012 at the Chestnut Conference Centre. With over 350 people in attendance, the Institute looked back on 50 years at the University of Toronto. Keynote speaker Professor Peter Lewis, Associate Vice President, Research and Innovation, opened the Banquet. Best Paper Awards • N eural, Sensory systems and Rehabilitation Engineering Takashi Yoshida: “Cardiovascular Response of Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury to Dynamic Functional Electrical Stimulation under Orthostatic Stress”
• B iomaterials, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Elizabeth Csaszar: “Rapid Expansion of Human Hematopoietic Stem Cells by Automated Control of Inhibitory Feedback Signaling” • N anotechnology, Molecular Imaging and Systems Biology Alan K. Lam: “Quantitative imaging of electron transfer flavoprotein autofluorescence reveals the dynamics of lipid partitioning in living pancreatic islets”
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• E ngineering in a Clinical Setting Celeste Merey: “Quantitative Classification of Pediatric Swallowing through Accelerometry” IBBME International Scholars Program Faezeh Heydari Khabbaz, PhD Nooman Mufti, PhD Institute for Technology in Healthcare Graduate Fellowship Jonathan Tomkun Institute for Technology in Healthcare Graduate Thesis Award Idris Aleem The Anna Jamieson Award Zoryana Salo, PhD The Paul B. Madsen Award Geoff Frost, MHSc Hamid Ebrahimi, Phd The Norman F. Moody Award Emily Walker, PhD The Sally and Paul Wang Distinguished Scholarship Award Alan K. Lam, PhD Albert Lam, PhD The Barbara and Frank Milligan Graduate Fellowship Hamid Ebrahimi, PhD Song Kim, MASc Brianne Burton, MASc Maneesha Rajora, MASc Arianna McAllister, MASc Jieun Kim, PhD Amir Reza Pakdel Sefidgar, PhD Calvin Lau, MHSc Nazanin Samadifard, PhD Seong Lim Gooi /OGS Award Song Kim, MASc Loo Geok Award Jian Feng Qiu, MHSc Wildcat Graduate Fellowship James Poon, PhD Faezeh Heydari Khabbaz, PhD Faculty Awards It was a banner year for IBBME’s core and cross-appointed faculty, with national and international recognition of their outstanding research in the field of biomedical engineering.
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IBBME’s faculty were awarded with a total of 54 awards and honours in 2011-12, representing an astounding 30% of IBBME’s total faculty who received a major community or academic recognition. IBBME’s Inventors of the Year In 2012, IBBME faculty Tom Chau, Aaron Wheeler, Peter Zandstra and Eugenia Kumacheva were awarded 4 of the University of Toronto’s 10 “Inventor of the Year” awards, up from two awarded in 2011. Four Connaught Innovation awards were also handed to IBBME faculty Molly Shoichet, Milos Popovic, Eugenia Kumacheva and Yu Sun.
faculty awards Cristina Amon: “One of Canada’s 25 most influential women,” Women of Influence Magazine Achievement Award, Society of Women Engineers Jan Andrysek: Rising Stars in Global Health, Grand Challenges Canada Kristy Brock: Radiation Physics Research Productivity Award, Radiation Medicine Program Award, Princess Margaret Hopsital Tom Chau: 2012 Inventor of the Year Award, University of Toronto Angela Cheung: Senior Investigator Award, Canadian Institute of Health Research/ Institute of Gender and Health Tony Easty: Best Paper of the Year, Journal of Oncology Pharmacy Practice Geoffrey Fernie: Morris (Mickey) Milner Award, Health Technology Exchange Andrew Goldenberg: Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) Teodor Grantcharov: Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, Governor General of Canada; George Armstrong-Peters Prize, University of Toronto Allan Gross: Medal of Merit, Meir Hospital Israel David Jaffray: Jorge Keller Award - Best Paper, Journal of Controlled Release 2011 Armand Keating: President, American Society of Hematology; Mortimer Bortin Lectureship and Award, Center for International Blood and Transplant Research, Honolulu
Shana Kelley: Research Excellence Award, Ontario Research Foundation; 2011 Inventor of the Year Award, University of Toronto Eugenia Kumacheva: 2012 Inventor of the Year Award, University of Toronto; 2012 Humboldt Research Award, Alexander von Humbolt Foundation (Germany); Connaught 2011–12 Innovation Award, University of Toronto Ren-Ke Li: Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Fellow, American Heart Association Pascal Van Lieshout: Richard H. Barrett Award,The International Association of Orofacial Myology Andreas Mandelis: Killam Research Fellowship, Canada Council for the Arts; 2012 Joseph F. Keithley Award for Advances in Measurement Science,The American Physical Society Milos Popovic: Connaught 2011-12 Innovation Award, University of Toronto; Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE); TiEQuest Business Venture Competition: Best Intellectual Property Award,TiE Quest; First Prize,TiEQuest Business Venture Competition,TiEQuest
35%
Percentage of awards and honours recognition for IBBME’s core faculty in 2011-12.
Milica Radisic: Canada Research Chair (Tier 2), Functional Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering; 2012 Young Engineer of Canada Achievement Award, Engineers Canada Society; McLean Award, University of Toronto Paul Santerre: Research Excellence Award, Ontario Research Foundation Michael Sefton: R.S. Jane Award,The Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering; Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science Craig Simmons: McLean Award, University of Toronto Molly Shoichet: Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences; Member, Canadian Academy of Engineering; Connaught 201112 Innovation Award, University of Toronto; 2012 Clemson Award for Contributions to the Literature, US Society of Biomaterials David Steinman: Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Catriona Steele: Editor’s Award - Best Paper, Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Bradley Strauss: Simon Dack Award for Outstanding Scholarship, American College of Cardiology
Yu Sun: 2011 Inventor of the Year, First Prize, University of Toronto; Connaught 2011-12 Innovation Award, University of Toronto; ICRA Best Automation Paper Award, IEEE International Conf. on Robotics and Automation Aaron Wheeler: Joseph Black Award, Royal Society of Chemistry; 2012 Inventor of the Year, University of Toronto; Outstanding Teaching Award, University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts and Science; Arthur F. Findeis Award, American Chemical Society Cari Whyne: Canadian Orthopaedic Research Society Founders’ Medal, Canadian Orthopaedic Research Society; New Investigator Recognition Award, Orthopaedic Research Society Albert Yee: Mentor Award, Division of Orthopaedics, University of Toronto; Edouard Samson Award, Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation Peter Zandstra: 2012 Inventor of the Year Award, University of Toronto Gang Zheng: “Top 10 Cancer Breakthroughs in 2011” for Porphysome discovery, Canadian Cancer Society
Above: Assistant Professor Paul Yoo at IBBME 50th Anniversary Symposium
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Educate
10% Increase in total registered graduate students from 2010-11 to 2011-12
EDUCATE FUTURE BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERS Reflecting the interest in biomedical engineering programs, the past year saw new graduate student enrollment at IBBME increase from 63 to 82 students, a 30% jump from the previous 2010-11 academic year. This marks a steep increase over the conservative growth figure of 12 students per year projected in the 5-year growth strategy. Enrollment continued to show the greatest increase for the PhD program, consistent with trends in past years, rising from 125 students in 2010-11 to 150 students in 2011-12, a 20% increase. This figure also includes three inaugural Clinical Engineering PhD candidates.
On the Curriculum
Undergraduate biomedical engineering program In 2011 IBBME struck a steering committee to make recommendations towards the creation of a new biomedical engineering undergraduate program. The committee tabled their report in May 2012, which was then presented to the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering in September 2012. The report was endorsed, bringing IBBME one step closer to its goal of having a new combined undergraduate/ MEng BME program with its first students registered by the Fall semester of 2014. New and revised courses Two new graduate courses were designed and approved for introduction in the 2012-13 academic year: JMB1050 Biological Materials led by Professor Eli Sone, and BME1460 Quantitative Fluorescence Microscopy led by Professor Jonathan Rocheleau. A third course, BME1452 Signal Processing, which had not been offered for the past five years, was revived by Professor Moshe Eizenman. Undergraduate capstone course approved A new, full-year Biodesign capstone course, BME479/ 489, was also created this past year as part of the revised
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Engineering Science Biomedical Systems Engineering curriculum. The course will allow students to apply engineering knowledge as they solve real world problems for industry and researchers, beginning Fall 2013. Undergraduate Summer Program An elevator talk, a research abstract, and a conference presentation: these represent the three projects completed by the 27 participants in the 2012 IBBME Undergraduate Summer Research Program. Running from May 10 through August 23, students worked with 15 IBBMEaffiliated Principal Investigators and culminated their research during a one-day mini-Symposium.
best presentation Ben Ouyang
honourable mention Matthew Langley Scholarships are the fuel… IBBME has been working hard to ensure that our students are given funding opportunities that speak to the excellence of our programs. This year alone, IBBME increased its graduate funding to roughly 4 million dollars—a $1 M increase—and, thanks to the generosity of our donors, created new funds for students, including a second Sally and Paul Wang Scholarship. Three new International Endowed scholarships were also created: the Loo Geok Eng Foundation Graduate Scholarship, as well as two Wildcat Scholarships, and the International Scholars fund was increased from 4 awards per year to 6 awards, each valued at $10,000. The Loo Geok Eng Foundation Graduate Scholarship was created to recognize graduate students in IBBME who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement and extra-curricular leadership, specifically International
20% Enrollment increase for the PhD program, consistent with past years
Reflecting the interest in biomedical engineering programs, the past year saw new graduate student enrollment at IBBME increase from 63 to 82 students, a 30% jump from the previous 2010-11 academic year. This marks a steep increase over the conservative growth figure of 12 students per year projected in the 5-year growth strategy.
student enrollment, 201o-2012
Masters PhD Total IBBME Assigned Collaborative Clinical New
0 50 100 150 200 250
number of students 2010-11
2011-12
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student funding 2011-12
U of T / Internal $992,437.72 20%
External $3,892,386.47 80%
u of t / internal vs. external
students with a first preference for students from Malaysia and Singapore. The Wildcat Scholarships celebrate Doctoral students in IBBME who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement and extra-curricular leadership, with a preference for incoming and first year students. One scholarship per year will be awarded to an international student, with a value of $10,000, and a domestic student applicant will receive $5,000.
“Graduate students are the engines of innovation. Scholarships provide the fuel.” Dr. Christopher Yip, Former Grad Programs Coordinator, IBBME, 2009-12
Golden Anniversary Scholarship Fund – Why do IBBME Graduate Students Matter? As part of its 50th Anniversary initiatives, IBBME formally launched its Golden Anniversary Scholarship Fund. Over the next few years IBBME aims to raise over $1 million to invest in scholarships for its students. Our graduate students work closely with faculty mentors to advance research, whether they are engineering cardiac tissue for heart patches, developing neuroprostheses to restore function to stroke patients, or designing smart homes for the elderly. A graduate student’s thesis represents countless hours spent in the lab or hospital, where they are actively working to improve human health and wellness. Former Graduate Programs Coordinator Dr. Christopher Yip says, “Graduate students are the engines of innovation. Scholarships provide the fuel.” IBBME research is on the frontier of science – and we need creative students to pursue it. Our trainees have the capacity to impact human health and wellness, but not unless we have the funds necessary to attract these students from competing peer institutions. The University of Toronto has identified biomedical engineering research as a top priority at a time when biomedical engineering is being singled out as a major growth industry. We hope the entire biomedical engineering community will partner with us in raising these funds.
student funding comparison
funding (in millions)
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3
2
1
0
External
U of T / Internal
2010-11
2011-12
Highlights: Graduating Class of 2011-12 Congratulations to the 29 students graduating from IBBME’s programs in 2011-12 for their outstanding research achievements.
mhsc in clinical eng ineering Idris Aleem (Supervisor: T. Chau): Online Environmental Control of Multiple Devices Using Functional Transcranial Doppler Caroline Chen (Supervisor: J. Andrysek): Evaluation of prosthetic alignment methods for improving biomechanics and mobility of individuals with transtibial amputations Christopher Flewwelling (Supervisor: J.Cafazzo): No Fault Found Reporting and its Relation to Human Factors Related Design Faults of Medical Devices Geoffrey Frost (Supervisor: T. Waddell): Decellularization of Porcine Lungs Lata Grover (Supervisor: D. Urbach): The Effects of Altering Discharge Policies to the Patient Flow of Alternate Level of Care Patients Ajmal Khan (Supervisor: E. Biddiss): The design and evaluation
of an interactive musical staircase on physical rehabilitation therapies for children Melanie Peladeau-Pigeon (Supervisor: C. Coolens): Simulation of Perfusion Flow Dynamics for Contrast Enhanced Imaging Emily Rose (Supervisors: J. Cafazzo, P. Trbovich): The Effectiveness of Checklists versus Bar-codes Towards Detecting Medication Planning and Execution Errors Jenny Wang (Supervisor: R. DaCosta): Development and Clinical Validation of a new handheld optical imaging device (PRODIGI) and Workflow for Real-Time Intra-Operative Margin Assessment: A Clinical Engineering Analysis Peter Weinstein (Supervisor: E. Etchells): The Evaluator effect in Heuristic Evaluation: a preliminary study of the impact of end-users as evaluators Rossini Yue (Supervisors: P. Trbovich, A. Easty): Using simulation experiments to improve the safety of multiple line infusions
masc in biomedical eng ineering Rudolf Alwi (Supervisor: A. Mandelis): Biophotoacoustic Radar:
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38.9%
Increase in external student funding from the 2010-11 academic year: 1,091,000*
$608,598 IBBME’s contributions to student funding in 2011-12
N.B. Does not include funds earned through guaranteed internships in Clinical Engineering MHSc program.
Study of Tissue Phantoms, tissues, Contrast Agents and Comparison to Ultrasound Imaging for Deep Subsurface Imaging. Elizabeth Berndl (Supervisor: W. Stanford): Lidetifying and Phenotyping an ENU Derived Mouse Model for MYH9-Related Disease Mario Moscovici (Supervisor: S. Kelley): Design of an Electrochemical Cell Cytosensor Dene Ringuette (Supervisor: O. Levi): Application of VerticalCavity surface-emitting lasers for simultaneous laser speckle contrast and intrinsic optical signal imaging: toward chronic portable cortical hemodynamic imaging
phd biomedical eng ineering Luise Aguilar (Supervisor: D. Steinman): Toward real time simulation of ultrasound systems Saja Al-Dujaili (Supervisor: L.You; A. Guenther): Osteocytes as sensors of fluid flow and regulators of bone remodeling Wing-Yee Cheung (Supervisor: C. Simmons): The role of osteocyte apoptosis on osteoclast precursor recruitment Meghan Crookshank (Supervisor: C. Whyne): Current limitations in computer-assisted surgery of femoral shaft fractures and the use of intraoperative CT to improve characterization of fracture malalignment
Above: Dr. Paul Santerre and Charlie (Yi Chao) Wu at Spring Convocation. Opposite: Students take in posters at IBBME’s 2012 Scientific Day.
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Parsa Hojjat (Supervisor: C. Whyne): Automated quantitative analysis of bone stability and tumour burden in the metastatic rat spine Rohin Iyer (Supervisor: M. Radisic): Functional Tissue Engineering of Vascularized Myocardium through Cell Tri-culture Asmaa Maloul (Supervisor: C. Whyne): Biomechanical Characterization of Complex Thin Bone structures in The Human Craniofacial Skeleton Evan Mills (Supervisor: K. Truong): Engineering synthetic control over Rho GTPases using Ca2+ and calmodulin signaling Kaveh Seyed Momen (Supervisor: G. Fernie): Identifying nursing activities to estimate the risk of cross-contamination Sarah Power (Supervisor: T. Chau): Toward an optical braincomputer interface based on consciously-modulated prefrontal hemodynamic activity Krista Sider (Supervisor: C. Simmons): Mechanical and Histological characterization of porcine aortic vavles under normal hypercholesterolemic conditions Devin Singh (Supervisor: H. Gingsberg): The Design and Testing of Less Invasive Dual Plate System for Posterior Spinal Fusion WeiJia Wang (Supervisor: J. Audet): Control of Adult Bone Marrow Erythroid Progenitor Cell Fate by Combinatorial Niche Factor Signals Renee Warriner (Supervisor: R. S. Cobbold): Development of Methods for retrospective ultrasound transmit focusing
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Student posters presented at 2012 Scientific Day
“The trainees and faculty have a phenomenal support network here.” Dr. Paul Santerre, Director, IBBME
program Highlights
IBBME welcomed its first class of students into the PhD in Biomedical Engineering, Clinical Engineering Concentration in 2011. This program allows students from the MHSc stream the option of moving directly into the doctoral concentration stream - and offers another example by which IBBME continues to find new ways to meet the growing demand for Clinical Engineering professionals. Three students were enrolled in the program’s inaugural year, with another student added to the program in January 2012. The first PhD Clinical Engineering Concentration class is expected to graduate in 2016. IBBME’s Clinical Engineering MHSc students held 34 internships this year, earning students funding upwards of $237, 804, and included high-profile placements such as at Boston’s Massachussetts General Hospital and the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation. One PhD student was invited to intern at Stryker International (a leading medical device producer) in Freiburg, Germany. CARE Update Six new students were recruited to the NSERC CREATE CARE program in September 2011, and two additional students joined the program in January 2012. CARE received renewal funding in the Spring of 2012. The CARE program aims to equip doctoral students with state-of-the-art collaborative and integrative scientific tools to tackle the most significant habilitation, rehabilitation, and prevention challenges facing Canadians in the 21st century. These challenges range from mobility impairments, cognitive defects, physical injury, aging, and prolonged life expectancy of individuals with disability. Students in the CARE program have found internships at the Toronto Memory Program, Staxi Corporation Limited and in Brain Sciences Research at Sunnybrook Hospital;
they have conducted observerships at the Hospital for Sick Children Critical Care Unit, the Movement Disorders Clinic, Toronto Memory Program and the Balance, Mobility and Falls Clinic. MATCH Update Ontario-on-a-Chip held its seventh event on microfluidics, microreactors and labs-on-a-chip, which facilitates contact between university researchers and chemical, pharma, biotech, advanced materials and analytical device companies. The 2012 event was held at U of T’s Trinity College in conjunction with the third MATCH Annual Symposium, organized by IBBME’s Professor Craig Simmons and Professor Axel Guenther, cross-appointed from the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. This year, Mitacs, UHN’s Techna and NSERC, organizations that help researchers develop innovative technologies for the market, presented on the numerous collaborative potentials between the microfluidics and medical communities. “We enjoy very close interactions and collaborations with local companies.” Associate Professor Axel Guenther, Symposium co-organizer. 2012 Scientific Day Once again IBBME’s Scientific Day proved to be a vibrant – and growing – tradition of academic excellence for the IBBME community. A student-led endeavor since 1984 that showcases IBBME student research, this year’s Scientific Day offered multiple professional development possibilities geared towards answering students’ concerns about future career paths. By including industry partners and networks to each aspect of the day’s events, co-organizers Maneesha Rajora (MASc candidate) and Leo Chou (PhD candidate) stepped up professionalization at the event, allowing students
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“We enjoy very close interactions and collaborations with local companies.” Dr. Axel Guenther, Associate Professor, IBBME, Match Annual Symposium co-organizer.
$493,600
Amount of combined student funding from NSERC CARE and MATCH programs
to think about where they want to position themselves— both before and after graduation. Held at Hart House on May 7th, 2012, the event boasted a record 101 posters, 8 oral presentations, and 2 keynote speakers. The Llewellyn-Thomas Visiting Scientist keynote, Leonard Pinchuk, President and CEO of Innovia LLC and its affiliated companies, wowed the over 300 audience members with a description of the technologies and companies he created to launch his ground-breaking biomedical products. The Innovation in Emerging Fields of Research Keynote lecture was an inspiring speech given by Ralph DaCosta, Principle Investigator for the Ontario Cancer Institute, University Health Network, Cancer Care Ontario Research Chair in Cancer Imaging, and Professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine. Along with the day’s poster and oral sessions, BESA (Biomedical Engineering Students’ Association) organized a Career Day Fair that included industry such as Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc, the Centre for the Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM), MARS Innovation, Mitacs, and VWR International LLC. Industry participants such as Huron Technologies and Interface Biologics Inc., presented career options during the morning career fair, while not-for profit organizations Mitacs the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), and UofT’s Innovations and Partnerships Office provided information on salary-matching grants, internships, and directed job posting sites they extend to graduating students. Seventeen company representatives joined the ten faculty judges for the poster and oral presentation judging. Scientific Day awards: POSTERS
eng ineering in a clinical setting Adeel Alam Honorable Mention Sameer Zaheer
nanotechnology, molecular imag ing and systems biology PhD student Ryan Fobel gives microfluidics demonstration during “Bring Your Daughter or Son to Work Day”.
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Carl Walkey
biomaterials and tissue eng ineering and regenerative medicine Yasaman Delaviz Honorable Mention Amir Manbachi
neural, sensory systems and rehabilitation eng ineering Saba Moghimi Honorable Mention Eric Wan
best oral presentation
IBBME’s Clinical Engineering MHSc students held 34 internships this year, earning students funding upwards of
$237,800
Lyndia Wu (Undergraduate) The Biomedical Engineering Students’ Association (BESA) In the past year, BESA organized numerous events, formal and informal, for IBBME’s graduate students. BESA spent much of 2011 expanding their professionalization and social networking opportunities, and reached out to other organizations across the University to help raise money for charity. These groups raised over $1,000 for the Sick Kids Foundation through their International Food Festival in the Medical Sciences Building on March 26th. BESA’s Executive also created a new ‘Professional Development and Outreach Officer’ position. This officer will organize industrial and academic career development events and initiatives, including industrial resume critiques with industrial volunteers, career spotlights, and advice for students seeking academic careers.
Club for Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering (CUBE) CUBE hosted its 2nd Annual Biomedical Engineering Competition (BMEC) in 2012. The competition enables students to solve ‘real-world’ biomedical engineering challenges.Creative, practical, and inspired, the projects give these students transferable skills and hands-on biomedical engineering experience.
38.6%
IBBME students conducting research in a hospital setting in 2011-12
iDapt labs at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute where many of IBBME’s faculty and students perform innovative research on rehabilitation and age-related health concerns.
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advance
$11,556,118 Grant funds held by core faculty during the fiscal year, May 2011 – April 2012
advance high impact research
defining tomorrow: advancing the integ ration of eng ineering and medicine Capping off its golden anniversary year, IBBME hosted an International Symposium, Defining Tomorrow: Advancing the Integration of Engineering and Medicine, at the Chestnut Conference Centre on October 10, 2012. The Symposium brought together with 350+ members of the IBBME community some of the world’s leading researchers into neuroscience and neuroengineering, including James Fawcett (Cambridge), Andres Lozano (UofT), Michael Levin (Tufts), and James McClelland (Stanford). The oneday symposium highlighted crossroads emerging between neuroscience and neuro-implant engineering. Reflecting the Institute’s roots in biomedical electronics, the symposium’s four sessions touched upon neural plasticity, electrophysiology, neural cell behaviour, and neural networks. Tomorrow’s Technologies Showcase The Symposium also featured a lunchtime showcase of biomedical devices and technologies by fourteen different biomedical companies, including the Centre for the Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM also helped organize the event), the Ontario Brain Institute (who sponsored the event), GE Health, and a number of small University of Toronto spin-off companies represented through UofT’s Institute of Optical Science’s Techno workshops. Galvanizing Communities In 2011-12, the Institute’s faculty committed to creating powerful collaborative partnerships with hospitals and multidisciplinary through multiple large grant applications and research projects.
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Major infrastructure grants applied for in 2011–12
From the research lab to the operating room DLVR Therapeutics, the company started by IBBME crossappointed Professor Gang Zheng, had a historic year as it reached its $2 million seed funding target in 2011, with an additional $400K investment by MaRS Innovation in October 2011, and a grant from J&J with MaRS innovation. DLVR Therapeutics also had a new US patent issued in March of this year, and increased its employees by 3. Interface Biologics Inc., the spin-off company started by Professor Paul Santerre, made headlines this year with the news that IBI’s product, a biomaterial called Endexo, was poised to enter US markets after receiving FDA approval – a major regulatory hurdle. Added to AngioDynamics’ BioFlo PICC – a peripherally inserted central catheter – Endexo prevents blood coagulation, a central concern for patients undergoing kidney dialysis. Kapplex, Inc. is a new spin-off founded in March 2012 with a $400k investment from MaRS Innovation. Kapplex is building on methods developed in Prof. Aaron Wheeler’s laboratory, and aims to commercialize digital microfluidics for low-cost, multiplexed assays of precious biological samples. The company was recently granted the first patent from its promising IP portfolio and has now hired its first employees: Dr. Jean-Francois Houle (COO), a diagnostics expert with executive experience in the biotech industry, and Kapplex co-founder, Dr. Irena Barbulovic-Nad (CTO), who graduated with a Ph.D. from IBBME in 2010. Simple Systems, the company begun by Professor Milos Popovic, was awarded a $2M investment in August 2012 for the further development of Dr. Popovic’s remarkable Functional Electric Stimulation (FES) technology, which has the power to transform the lives of major spinal cord and brain injury patients (such as those living with the debilitating effects of strokes). This technology, meanwhile, landed Popovic several stories in major Canadian newspapers,
13 Patents and disclosures filed by IBBME core faculty in 2011–2012
and he was celebrated with no less than 4 awards this year, including First Prize in the TiEQuest Business Venture Competition and Best Intellectual Property Award, and a Connaught Innovation award from the University of Toronto. Cross-appointed Professor Shana Kelley’s Xagenic likewise experienced a year of remarkable growth. The company, which is developing a fully automated technology platform that will enable widespread decentralized diagnostic testing to be performed outside of clinical testing laboratories, received $12 million in funding this year, including a $10 million grant co-led by CTI Life Sciences Fund (CTI) and the Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund (OETF), with significant participation by QIAGEN N.V. The company hired 16 new employees this year, including two new members to the Board of Directors, Bruce Cohen and Erik Holmlin, and have 6 patents in progress. Insception, the cord blood bank company started by Prof. Peter Zandstra, acquired Lifebank Corp., a leading cord blood bank based in Burnaby, British Columbia this year. Together, Insception and Lifebank manage the largest cord blood program in Canada, with over 56,000 cord blood units. Tissue Regeneration Therapeutics Inc. (TRT), the company founded by Professor John E. Davies, completed a major licensing deal with PerkinElmer’s ViaCord, and has had 3 additional patents granted by the USPTO and KIPO further expanding its Human Umbilical Cord PeriVascular Cell (HUCPVC) therapeutics technology platform. In addition, TRT has just been awarded two more Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) contracts to continue development of its HUCPVC technology to provide prophylactic protection against bioweapons and therapeutic treatments of combat casualties. In an important study, published in Cell Transplantation, Dr. Armand Keating’s group has shown that HUCPVC outperform bone marrow
cells in restoring heart function after an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack). Commercialization partnerships advance The Centre for the Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) advanced a rapid pace of progress during its first full year of operations. CCRM had 3 companies join its industry consortium this year, bringing the total number of active companies to 20, and industry projects were commenced with EMD Millipore, TAP Biosystems and Pfizer. CCRM reviewed 36 patent/IP disclosures in the last seven months alone, and has option licenses for intellectual property with McMaster University and the University of Toronto. In terms of resources, CCRM added 14 new hires to its ranks, bringing the total number of employees to 32. The Centre also launched an innovation fund (with Pfizer Canada), and a commercialization impact prize (with the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine). CRANIA, the Centre for Research into Advanced Neural Implant Applications, also received seed funding of approximately $300 K from the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering in 2011. During CRANIA’s inaugural year, Professor Milos Popovic’s research initiative which aims to introduce advanced neural implant technology to the marketplace, applied for 4 major funding grants. In its first year of existence, the Techna Institute, a major UHN commercialization venture launched with the support of the University of Toronto and IBBME, has cultivated collaborative relationships with over 40 local and global industrial partners, from start-ups through to multinationals, and has grown to encompass 8 core leads, 15 afflilated IBBME 50th Anniversary Symposium speakers, from left to right: Paul Santerre, James Fawcett, Paul Young, Michael Levin, Molly Shoichet, Andres Lozano, James McClelland.
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faculty, and 47 employees. Collectively, Techna has amassed over $100M in available infrastructure, integrated throughout UHN, MaRS and the UofT campus, including hardware and software laboratories, medical imaging facilities, machine shops, microfabrication facilities, pre-clinical laboratories at STTARR (sttarr.com) and the healthcare human factors laboratory (humanfactors.ca). Plans are also in the works for future growth, such as the TRIGOR-A facility.
COMMUNICATING INNOVATION
233
Number of Peerreviewed publications by Core Faculty in 2011–12
Top: Students participate in IBBME’s Scientific Day 2012 Bottom: IBBME Professor Peter Zandstra
As part of its 2010 strategic plan, the Institute acknowledged the growing importance of broadcasting its success stories to the world. This year, IBBME focused on putting the spotlight not just on our world-class researchers, but also on its remarkable students and staff. IBBME students graced the pages of UofT Magazine. Two of our Clinical Engineering interns made two UofT News features, and even retiring staff member Susan Reeves made headline news in a video posted on UofT News’ website. At the same time, executing the second phase of its comprehensive strategy, IBBME took its message to the world. Over 70 IBBME-authored stories appeared on the IBBME website – doubling last year’s postings – and within the ever-evolving IBBME Update, the monthly newsletter received by our students, faculty, staff, postdoctoral researchers, alumni and networks. IBBME’s new communications officer, Dr. Erin Vollick, has further established a deep network of communications partners with the University of Toronto, Faculty websites, and with IBBME’s extensive hospital partners, and into the national and international news markets. IBBME’s stories were picked up in an astounding number of news outlets, including the Daily Mail UK, the Times of India, CTV News and Futurity.org, with a readership totaling over 12 million. UofT News and its partners picked up no less than 13 of IBBME’s stories between March and August 2012 alone, while IBBME’s students and staff appeared in the University of Toronto Magazine three times. IBBME’s stories are available on the website: www.ibbme.utoronto.ca/news Translating IBBME for the Marketplace A major piece of the communications and academic strategies of the Institute involve raising IBBME’s profile for graduate student recruitment. This summer the Communications office, in conjunction with the graduate coordinators, worked to create recruitment materials targeted for strategic recruitment events planned for the coming year. The result was the creation of a high-impact, visually striking IBBME program identification poster, as well as a brochure specifically designed to answer common questions that interested students might have about IBBME’s unique Clinical Engineering program.
H-index comparison
UC Berkeley Stanford MIT Johns Hopkins Georgia Tech Duke IBBME U of T
0 20 40 60 80
percent faculty Percent of Total Faculty
Percent of Core Faculty
The H-Index measures the publication productivity and citation impact of scientists and scholars. The above chart measures IBBME’s core and cross faculty with an H-Index score >20. It can be seen that IBBME’s faculty continue to rank among the leading biomedical schools.
MEDICAL DEVICE INDUSTRY
ENTREPRENEUR
IBBME
HOSPITALS
BME GRADUATE STUDENT MHSC MEDICAL SCHOOL
UNDERGRADUATE
PhD BIOENGINEERING Clinical Concentration
CERTIFIED CLINICAL ENGINEER (C.C.E.)
Clinical Engineering MHSc PhD www.ibbme.utoronto.ca
INSTITUTE OF BIOMATERIALS & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING Rosebrugh Building 164 College Street, Room 407 Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G9 Clinical Engineering Program Office Room MB332 (416) 978-6102 clinicaleng.ibbme@utoronto.ca Biomedical Engineering and Collaborative Programs - Program Office Room MB332 (416)978-4841 admissions.ibbme@utoronto.ca
“The strength of the program is the combination of academic courses, internships, and the independent thesis. I especially enjoyed the opportunity to observe operations at the hospitals through the surgical course, as many students in other programs do not have this chance to experience the operating room environment hands-on.” — Melanie Yeung, Class of ‘09. Human Factors Specialist, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation
www.ibbme.utoronto.ca
IBBME unveils its new Clinical Engineering recruitment pamphlet
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ENGAGE
19 Ongoing and new collaborative partners, internal to U of T
engage through collaboration, research and influence
ibbme’s memorandum of understanding IBBME’s significant relationships with its founding faculties were solidified this year with the signing of an historic Memorandum of Understanding with its three faculty partners: Applied Science & Engineering, Medicine, and Dentistry. The MOU outlines the ongoing contributions that each faculty will make towards the Institute’s operations – financial as well as other key resources – and signifies the importance of this remarkably collaborative Institute to its partners and to the wider biomedical community. “Part of that collaboration,” stated Professor Catharine Whiteside, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, “has been with the hospitals as much as with the Faculties.” Dean Whiteside highlighted the vitality and importance of IBBME’s close associations with the medical community, such as the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Mount Sinai Hospital, The Hospital for Sick Children, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, St Michaels Hospital, and the University Health Network (UHN).
Professor of Biomedical Engineering University of Campinas, Sao Paolo, Brazil
IBBME Distinguished Lecturer Series 2011–12 IBBME welcomed some of the worlds’ leading researchers to speak as part of the 2011–12 Distinguished Lecture Series, and IBBME’s faculty also shone before colleagues and students with 4 outstanding lectures as part of the IBBME lecture series. On subjects as diverse as neural interfaces for overcoming paralysis to tissue engineering, these seminars spoke to the breadth and depth of IBBME’s research themes.
Boris Hinz, Associate Professor, Faculty of Dentistry, Dept. of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Cross-appointed to IBBME, Laboratory of Tissue Repair and Regeneration Group in Matrix Dynamics “The Myofibroblast: A Truly Multidisciplinary Cell”
Harald Hess, PhD “3D Imaging at the Limits with Photons and Electrons” Group Leader, Janelia Farm Lab, Janelia Farm Research Campus, USA Saide Jorge Calil, PhD “Clinical Engineering: Where is it going?”
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Alan Russell, PhD “Bioinspired responsive materials for defense and healing” Distinguished University Professor of Surgery & Founding Director, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh. Professor, Department of Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering and Rehabilitation Science and Technology Miguel Nicolelis, PhD, MD “Computing With Neural Ensembles To Liberate Brain Activity From The Body “ Anne W. Deane Professor, Neurobiology Biomedical Engineering and Psychological and Brain Sciences, CoDirector, Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University
ibbme lecture series
Alison McGuigan, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry “Microfabricated Systems For Engineering Tissue Morphogenesis In Vitro” Jonathan Rocheleau, Assistant Professor, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism, University of Toronto Scientist, Toronto General Research Institute, University Health Network
49 Ongoing and new industry collaborations, external to U of T
“Revealing Molecular Physiology Using Quantitative Fluorescence Microscopy” Patricia Trbovich, Assistant Professor Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering Healthcare Researcher, Medical Engineering Department, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, University Health Network “Mitigating The Effects Of Interruptions During Delivery Of High-Risk Medication”
Creating International Dialogues a year of solidifying partnerships
On May 8-9th, IBBME welcomed faculty from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Technion University in Haifa, Israel for an unprecedented exchange of cutting-edge research in the emerging field of biomaterials to a full house in the CCBR Red Room. The symposium, Beyond Borders: Lyon Sachs Symposium on Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, represents what may soon become an annual event, as IBBME’s faculty have been invited to a follow up symposium at Technion in the spring of 2013. “The symposium served as an excellent exchange of ideas and approaches to solve problems in medicine and biology.” Molly Shoichet, Associate Director, Research. Reinforcing its presence as a leader across the biomedical community, IBBME has found representation on a staggering number of committees. As well, it has offered financial and other support to some of the key initiatives driving the growth of biomedical engineering. For instance, IBBME provided financial support for Techna’s inaugural
symposium on innovation in health care technologies, and played a key supportive role towards developing Techna’s “Memorandum of Understanding” with the University of Toronto. IBBME was likewise delighted that during its first year, its newest biomedical commercialization partner, the Centre for the Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) established its facilities in the Banting and Best Building, built a staff of 27 and growing, and created a solid presence in the biomedical community. IBBME also had an incredibly active year on internal committees in its partner faculties, with the Institute’s faculty members providing active participation in faculty council meetings, chair and research chair committees in the Faculties of Medicine and Dentistry, and graduate and awards committees in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering.
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Institutional collaborations including Johns Hopkins, Princeton and others
“The Beyond Borders symposium served as an excellent exchange of ideas and approaches to solve problems in medicine and biology.” Dr. Molly Shoichet, Associate Director, Research
build
$975,000 Total investment in new faculty infrastructure support in 2011-12.
BUILD ON OUR RESOURCES reaching milestones
50th Anniversary Events Alongside the historic Memorandum of Understanding, which saw IBBME reach a new level of fiscal stability in its tri-faculty partnerships, 2012 also marked IBBME’s golden anniversary at the University of Toronto. In what was a banner year for IBBME, the Institute saw expansion and growth in each of its key strategic priorities, as well as a sharp rise in its public profile. To cap off its 50th Anniversary celebrations, IBBME held its first inaugural Alumni Homecoming event over October 9th and 10th, with a special Alumni Round Circle event. The event brought four Alumni speakers before an audience of over 280 students, faculty and alumni to discuss their very different career paths which spanned the breadth of IBBME’s four research themes. Dr. Travis Jennings eBioscience (San Diego, CA) – Nanotechnology, Molecular Imaging & Systems Biology
Dr. Frances K. Skinner Senior Scientist, Division of Fundamental Neurobiology, Toronto Western Research Institute (TWRI) Neural, Sensory System & Rehabilitation Dr. Laura Yu Business Development Manager at Ontario Centres of Excellence, formerly at Baylis Medical Company Biomaterials,Tissue Eng. & Regenerative Medicine Cameron Mahon, P.Eng Founder & Business Development, Conceus Engineering in a Clinical Setting
Post event, Alumni and guests were invited on a tour of IBBME’s facilities, including stops at Associate Professor Milica Radisic’s cardiovascular tissue engineering lab and Christopher Yip’s molecular imaging lab in the Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (CCBR) building. The day culminated with IBBME’s Annual Alumni and Awards Banquet, in which more than 350 people were in attendance (see page 3-4 for a full list of awards). The following day, October 10th, IBBME welcomed several of the world’s most celebrated minds in neuroscience and neuro-implant engineering to a special Symposium, “Defining Tomorrow: Advancing the Integration of Engineering and Medicine,” which opened with a keynote speech by Professor Paul Young,Vice-President, Research at the University of Toronto. The event also included a special Tomorrow’s Technology Showcase (see page 14 for highlights).
At left: Stacey Johnson and Kamal Garcha (CCRM) at Tomorrow’s Technology Showcase. At right, (from left to right):Travis Jennings, Frances Skinner, and Laura Yu.
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43 Number of graduate training laboratories in hospital settings.
ALUMNI RELATIONS IBBME’s Golden Anniversary year represented a unique opportunity to bring together the Institute’s community, past and present. Throughout the year, 16 profiles of IBBME’s Alumni and past Directors were featured in our Innovators & Entrepreneurs series, which were available through our website and the monthly IBBME Update. In a timely manner and aligned with the University of Toronto’s Boundless campaign, IBBME concurrently tabled its first Alumni Relations Strategic plan. Several of the plan’s recommendations and best practices have already been executed, such as increasing the number of registered IBBME alumni from 200 to over 800, and hosting alumni events such as the alumni round circle. BOUNDLESS OPPORTUNITIES As the Institute attempts to raise $1M for student scholarships, IBBME’s Golden Anniversary Scholarship Fund reinforces the Institute’s ongoing commitment to attracting and retaining the best and brightest minds from across Canada as well as internationally. Already ranked among the top engineering programs for its high entrance standards, student contributions to peer-reviewed journal articles and students named in intellectual property disclosures, the Institute aims to better support and grow its integral resource – students – in the coming years. At the same time, IBBME is poised to make a major contribution to the University of Toronto’s Boundless capital campaign. According to statistics from the U.S. Labor Board, biomedical engineering is enjoying a 72% job growth rate per year, a trend that is expected to continue well on into 2018. The strength of this growing field of research is reflected in the two “Cases for Support” launched within the Faculties of Applied Science and Engineering and Medicine in September 2012. Both faculty’s multimillion dollar campaigns recognize IBBME as an integral
piece of the future; with thematic emphasis placed on areas such as neuroscience and brain health, global health, complex diseases and systems management, collaborative health initiatives, and biomedical engineering and health technologies. IBBME is poised to take a leadership role in helping the University of Toronto achieve its vision for the future. INVESTING IN PASSION - IBBME STAFF 2011-12 represented a year of change for IBBME’s staff. In addition to seeing several new faces join this passionate and dedicated group, we also said a fond farewell to some. Sachiko Murakami retired her reign as Communications Officer in March, 2012 to re-engage her writing and teaching careers. She was replaced by Dr. Erin Vollick, a published novelist and media specialist who brings more than 16 years of experience to the multifaceted Media, Communications, and Alumni Relations portfolio. Susan Reeves, Administrative Assistant to the Director for ten years, retired in June this year. She was replaced by the inestimable Brittany Lawrence, who brings to the role of Administrative Assistant to the Director a passion for science, years of institutional expertise from her years working at UofT’s Student Housing Services, and an important perspective on her portfolio through her two B.A.s (Science, Education). This summer, Dr. Andrey Shukalyuk was hired into the full-time position of Undergraduate Laboratory Coordinator and Co-Chair of IBBME’s Health and Safety Committee. With over 12 years as an educator under his belt, Andrey brings high standards and a broader awareness of safe laboratory practices from his own post-doctoral and research associate experience at the University of Toronto. Above: Dr. Paul Santerre and Cameron Mahon on the IBBME Alumni Homecoming Tour
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OPEN to collaborations Despite affiliations with over 49 companies, overhead from research contracts continues to represent IBBME’s smallest funding source—a model the Institute will work to shift in coming years.
“We live in a world that is becoming ever more integrated. And we’re competing with that world.” Dr. Paul Santerre, Director
Infrastructure In 2012 a project to upgrade RS412, the Institute’s primary meeting and classroom space, was completed. The installation of several new high-tech tools will now allow for video conferencing (i.e. via Skype), give users access to a mobile screen, and will provide video recording capabilities from a central podium interface. IBBME gratefully acknowledges the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering for supporting 20% of the total project cost. Investing in the Undergraduate Teaching Lab New BME courses have necessitated an investment in vital equipment for the undergraduate teaching lab. In particular, large classes such as BME205 and BME346 have resulted in an $8,400 investment in two new Mastercyclers for the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). This investment will allow multiple classes to perform similar experimental protocols at the same time.
As well, the Engineering Society invested a total of $5,392 through their “Temporary Special Levy Fund” to help with the acquisition of an Eppendorf Refrigerated Microcentrifuge. This important purchase, matched with funds by IBBME, will help to facilitate over 12 diversified undergraduate courses that regularly access the lab. The Teaching Lab also hosted a number of extracurricular events for the biomedical community. During “Take Our Kids To Work Day 2012”, Biomedical Engineering PhD candidates Ryan Fobel and Alphonsus Ng provided children from grades 4 through 7 with an animated lab experimenting with microfluidics. The DEEP Summer Academy, an annual program organized through the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, utilized the lab facilities extensively throughout the month of July this year. DEEP oversees two science programs geared at high school and middle school students, and several of IBBME’s graduate students were involved in designing and teaching the classes.
Top: Demonstration of biomedical device at IBBME’s Tomorrow’s Technology Showcase Bottom: Esther Lau and David Lee, IBBME students and DEEP Science Academy instructors
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Finally, the Center for the Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) welcomed 18 scholars to their annual stem cell workshop in the lab from Aug. 13-15. External bookings in this state-of-the-art teaching facility are expected to increase significantly over the next few years.
OPERATING BUDGET 2011-12 Revenue
e ng ine e ring $2,660,708 me dicine $ 588,832 1 de ntistry n/a de partme ntal recove ry $ 378,000 re search ove rhead $ 660,123 scholar ships/trusts $2,542,488 unive r sity recove ry 2 $1,041,396 Total $7,871,547 expenseS
salarie s and be ne fits $2,511,260 ge ne ral ope rating $1,272,802 scholar ships $1,250,867 othe r commitme nts $1,521,535 unive r sity ope rating 3 $1,315,083 Total $7,871,547
1 T he Faculty of Dentistry will formally begin to invest in the IBBME commencing with the 2012-13 fiscal year 2 U niversity Recovery is associated with funding from the Basic Income Unit (BIU) and other associated revenue from FASE. 3 University operating is space and research tax recovered from the FASE.
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INSTITUTE OF BIOMATERIALS & BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING (IBBME) ADMINISTRATIVE CONTACTS Rosebrugh Building 164 College Street, Room 407 Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G9
Biomedical Engineering and Collaborative Programs Program Office Room MB317, (416) 978-4841 admissions.ibbme@utoronto.ca
Communications Office Room MB329, (416) 946-8019 comm.ibbme@utoronto.ca
Clinical Engineering Program Office Room MB317, (416) 978-6102 clinicaleng.ibbme@utoronto.ca
Paul Santerre Director paul.santerre@utoronto.ca Brittany Lawrence Administrative Assistant to Director (416) 946-8258 / director.ibbme@utoronto.ca Sandra Walker Manager of Operations (416) 978-4801 / sandra.walker@utoronto.ca Judy Gilligan Operations Assistant (416) 978-7459 / operations.ibbme@utoronto.ca Elizabeth Flannery HR Administrator & Finance Officer (416) 946-7310 / hr.ibbme@utoronto.ca Angela Rosa Finance Officer – Research (416) 946-7310 / payments.ibbme@utoronto.ca Erin Vollick Communications Officer (416) 946-8019 / comm.ibbme@utoronto.ca
Jeffrey Little Graduate Programs Administrator (416) 978-4841 / jeffrey.little@utoronto.ca Rhonda Marley Clinical Engineering Program Coordinator (416) 978-6102 / clinicaleng.ibbme@utoronto.ca Molly Shoichet Associate Director, Research (416) 978-1460 / molly.shoichet@utoronto.ca Julie Audet Associate Director Graduate Studies, Biomedical Engineering Program (416) 946-0209 / julie.audet@utoronto.ca Alex Mihailidis Coordinator - Clinical Engineering Program (416) 946-8565 / alex.mihailidis@utoronto.ca Warren Chan Graduate Coordinator Collaborative Program in Biomedical Engineering (416) 946-8416 / warren.chan@utoronto.ca
Derek Boodoosingh IT Systems Coordinator (416) 946-0942 / derek.boodoosingh@utoronto.ca
Kevin Truong Undergraduate Interim Co-Chair Biomed Option, Engineering Science Program (416) 978-7772 / kevin.truong@utoronto.ca
Andrey Shukalyuk Teaching Lab Laboratory Manager, Co-Chair, IBBME Safety Committee (416) 978-1467 / Teachinglab.ibbme@utoronto.ca
Christopher Yip Undergraduate Interim Co-Chair Biomed Option, Engineering Science Program (416) 978-7853 / Christopher.yip@utoronto.ca
Dawn Kilkenny Co-Chair, IBBME Safety Committee (416) 978-8335 / MB312 Dawn.kilkenny@utoronto.ca
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IBBME STRATEGY IN ACTION 2011-2012
www.ibbme.utoronto.ca
IBBME
at the centre of innovation in biomedical engineering