At the forefront of this exciting field of research is Dr. Miguel Ramalho-Santos, who was recruited this year as the inaugural Chair in Early Human Development, supported in part by a generous gift from lead donor Great Gulf Group, and Senior Investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (LTRI), part of Sinai Health System. Dr. Ramalho-Santos grew up in Portugal, received his PhD at Harvard University and started his own lab at the University of California, San Francisco. He has been appointed the Canada 150 Research Chair in Developmental Epigenetics. Epigenetics is the study of how modifications in the expression of genes affect an organism’s development. 18
RAMALHO-SANTOS
Diseases that show up in adulthood may have their start decades earlier. In fact, heart disease, diabetes, neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease and some cancers could have their origins in the embryo stage. And while we used to think that all the information needed to generate a human being was hardwired in the genome, there’s growing evidence that environmental factors play a critical role.
DR.MIGUEL
B Y M A R C I A K AY E
MEET
The LTRI’s newest recruit is searching for the genesis of disease — and a new band
