Once upon an MRI...
UCalgary
Medicine UCalgary Medicine is published by the University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, providing news and information for and about our faculty, staff, alumni, students, friends and community. Managing Editor Kathryn Kazoleas T 403.220.5012 E kjslonio@ucalgary.ca Editorial Team Jordanna Heller, Director, Communications and Media Relations Marta Cyperling, Manager, Media Relations Amy Dowd, Manager, Internal Relations Amanda Fisher, Communications Coordinator
On the cover: Exciting new research taking place at the Cumming School of Medicine
Aisling Gamble, Communications Advisor, Events and Recognition Dean Jon Meddings Vice Dean Glenda MacQueen Senior Associate Deans Ronald Bridges, Faculty Affairs Jocelyn Lockyer, Education Marcello Tonelli, Health Research Gerald Zamponi, Research Associate Deans Tara Beattie, Graduate Science Education
Free Copy / Alumni Update To receive a free copy of UCalgary Medicine please call 403.220.2819 or email medcomm@ucalgary.ca The Cumming School of Medicine is committed to staying in touch with our alumni. Please update your contact information via: alumni.ucalgary.ca (click on ‘update your info’)
Sylvain Coderre, Undergraduate Medical Education Lara Cooke, Continuing Medical Education and Professional Development Janet de Groot, Equity and Professionalism Derek Exner, Clinical Trials Jennifer Hatfield, Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement Ebba Kurz, Undergraduate Health and Science Education Doug Myhre, Distributed Learning and Rural Initiatives David Keegan, Faculty Development Paul Schnetkamp, Research Infrastructure Maureen Topps, Postgraduate Medical Education Ray Turner, Research Grants Samuel Wiebe, Clinical Research Design Amanda Fisher Photography and Illustrations Quentin Collier, Darcy Finley, Amanda Fisher, Ashleigh Frayne, Jager&Ko., James May, Colin Rowe, Kim Smith, Bruce Perrault, Candice Ward, Kristen Wilson
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Contents
We’re online!
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Message from the Dean
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and, of course, between research and health care. If you’re looking for an opportunity to learn more about how these relationships work to improve our health and wellbeing, I would like to personally invite you to our upcoming public talk. This TedX-style event will take place here at Foothills Campus and is free of charge. Drop by November 17 and make some connections for yourself. Finally, I want to welcome all of our new students to the Cumming School of Medicine—future physicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, scientists, policy makers, and more. I hope your experience here connects you to where you want to be and where you want to go.
infections, inflammation and chronic diseases research theme, and director of our Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases—says, this is an entirely new organ that we have never considered before in our theories of disease pathogenesis.
Connections are vital to the university, and to our Cumming School of Medicine in particular. We connect to learn, keep in touch, to share resources and experiences; we connect because we’re human and we’re better together; we connect to figure things out.
In August, along with our closest community partner, Alberta Health Services, the Cumming School announced the appointment of Dr. Sunil Verma as head of oncology. As academic and clinical department head, and medical director of the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Dr. Verma, an internationally renowned expert in breast cancer research, will be leading cancer care in Calgary when he officially joins us in January 2016.
In late July, the University of Calgary received funding to establish the Western Canadian Microbiome Centre to study micro-organisms inside and outside the human body.
Is there a connection between the two? Absolutely. The science of the microbiome combined with strong and innovative cancer research taking place in Calgary, has the potential to set us on an exciting path to precision medicine: treatments and therapies tailored to the individual.
Microbiome research will help to drive discoveries in fields such as disease prevention, antibiotic resistance and a whole new range of disease associations that are only being guessed at right now.
The Cumming School of Medicine intends to become a leader in precision medicine and the impact of the microbiome on human health. The journey is just beginning, but it’s a connection that could pay dividends.
This is a new frontier of medical research; as Paul Kubes—head of the university’s
There are other connections; between teaching and learning, science and humanity,
I also want to introduce the Medical Class of 2019—the Goats—who joined the menagerie. Just a few weeks after 160 new MD students began their first year of medical school, we decided to celebrate some of our remarkable former students by unveiling a Rhodes Scholar recognition wall in the Health Sciences Building—a nice way to connect the past with the future. We have the honour of calling eight of our distinguished alumni Rhodes Scholars: William Hughson, Class of 1973; Jonathan Heston, Class of 1978; Erik Pioro, Class of 1981; William Gnam, Class of 1985; An-Wen Chan, Class of 2000; Braden O’Neill, Class of 2015; Aravind Ganesh, Class of 2012; and Yan Yu, Class of 2014—or, put another way, a Mink, a Lamprey, a Wombat, a Bonobo, a couple of Blobfish, and a Hellbender. Maybe we’ll see a Goat among them one day. It’s great to have everyone back on campus; here’s to another fantastic fall. And if you’re reading this message as an alumnus/a, don’t be a stranger; get in touch, stay connected.
Jon Meddings, MD Dean, Cumming School of Medicine
e eat billions of bacteria a day. They’re all over our skin, and everything we touch is covered in germs. Yet most of the time nothing bad happens because our body is good at dealing with it.”
by Kathryn Kazoleas
Craig Jenne (PhD ‘05) studies infectious diseases, how our bodies fight those infections and why drug resistant superbugs and influenza have the potential to cause extreme illness, and sometimes, even death.
Research
e get up every morning, and for the most part we’re healthy,” says Jenne, assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases and member of the University of Calgary’s Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases. “But for those few times when our body isn’t good at dealing with it, things can get bad very quickly.” Our immune system is designed to protect and defend us from microbes. When all goes well, we have it to thank for the times that we don’t get sick. When all doesn’t go well, it’s the immune system that researchers turn to for answers. Jenne is trying to understand the mechanisms of the immune system in order to better explain how our bodies fight infection: how does an infection get past our immune system and, when we do get sick, what causes the resulting damage—the infection itself or a body response ‘backfire’? Using a technique known as intravital microscopy, Jenne can take a detailed look at the immune system, in real time, in live animal models.
After injecting a specific type of pathogen, the microscope allows Jenne and his research team to observe the infection, look directly into blood vessels and tissues, and see how the various parts of the immune system regulate one another and work in conjunction to generate an immune response. With this approach, they can watch the immune system recognize, catch and kill bacteria in the bloodstream or visualize how viral infection of the lung leads to inflammation and tissue damage. Additionally, Jenne’s team, in collaboration with University of Calgary researcher Douglas Mahoney, PhD, are using intravital microscopy to understand how engineered viruses are able to infect and kill cancer cells, an approach known as oncolytic viral therapy. The imaging equipment, funded through a Canada Foundation for Innovation grant awarded earlier this year, allows scientists to examine up to eight different parts of the immune system at once using injectable fluorescent markers, or labels, to colour code the various parts. The equipment
gives the team the ability to track various cells and microbes, and to view the mechanisms taking place in real time. “We’re looking for ways to improve patient outcomes, whether that means new ways to fight infection or ways to limit damage to the surrounding tissue.” says Jenne. Back row (from left to right): Rachelle Davis, Victor Naumenko, SeokJoo Kim, Zhutian Zeng, Mandy Tse Front row: Craig Jenne Missing from photo: Sarah Miller-Dorey
Click here to see video!
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he Snyder Translational Lab in Critical Care Medicine was designed to facilitate collaboration between basic scientists and critical care physicians. As scientific director of the lab, Jenne has been involved in a multitude of interdisciplinary and cross-professional clinical trials in which basic science innovations are applied to the clinic and vice versa. “This opportunity has given me new perspective,” he says. “It’s very rewarding to be able to work with a physician and say, ‘is this important, should I be working on this?’ and for them to say, ‘yes, if you could figure that out we’d be a lot further ahead.’” The lab has played a key role in several projects investigating infectious diseases. As an integral part of the Alberta Sepsis Network, the lab reviewed thousands of samples from sepsis patients over a fiveyear period. Researchers and clinicians at the Peter Lougheed Centre, Foothills Medical Centre and the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, and the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, worked together to regularly collect blood samples and to follow up with patients throughout. On the research side, scientists were able to investigate various markers in the blood more comprehensively in order to
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examine what separated those patients with good outcomes from those with poor outcomes. The lab and the Alberta Sepsis Network also worked to raise awareness about sepsis in the community, producing an education program that was internationally recognized with a Global Sepsis Award in 2015. The lab has also collaborated with Dr. Andrew Kirkpatrick and his team at the University of Calgary to understand how the immune system and inflammation contribute to disease in patients receiving surgical intervention for abdominal trauma or sepsis. These studies aim to identify the key molecules driving inflammation leading to tissue damage and poor patient outcomes. Additionally, Jenne’s lab has collaborated on other studies ranging from fever and appendicitis, to stroke and traumatic brain injury. These collaborations bring together researchers from the University of Calgary and other institutions in Alberta, Canada and around the world. “We’re really trying to build a bridge between basic science and the clinicians who practice medicine, bringing the two together and working as a team in an effort to improve the treatment of patients,” says Jenne.
•The University of Calgary now offers an Introduction to Immunology course (MDSC321). Taught primarily by Jenne, it is available to students across all disciplines with first-year biology credits. •In 2013, Jenne and his team published a paper showing that platelets, commonly known for their role in blood clotting, also play a role in immunity. •Vaccines save two to three million lives worldwide every year. By ‘educating’ white blood cells, vaccines harness the power of our own immune systems to kill infections and prevent disease. •Only one naturally occurring disease has ever been eradicated worldwide— smallpox. This was possible only because of a global vaccination effort. •Not all bugs are bad. Many bacteria help keep our digestive tract and skin healthy. The Cumming School of Medicine and others are engineering viruses with the hope of building better vaccines or to infect and kill cancer cells. •With the ever growing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics, research is now shifting to develop strategies that use cells and molecules from our own immune system to better combat these infections.
Community Engagement
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SHINE
By Doug Ferguson
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y teaching children to enjoy exercise to prevent future health problems, Emma Skolnik learned a few things, too.
“I am inspired by these kids—by their resilience and the joy they demonstrate while learning to take care of themselves and understand their bodies,” says Skolnik, an MD student in her third and final year at the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM). Skolnik is part of Students for Health Innovation and Education (SHINE). Staffed and run mostly by CSM students, the volunteer group helps marginalized people, through both programming and research, whose health is at risk due to lack of full access to resources and knowledge. The program emphasizes the importance of altering or mitigating risk factors to prevent disease before it arises. As one of their ongoing projects, SHINE has been working with Grade 6 students who typically lack access to recreational programs that target their specific needs. This creates barriers that inhibit healthy and active lifestyles, says Skolnik. “It’s about understanding that everyone has equal potential, and we’re capitalizing on that potential to create a different path,” says Farah Ladak, past president of SHINE who co-founded the group with Natalie Chan in 2012. SHINE gives medical students the chance to collaborate with community partners on projects that are both meaningful and effective, says Ladak. As the organization makes a difference at a grassroots level, students gain the skills required to be advocates for their patients and communities. As a team lead for physical activity, Skolnik
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has worked with up to 30 children at a time. They were given free memberships at the Eau Claire YMCA, courtesy of the Flames Foundation For Life, the charitable arm of the hockey club. Through 60-minute sessions each Tuesday and Thursday, the children undertake 12 weeks of activities ranging from boxing and weightlifting to swimming, yoga and badminton. The goal is to boost activity levels and create healthy dietary habits that will continue into adulthood, helping prevent illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes. “We don’t ask them to stare at a chalkboard,” says Skolnik. “We play games, run cooking sessions, plant vegetable gardens and focus on enjoying physical activity.” SHINE also considers the vulnerability of children participating in weight management, avoiding the competition common to exercise programs, she says. “It’s often about this team versus that team, and who can do things better, but nothing we do instills competition or compares participants with each other.”
SHINE operates independently of the University of Calgary’s Student Run Clinic, another volunteer group at the Cumming School that aims to improve health-care provision to Calgary’s underserved populations.
After 12 weeks, the children have been empowered, says Skolnik. “It allows them to feel more comfortable SHINE also teamed in their own skin. They go up with Dr. Keith Courtney, from being someone who is shy in the corner of psychiatrist and medical director a gym to someone for Correctional Health Services, to who is leading their create an opportunity for medical students friends.” Skolnik has gained confidence, too. “It’s enriched my experiences as a medical student,” she says.
to gain insight into disparities in health-care delivery within correctional facilities and the unique health-care challenges these individuals face. As part of this, students shadow an interdisciplinary team at the Calgary Remand Centre, and lead research initiatives aimed at garnering support for health policy changes.
Education
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Hotchkiss Brain Institute’s mentorship program fosters relationships with the community By Alison Myers
father run his own business and kept hold of the possibility for himself while he pursued his first love; science. Mousseau was matched with Jim Bertram, executive chairman of Keyera Corp., a publicly traded energy infrastructure company. While the two may be worlds apart in their professions, their love of hockey gave them an immediate connection. “The program is a mixture of us gaining connections outside of the lab, and people in the business world seeing some of the skills we have as PhD students,” says Mousseau. “I don’t want to use the word ‘nerd’ but that’s kind of the image we have. The REALISE community mentorship program is helping to change that perception.” “Mike is a well-rounded young man who’s looking to understand more about business. He’s not only very bright but also very social,” says Jim Bertram. “I think Mike is a natural in terms of being able to adjust to a business environment. He’ll have enormous opportunities.”
Mike Mousseau (left) with Jim Bertram (right).
he positive impact of mentors, whether they be acquaintances, teachers or colleagues, is well recognized in business and academic communities. The opportunity for mentorship from someone who is more experienced, and also generous with their knowledge, is invaluable. But when you are pursuing a PhD in neuroscience, the field of available mentors can start to narrow, especially as you focus more heavily on your area of expertise. REALISE, a career development initiative at the University of Calgary’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), is helping some of the next generation of leaders keep their minds open to what the world has to offer as they transition into their future careers. The recently established community
mentorship program is partnering graduate students and HBI postdoctoral scholars with local professionals who can provide insight into the business world and broader community. “A lot of people assume that if you earn a PhD in neuroscience, you’re going to go directly into an academic job. I want to break that mold,” says Mike Mousseau, a second-year PhD student in the laboratory of Tuan Trang, PhD, an HBI member and assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. Having had an interest in business from an early age, Mousseau was eager to sign on when REALISE launched its community mentorship program in October of last year. He grew up in Ottawa watching his
Bertram views his mentorship role as being a mutually beneficial partnership. He admits it can be easy to focus all your time on work when you’re downtown every day. So while Mousseau is striving to learn more about business, Bertram is eager to understand more about the work taking place at HBI and the breakthroughs researchers are trying to achieve. “The mentorship program is a great opportunity to meet all that fresh brain power,” he says. “It’s inspiring to know we have lots of bright young people who are committed to making the world a better place.”
Special Section
Special Section 10
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did you get involved with the QHow trip?
crazy stories and that was what really drew me into the BHSc program and the Tanzania trip.
Stefana: It’s kind of funny because I actually
kind of research did you QWhat participate in on your trip?
enrolled in the BHSc program in part because of the Ethiopia trip, and it even eventually became the topic of my honour’s thesis. My plan was to initially go into engineering, but when I came to the University of Calgary’s open house, Guido van Marle, director of the Ethiopia project, and the BHSc team made me realize this was the right program for me. I’m pretty sure they spent over an hour discussing the program with me! We talked about the research and teaching Guido and his team do in Ethiopia annually, and the unique opportunity it provides to really apply what we learn in the classroom to the real world. This really resonated with me as I knew that I learn best through hands-on experience. So I already knew I would apply for the Ethiopia trip at some point during the program.
Doug: My story is very similar. I went to the open house in high school and I was already interested in health science. But I also really wanted to do political science and I was not sure where I was going to end up. At the open house I ended up meeting Chris Powell who had just come back from doing graduate studies in Tanzania. He was telling me all these
Stefana: Due to many sociopolitical factors, ‘brain drain’ is occurring in Ethiopia—meaning many of the most educated Ethiopians are emigrating. By using the train-the-trainer approach we were able to teach key local stakeholders beneficial wetlab techniques like PCRs and the western blot both for diagnostic and research purposes. My research project was to evaluate our course through tests, surveys and focus groups. Our results were very encouraging. Our participants performed 30-40 per cent better on the tests post-course and they felt proficient with the techniques we covered, according to our surveys. Another great outcome was that the participants made new professional connections within our course’s cohort.
administering treatments of the drug to sheep and goats while collecting fecal samples from the animals. By counting the per cent reduction in the number of worm eggs in the feces over the course of the drug treatment, we found that while almost all worms had some resistance, the lessened response could also be due to improper dosing. Therefore, part of the job became about educating the Maasai people on the best, most costeffective ways to treat their animals.
did you want to travel to QWhy conduct research? Stefana: I’d experienced working in multiple wet labs by my third year, so I was very curious to experience something totally different by working abroad in a global health setting. I found that conducting research in such a different environment definitely made our team very resourceful and taught me how to do a lot more with a lot less.
Doug: My project was more veterinary
Doug: There’s something really cool about
medicine focused as I studied the presence of helminthic (parasitic worm) infections in livestock. Fortunately, medication does exist to treat helminths, but there has been an increasing resistance to these drugs worldwide. We went from farm to farm
being able to go to a different place and experience a different culture. I just really wanted to go! But also, I am very interested in rural communities, so the opportunity to conduct research in such a remote area strongly appealed to me.
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was the highlight of the trip for QWhat you? What was the low light or most
poverty in this part of the world and not being able to do anything about it. That was hard.
Stefana: My highlight was attending the
you have any advice for students QDointerested in participating in public
difficult circumstance?
graduation ceremony at the end of the course for all the participants we had taught. I remember hearing their stories and how excited they were to apply what they had learned. They were so excited and it was very rewarding for us to see them go forward using the skills from our course. Overall our biggest struggle was having the power go out while teaching how to conduct a PCR or a western blot, and not knowing when it would be restored. Losing power happens commonly in many developing countries so we learned to adapt—I remember Guido showing the class how to do a western blot without electricity using a homemade ionic solution and batteries—it definitely did the trick!
Doug: My highlight was the whole experience. This was the greatest experience I have had in my life. We were camping in Africa with every animal you’ve ever thought of seeing in Africa literally meters from our tents. We also got to immerse ourselves in the Maasai culture, from going to the market with thousands of people trying to sell you cows to attending a wedding. The lowlight was witnessing the pervasive
health research?
Stefana: Do it! We will all prefer to fulfill our scientific curiosity in different ways so find the type of research that is right for you. Try out research in everything from wetlabs to public health to bioinformatics, to find what you are passionate about.
Doug: Be curious about global issues and be interested in the world around you! The interconnection you can discover is truly fascinating.
did going on this trip change QHow your perspective on public health, research, education, etc.?
Stefana: This experience really taught me how to properly approach public health issues. Guido and the team tailor the course each year to meet the needs of the participants. We make sure that the course uses resources already available in the community and also covers the skills participants identified a need to learn.
This is a really effective way of creating sustainable and effective change.
Doug: Parachute researchers jump into an area and tell people what they need to do to make their lives better. My experiences have reinforced for me how ineffective parachute researchers are. You need to partner with local communities to learn what issues affect them and build their capacity to sustain their healthy community! Final words: We were both sold on the program based on these trips so we would highly recommend to any of our fellow students to take advantage of this unique opportunity to both learn and impact a community in such a meaningful way.
Special Section 12
Name: Hannah Holitzki Supervisor: Gregor Wolbring, PhD Year: 3
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y research is on responsible innovation (RI)—a framework that considers the social impact of the development and application of science and technology. My supervisor is Gregor Wolbring, PhD, and I am part of the WolbPack team. One of my focuses is to apply RI to the intersection of emerging technologies and public health, by analyzing the academic literature on the RI framework. These two sectors influence each other. The technologies we value—and subsequently develop—impact public health, while how we look at public health impacts which new technologies we value. My peers are extremely important to me. For example, I found my research project and the WolbPack team through one of my peers. As with all WolbPack members, my supervisor encouraged me to develop a research plan for my topic until the end of my bachelor’s degree. For the remainder of this degree, I plan to conduct research both as coursework and under grants or scholarships available through the University of Calgary. I plan to publish and present at conferences both through the university and elsewhere. My goal is to pursue further education and research in law and technology governance.
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Name: Gurleen Gill Supervisor: Tanvir Chowdhury, PhD Year: 2
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he aim of my project is to assess the content, accessibility, and reliability of immigrant service-providing organizations’ websites across Canada, that contain information about health and accessing health-related resources. Online platforms can be used by organizations to disseminate information in an easy to understand manner. Websites are analyzed and evaluated for health content in four domains: lifestyle and wellness, vulnerable populations, sexual and reproductive health issues, and navigating the health-care system. Findings from this study have the potential to identify aspects that non-profit organizations may address to improve broadcasting health-care access information to new immigrants. Researching and studying at the University of Calgary has given me the opportunity to apply my knowledge from classes in a way that adds to the body of public health literature. The support of my supervisor and an O’Brien Centre Summer Studentship has fostered my interest in promoting health among communities and populations. Working to prevent disease and injury, while embracing today’s challenges by looking for solutions to problems in equitable access to health care, is what drew me to participating in population and public health research.
Name: Marissa Nahirney Supervisor: Kathleen Chaput, PhD Year: 2
U
nder the supervision of Kathleen Chaput, PhD, I am researching the relationship between epidural analgesia and postpartum depression (PPD) within her larger program of research, which aims to improve maternal and infant health outcomes. PPD is a dangerous and common problem for mothers that can impact the health and development of their babies. By identifying successful preventive measures, we can potentially reduce the risk of PPD for mothers. A recent study out of China indicated that epidural analgesia might protect against PPD. However, the study methodology was problematic and the results may be biased (Ding et al., 2014, Chaput and Vinturache, In press). Our research aims to determine if epidural analgesia is in fact protective against PPD in a Canadian population. Our results will help to understand how interventions during labour may impact longterm maternal and child health. I began researching with Dr. Chaput after having discussed my interests with her Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute colleagues. The University of Calgary has afforded me the opportunity to pursue my project by offering independent study courses that complement my BHSc degree.
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Name: Rhianne Fiolka Supervisor: Gavin McCormack, PhD Year: 4
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arks are a public good that can support physical activity in a diverse range of users, regardless of sociodemographic characteristics. Evidence suggests that the quality of urban form may differ based on a neighbourhood’s socioeconomic status. The goal of my research is to better understand the interrelationships between park quality, urban form and neighbourhood socioeconomic status in relation to park use and physical activity. I became interested in research through the encouragement of my professors, who pointed me towards my supervisor, Gavin McCormack, PhD. My first research project was funded through a BHSc O’Brien Summer Studentship. I expanded upon this project through my research practicum course in the BHSc program (Health and Society 408) and will be continuing to focus on parks and physical activity for my honour’s thesis. Volunteering to be involved in research early during my undergraduate studies has allowed me to develop a program of research in an area of particular interest to me. Public health research has the opportunity to challenge health inequalities and ameliorate a population’s health. With my research I hope to bring more attention to the affect geography and urban form have on the health of a population.
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Name: Aryn Lisitza Supervisor: Gregor Wolbring, PhD Year: 3
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am conducting research in the emerging field of ecohealth, which looks at the complex linkages between humans, animals and environments (biological, physical, social, economic) in order to improve the health and wellbeing of people, animals and ecosystems. Ecohealth investigates the topic of public health and bridges it with political ecology. Ecohealth research matters because its exploration of the linkages between humans, animals and environment impacts public health significantly, and provokes initiatives that have the potential to influence the fate of all human societies and the well-being of our planet. The social dimensions of society play a considerable role in health and well-being, which is of great interest to me. This led me to participate in a first-year Health and Society research engagement opportunity offered by the University of Calgary. As a result, I sought and solidified a supervisory relationship with Gregor Wolbring, PhD, who works on ecohealth. I joined the WolbPack team, a collaborative, tight-knit research team, and led many of my peers to do the same. I plan to work on ecohealth throughout my degree and beyond.
Hello, our names are Christian Farrier (above) and Kiran Grant (below). We are second-year students in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program in the Cumming School of Medicine with an interest in the many different disciplines that relate to forming a holistic view of health.
A particular interest of ours is public health, or health and society, which looks at health on the scale of populations. Our goal in publishing this special undergraduate feature was to both give some insight into what public health is while also highlighting research conducted by undergraduates at the University of Calgary and opportunities available to our fellow and prospective classmates! We hope you enjoyed discovering a bit more about this interesting fi eld and about the amazing students and programs we have here at the university.
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Education
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Research
By Sherry Kaniuga
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provide antibiotics for any secondary infections. Strong’s current research is focusing highly on the value of more advanced supportive care.
he animal tracking expedition was all part of Strong’s focus on researching the Ebola virus, which has defined much of his career since attaining his PhD and MD. Finding and testing the critters for Ebola (as part of a study by the Democratic Republic of the Congo government, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. and the Public Health Agency of Canada) was intended to help find out where the virus ‘hides’ between outbreaks, and why Ebola is deadly in some animal species and not others. “Ebola is a nasty virus,” says Strong, who now lives in Winnipeg. “During my graduate work, I did a report on the 1995 outbreak in Kikwit, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ever since then I’ve been intrigued by the virus.” A pediatrician, Strong is currently crossappointed to the departments of pediatrics and child health, and medical microbiology, and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases program at the University of Manitoba. He is also head of the Diagnostics and Therapeutics, Special Pathogens Program at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).
As part of his research with PHAC, Strong has travelled to Africa several times to work in outbreak areas, including Sierra Leone and Guinea, where the most recent outbreak began in the spring of 2014, since killing close to 12,000 people. He is part of a PHAC National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) team that has contributed to the development of a possible Ebola antibody cocktail called ZMapp, now in clinical trials. This group is also behind rVSV-ZEBOV, the new Ebola vaccine declared effective by the World Health Organization (WHO) this past July.
“We know that the Ebola virus kills by basically shutting down all of your organ systems. It’s a bit of a race between that multi-system organ failure and your adaptive immune system, which tends to start to develop into about the second week,” Strong explains.
Strong’s interest in Ebola played a big part in leading the born-and-bred Albertan across the prairies in 1998. “I figured Ebola would be one of the most interesting viruses to study because there wasn’t a lot known about it at the time. There were very large gaps in knowledge that required a (biosafety) Level 4 lab, and I knew Winnipeg was setting up the only Level 4 lab in Canada.” Over three separate fourto six-week deployments during this latest Ebola outbreak, Strong has collaborated with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the WHO. While in Africa, his main role was to focus on diagnostics. “It’s not easy to tell whether somebody has Ebola,” he says. “At first it looks like a more common infection like malaria, typhoid or shigella. Our job is to inactivate a blood sample and extract the RNA from it, then run that on a diagnostic test to see if the patient has Ebola.” The standard treatment for a positive diagnosis is to keep the patient hydrated, maintain perfusion and blood pressure, ensure good nutrition and fluids, and
The ZMapp “cocktail” of three antibodies the PHAC lab helped develop works to augment the adaptive immune response. During the current outbreak, the drug was administered experimentally to some patients, and the hope is that the current clinical trial will result in a treatment that can be used worldwide. The rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine can also augment the adaptive immune system if given early enough or to protect the people around known positive cases (the so-called ring vaccination strategy) as has been successfully shown in the latest WHO trial. While his trips to Ebola outbreak areas have been exhausting and risky, they are also immensely rewarding for Strong. “When a survivor tests negative for the Ebola virus and they get to be discharged, they come out from the high-risk area and there’s a great big celebration. It’s extremely emotional.”
Research
“When children first come in they can put a teddy bear in the machine, they can put one of us or Mom or Dad in the machine…whatever they need to do to feel comfortable and to make this fun”
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Once upon an MRI... T
o a child, undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be scary. The machine is loud, it’s claustrophobic; it’s something they’ve most likely never seen before. They also have to keep completely still for the duration of the test, which can last anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. This poses a particular problem for scientists like Catherine Lebel, PhD, who depend on this type of imaging for their research. Lebel, an assistant professor in the Department of Radiology and a member of the University of Calgary’s Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, is part of a team of researchers, which includes Signe Bray, PhD, and Frank MacMaster, PhD, who recently received funding to purchase something called a mock MRI scanner. Set up earlier this year, the scanner is designed to prepare children and their families in advance of undergoing a real MRI. Currently, it is primarily used with children having an MRI for research purposes; however, it has also been used to prepare children for clinical MRI exams. With the exception of producing images, the mock MRI scanner functions in the same way a real MRI machine does. Well that, and the MRI machine is a spaceship and the patient is training to become an astronaut. Conceptualized and designed by Lebel’s research assistant, Ashleigh Frayne (now a first-year medical student at the University of Calgary), the space-mission themed MRI experience includes everything from a takehome children’s book (written and illustrated
by Frayne as well), to playtime with the machine, to an astronaut certificate when they have completed their mission. “When children first come in they can put a teddy bear in the machine, they can put one of us or Mom or Dad in the machine…whatever they need to do to feel comfortable and to make this fun,” says Lebel. “It really depends on the child, but we do our best to accommodate their needs.” While the focus is on making the children comfortable, Lebel says the spaceship experience has also benefitted the parents. “We’ve noticed one of the biggest deterrents to the success of the scans is
by Kathryn Kazoleas
how comfortable the parents are with the whole procedure and how well they’ve been able to prepare their child and talk to their child about it,” she says, adding that while only the child will become a certified astronaut, the parents are welcome to have as much or as little involvement in the experience as they like. “It’s a good chance for parents to ask any questions they have about the procedure so they can also talk to their child about it.”
Natalie Lebel (left) with Catherine Lebel (right).
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Natalie Lebel (left) with Catherine Lebel (right).
Beneficial tool for research:
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ebel’s research focuses on brain development in children—how the brain changes, both structurally and functionally, with age. With a number of research interests, she has a particular focus in altered trajectories (developmental disorders). “Ultimately if we understand how the healthy brain develops and how the brains of children with developmental disorders develop, we can figure out the best time to intervene and to help maximize the effectiveness of intervention,” she says. Lebel is currently investigating topics such as language development and reading disorders. By imaging the brains of children before they begin reading and at intervals for two-and-a-half to three years, or until they start school, she and her team can test their reading readiness and how it relates to their brain development, as articulated through MRI imaging.
Studying the developing brain in children as young as two, her research depends on clear and precise images that rely on complete stillness. “We need images that are suitable for processing through our analysis tools and often those tools are highly sensitive to even a small amount of motion,” she says. “So they can’t be too scared or anxious. They have to be relaxed.” Lebel says the feedback she’s been receiving in response to using the mock MRI scanner for her studies thus far has been positive and she anticipates that the preparation will translate to an increase in useable images. “The scanner is facilitating research that we wouldn’t be able to do otherwise,” she says.
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Did you know? -Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses magnetic fields and radio waves to create images of various parts of the body. It does not use ionizing radiation. -Because the MRI experience can be scary for children, they often have to undergo general anesthesia, which comes with its own risks. One upcoming study at the University of Calgary will be looking at the effectiveness of using the mock scanner to prepare children for a real MRI and if it can reduce the need for general anesthesia.
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Research
by Doug Ferguson
G
etting cross-checked into the boards while playing hockey has earned Keegan Gamble a spot on a different kind of team.
melatonin pills taken nightly before bedtime are effective compared to a sugar placebo in treating post-concussion syndrome, as well as quickening recovery from concussions.
The 10-year-old is taking part in the Play Game study at the Cumming School of Medicine, which is testing whether melatonin can help young children and teenagers recover from post-concussion syndrome. It is also looking at why kids such as Keegan never develop the disorder.
“This is the only drug treatment trial in humans for post-concussion syndrome that I know about,” says Barlow, an associate professor of pediatrics and clinical neurosciences at the Cumming School of Medicine and a member of the university’s Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI).
“I hit the boards with my head and I hit the back of my head on the ice really hard,” says Keegan, who was wearing a helmet at the time. “I recovered from my concussion really quickly, so they told me they wanted to figure out how I did it.”
Regarded as safe for children, melatonin is a brain hormone that helps control things such as sleep. “There is some evidence to suggest that it might also protect the brain during an injury, and might help it recover afterwards,” says Barlow, who is also a pediatric neurologist at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. But the mechanisms that cause some kids to suffer the syndrome, while others do not, are unknown. “Our study is novel because we are looking at the neurobiological underpinnings of persistent symptoms to see if we can predict which children will get better,” she says.
Most of the children who receive concussions are like Keegan, generally recovering in about two to three weeks. But about 14 per cent develop post-concussion syndrome, with symptoms ranging from headaches, fatigue and an inability to concentrate at school, to problems such as dizziness, memory loss and changes in personality. About 1,000 Canadian children per year suffer for more than 12 months from the condition, says Dr. Karen Barlow, the study’s lead investigator. This creates significant disabilities at a time when children must gain knowledge and skills vital for their mental growth, she says. Researchers are conducting a randomized control study of 160 children between ages eight and 18. They are being tested to see if
The study includes cognitive testing of children using game-like computer programs. Things such as MRI scans will create images of the children’s brains as they press buttons in response to memory puzzles and tasks. Besides Barlow, the large research team includes Deborah Dewey, PhD, a professor of pediatrics and community health sciences at the Cumming School, director of the Behavioral Research Institute at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, and a member of ACHRI. The study is to be expanded this year to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, finishing in 2018. “I’m happy to be a part of the study to help the doctors figure out how to help other kids recover from their concussions more quickly,” says Keegan. For more information, visit playgametrial.ca
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Community Engagement
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Zoey Duncan (left) with Dr. Norman Schachar (right).
Dr.
Norman Schachar, professor in the Department of Surgery, Section of Orthopaedics, joined the University of Calgary’s medical school in 1970. Almost half a century later, he has published a first-hand account of his experiences in the department; according to Schachar, he wrote it down so he wouldn’t forget. Where did the idea for this book come from? I was tasked by Dr. John Kortbeek, head of the Department of Surgery. He caught me one too many times in the hall talking to students, or anybody who would listen, about what it was like in the good old days (or in the bad old days), or really, what it was like in the beginning. Everybody here thinks it was always like this, but you have no idea what it was like. I like to tell stories and to talk about me—like a lot of people do—and I guess I got caught doing that too many times and Dr. Kortbeek
said, ‘you’ve got to do this book’. He actually appointed me historian of the department. Have you ever done anything like this before? No. I’ve published scientific papers and written review papers. I found this way more fun because you can speak in everyday language. My co-author Zoey Duncan really made that happen. We talked for hours and hours about the stories and Zoey would put it all together—I’d go all the way forward (in the timeline) and want to go back again. When did you decide to get a co-author and how did you find her? It was very difficult to get started. Dr. Kortbeek had given me an honorarium to keep me hooked; I couldn’t walk away from it but I really wasn’t getting anywhere. My wife, who is much more honourable than I
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Surgeon’s day was Dr. Kortbeek’s idea of a book launch. It was all surgeons and their families, and Zoey and her family joined us at the head table. We signed about 300 books for everybody who came. This whole thing was just like a miracle from the day Zoey knocked on my front door to the day the books arrived. What would you say to someone who wants to do something like this but has never done anything like it before?
am, would keep reminding me that he would want to know how the book was coming. Then one day, as fate would have it, we rented some property to Zoey’s family. When Zoey came to drop off the cheque she left her card. It read ‘ZEDS Comic Communication —our business is a joke’ and I said to myself, ‘I have to talk to these people’. What was the writing process like? Zoey gave me some homework but I didn’t get far with that either. I got some chapter titles and ideas I wanted. Because I like to tell stories, and Zoey is such a good listener, I told my story and she provoked me with questions. I don’t know how many hours of interviews we ended up doing (on top of one-on-one interviews between Zoey and myself)…maybe 50? I think we did 27 interviews with my colleagues, past and present.
The book has a comical side which isn’t something you’d normally expect to read in a history book, much less from a surgeon. Why did you decide to take a humorous approach to the book? History books can tend to get dry and dusty. They try to be interesting but sometimes they’re just not captivating so you don’t want to stick with it. At least if someone laughs while you’re talking to them you know they’re listening to you somewhat. (Zoey) We didn’t want a super formal history textbook. It was supposed to be a story book— sharing Norman’s stories through the years. (Norman) I’m the constant, so it’s a history of the Department of Surgery as I’ve lived it. The book was available for Surgeon’s Day this past June, what was that like?
I think a lot of people have a book in them. It’s a time consuming undertaking, but I think if you want to tell a story, if you have a story, you should tell it. With all the technology everywhere there are lots of ways. I think teamwork is essential. I can stand up and give a talk or presentation no problem but every time I would sit down in front of that paper, it crushed my story somehow. I found it constricting, which is why I found Zoey. There are a lot of parallels here with the growth of medical knowledge and scientific research. Whether you’re talking about starting a lab or writing a book, the day of the lone researcher or single-centre trial is gone. What advice would you offer your readers? Read the book in the spirit in which it was written. It’s a light hearted book and I wanted it to be funny. It’s a surgeon’s memories; my memories.
The Department, a Surgeon’s Memories…Before I Forget is available at the Health Sciences Medical Bookstore at Foothills Campus. All proceeds will go to the Schachar Education Fund. Dr. Norman Schachar is also a member of the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health. Co-Author Zoey Duncan is a journalist, writing coach and comedy trainer with ZEDS Creative Content, her family’s business.
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Research
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Cumming School professor using anti-seizure diet to drive world class epilepsy research By Quentin Collier
the world, many fundamental questions about the diet still remain unanswered. “We still don’t understand how it works— how does a dietary treatment really induce an anti-seizure response?” Answering that question has led him, his team and collaborators to numerous studies at both the cellular level and with various animal models, including knockout mice and zebrafish. “Our laboratory has been focused on the mitochondria within cells because they are the energy factories that keep the cells alive and functioning.” They’ve discovered that the diet, and the ketone bodies it produces, provides not only anti-seizure effects, but neuro-protective actions as well.
Dr. Jong Rho is also section head of Pediatric Neurology at the Alberta Children’s Hospital and the current holder of the Dr. Robert Haslam Chair in Child Neurology
umming School of Medicine researchers at the Alberta Children’s Hospital are attracting global attention for their studies of a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that can reduce or eliminate seizures in patients. For patients who don’t respond to drugs or aren’t candidates for surgery, the diet is often a last-ditch effort to control the disease, says Dr. Jong Rho, a professor in the departments of paediatrics, clinical neurosciences, and physiology and pharmacology, and member of the university’s Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) and brain and mental health Epilepsy NeuroTeam. “We’ve had a lot of drugs come out in the last 20 years but, sadly, the efficacy rate for controlling seizures has remained pretty flat,” says Rho. “In epilepsy, we still have that 30 to 40 per cent of patients who don’t respond to any drug.” The ketogenic diet, however, has produced positive results for some of those refractory patients. But, despite an explosion of interest in the diet in hospitals and universities around
“We’ve examined several targets within the mitochondrial respiratory chain as well as the molecular entity known as the ‘mitochondrial permeability transition’ pore—the death switch of the cell,” he says. A paper recently published by the Rho lab in the Annals of Neurology showed, “that the direct modulation of that target can induce the anti-seizure effects that we see with the ketogenic diet in a clinically relevant animal model of epilepsy.” A $3-million Brain Canada grant awarded last year with colleague Deborah Kurrasch, PhD, is being used to develop an in vitro screening process for anti-seizure drugs, based on neurometabolic readouts. They’re researching ways to test the half dozen potential candidates identified after examining over 1,000 compounds. “The idea is that you do the initial screening in zebrafish—and then we take the hits and we validate them in homologue models of diseases like epilepsy and with the specific mutations that have been identified in both patients and in animals with epilepsy.” The next step would skip forward to a clinical trial, says Rho, because the compounds being tested are already FDA approved.
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Ironically, the research, which was instigated because drug therapies weren’t always effective, could result in a new drug—or a ‘diet in a pill’. “In essence, what this is doing, is converging historical drug development for epilepsy with the newly appreciated understanding of metabolism as being very pivotal—in a sense, the two fields are coming together.” The benefits could also reach far beyond epilepsy. Because metabolism is fundamental to cellular function, numerous studies are investigating how the ketogenic diet, and the changes it induces in the body, can benefit other diseases. “It might be efficacious for Alzheimer’s, dementia, brain cancer, autism, multiple sclerosis, neuro-trauma; even common things like headache,” he says. At the Alberta Children’s Hospital, his goal is to completely change the paradigm for treating epilepsy. Instead of treating seizures, he wants to modify the disease—and prevent epilepsy for those at risk. “If you put someone on the ketogenic diet, their epilepsy may actually be positively influenced such that they could come off the diet and remain seizure free,” he says. “In fact, in the pediatric experience, that is often the case—those who respond very well to the diet can be taken off the diet and still be seizure free.” Those successes are consistently putting Calgary on the map when it comes to ketogenic and brain metabolism research, says Rho. “In terms of the next five years of strategic program development here at the Children’s— and also through ACHRI and collaborations with the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the Department of Clinical Neurosciences—we can create in international niche area in metabolic therapies for neurological diseases.”
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Philanthropy
by Steve MacFarlane
N
ick Ostan had a choice to make. The University of Toronto was pursuing the up-and-coming young researcher. So was Queen’s, where he’d graduated this past May with a specialized BSc honours degree in biochemistry. But the University
of Calgary had an opportunity that was too good to refuse for the first year MSc student in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases.
J
aye Platnich (BSc ‘12), a first-year student in the Leaders in Medicine program, is researching a specific group of proteins that have been associated with
chronic kidney disease. By examining how they function in a disease environment versus a healthy one, Platnich may be able to determine whether the
Ostan has been given the chance to dive headfirst into a research project at UCalgary that will ultimately offer public access to vaccines which could eradicate diseases such as meningitis. “I joined at a really exciting time,” says Ostan, one of the Beverley Phillips Rising Stars scholars—a philanthropically-funded program at the Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases made possible by a generous $1-million-dollar donation from Calgarians Gord and Beverley Phillips. The program is aimed at attracting the best and brightest graduate students to continue their innovative research training at the Cumming School of Medicine.
proteins are good markers for predicting outcomes or targets for treatment. Studying under supervisor Dr. Dan Muruve, Platnich believes the Rising Stars program has given him a great jumpstart to his career as a clinician scientist. The program offers the ability to publish their early findings and gain the exposure needed to apply for larger external funding awards through agencies such as Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions or the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. This award selects those poised to make a difference in their fields, and recruits are expected to be highly competitive for future funding based on their early performance. “This is such a great opportunity,” says Platnich. “If you don’t have a very
“There’s a lot of work accelerating really quickly.” By discovering exactly how an infection like meningitis grows by stealing iron from specific proteins in our cells, Ostan is part of a team that could take vaccine effectiveness for meningitis and likeminded viruses from 50 percent to 100 percent effectiveness by protecting the proteins with engineered antigens—a substance that causes the immune system to produce antibodies to fight infection.
strong publication record going into it, you virtually stand no chance of getting funded externally until you’ve got a couple of papers. Because of the Rising Stars program, I will be able to build the base for the future.”
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Back row (left to right): Erik van Tilburg Bernardes, Gord Phillips, Nick Ostan Front row (left to right): Jaye Platnich, Beverley Phillips, Ania Zuba, Elizabeth Morgan
A
nia Zuba (BHSc ‘12), a first-year PhD student, is studying the cells that protect the lymph nodes. The use of cuttingedge intravital microscopy allows her to watch live interactions between cells and the lymph nodes in order to understand how
the immune system responds to infection and how bacteria and viruses spread through the lymphatic system. Understanding how the lymph node works at the first point of attack could lead to advanced treatments to prevent spread early on.
Others who have received the two-year award are focusing their research in diverse areas, from infections of the gut, to diabetes and high blood pressure.
“It may not be in my lifetime but talking to Dr. Kubes about the work taking place here, researchers sometimes make discoveries while looking for answers to something else.”
These future leaders in chronic disease research are selected twice annually thanks to the Phillips. It was after meeting with the Snyder Institute’s Paul Kubes, PhD, that the idea of such a program was born, supporting the next generation of medical difference-makers. The number of awardees can vary annually based on applications solicited from prospective trainees, be they masters students, PhD candidates or postdoctoral fellows.
Longtime supporters of the University of Calgary, the Phillips are gratified to help young people in their goal to change lives for the better through their work. They also hope the program will make Calgary a place where better outcomes across a broad spectrum of disease are possible.
“We were so intrigued with everything that was being done at the institute already,” says Beverley, who lives with arthritis, diabetes and chronic pain issues herself. “There’s always a hope someone will come upon something big with their research, particularly for diabetes.
“I didn’t realize how competitive it was trying to bring in these kids, recruiting them from all over the world,” says Gord. “But what better place to do your research than here?”
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Alumni
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Dr. Kym Boycott (PhD ‘97, MD ‘00) is the recipient of the Cumming School of Medicine’s Alumna of Distinction Award for Research in recognition of her accomplishments in the area of medical genetics and rare diseases research. Her work focuses on single gene mutations and using next generation sequencing to better understand the causes of rare genetic diseases. In an effort to increase efficiency and improve patient outcomes, she established the FORGE Canada initiative, a network of Canadian scientists collaborating to allow rapid discovery and diagnosis of
Why did you choose the Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHSc) bioinformatics stream? Before I went to university, my background was in information technology and web development. I was really interested in combining computer science and biology, and it was one of the first programs that offered bioinformatics as a specialization. What does your career look like now?
Name: David Caplan Program: Bachelor of Health Sciences, Bioinformatics Graduation Year: 2008
I’ve been involved in the technical aspects of a number of startup companies. Currently, I have a startup in New York City called SolveBio. We just started two years ago and basically our goal is to make it easier to access genetic reference data. When companies do genetic testing they need to curate people’s genetic variation and do things like clinical reporting. We help with that process.I’ve also been involved with the technical side of a company that was essentially a web tool
rare childhood genetic disorders. Her newest project, Care for Rare, includes research, clinical translation, new treatments, advocacy and public education about rare diseases. Dr. Boycott is a medical geneticist and research scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and is an associate professor, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Medicine. She will receive her award on November 19 at UCalgary’s ARCH Awards Ceremony.
for researchers, and a web company working on movie and internet video streaming. I was even involved in a neck tie company a friend of mine started. He was very interested in fashion and asked me to help out, so I helped with e-commerce and website building. What would you have to say to those interested in pursuing a BHSc, specializing in bioinformatics? You’ll have a lot of opportunities to do research, field work and to work with different people during your undergrad, so it’s important to try as many things as possible. The whole industry is taking off right now. It’s a great time to be able to program and understand biology.
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Share your news, interests, achievements, hobbies and activities with us! We want to hear about your accomplishments—professional and personal!
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aul Beck (MD ’90) has been awarded a Killam Annual Professorship. Killam Annual Professors are selected for demonstrating excellence in research and teaching for 10 years or more, while serving their academic discipline and their community outside the university.
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arbara Law (MD ’75) was awarded the Canadian Immunization Conference’s 2014 John Waters Memorial Award for her contributions to the public health agenda in the areas of communicable disease control, immunization and vaccine safety.
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yclist Kate O’Brien (PhD ’15) and her teammate Monique Sullivan won gold in the women’s team sprint at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto. Kate also won a silver medal in the individual sprint competition. Kate studied in the graduate science program under Roman Krawetz, PhD.
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imon Bryant (MD ’91) has been awarded a 2015 Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Calgary. Dr. Bryant recently served a six-month mission with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on their first ocean-based rescue and medical clinic, The Phoenix, in the Mediterranean.
The Cumming School of Medicine Alumni Office wants to honour your successes. Let us know about your new jobs, awards and achievements so we can celebrate with you and share your accolades with fellow graduates. We also realize that life is about more than just work. Keep us posted on your triumphs and talents outside the office— we’d love to hear about them too! Have a shy colleague? Brag on their behalf! Contact info: medalum@ucalgary.ca
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