Research Innovations at UHN

TGRI Team Attacks the OTHER Mosquito-borne Disease


Using synthetic Vitamin A (called retinoids) to block the cellular agents that cause inflammation, Dr. Kevin Kain—senior scientist at TGRI/TGH and Director of the Centre for Travel and Tropical Medicine—is helping to curb the global threat of malaria.

Malaria is an infectious disease spread by mosquitoes infected with the Plasmodium parasite. It afflicts between 300 and 500 million people worldwide, destroying red blood cells and causing inflammation. It has become increasingly resistant to standard therapies.

Building on findings reported in The Lancet in April 2002, Dr. Kain has received $800,000 from the CIHR to investigate the cellular effects and conduct a clinical trial in the developing world that will use vitamin A as a strategy to prevent severe and cerebral malaria. The trial will involve 1000 patients and is set to begin early in 2004.

With the help of UHN's RBDO, Dr. Kain has successfully patented the use of retinoids as therapeutic agents for the treatment of malaria, and this clinical trial represents an important first step in treating and managing this disease.

Institute: TGRI/TGH
Division: Genomic Medicine
Priority Platform: Genes, Proteins & People

OCI Collaboration Sheds Light on Breast Cancer Risk

Drs. Brian Wilson, Norman Boyd and Lothar Lilge of OCI/PMH, with help of the RBDO, have applied to patent a practical new screening tool that uses natural light rather than harmful X-rays to measure breast density, a major risk factor in developing breast cancer.


The new tool is an offshoot of Dr. Boyd's long-term study on breast cancer risk. “Once we knew that breast density was a risk factor, there was a great opportunity for collaboration with Drs. Lilge and Wilson. Their Biophotonics Group has much experience in developing new optical technologies,” says Dr. Boyd.

This new tool will complement mammography for screening and enable women to begin to monitor their breast density at an earlier age. Dr. Boyd says, “We expect that this technology will ultimately lead to enhanced cancer prevention, since women will be able to act on this knowledge and make lifestyle changes that will help them reduce other risk factors.”

This technology is currently in clinical trails and 300 PMH patients have already been tested.

Institute: OCI/PMH
Divisions: Epidemiology, Statistics & Behavioural Research; Medical Physics
Priority Platforms: Health Informatics; Medical Technology Innovation

TWRI Harnesses Viruses for Scientific Benefit


Dr. Rod Bremner—senior scientist in the Division of Cell and Molecular Biology at TWRI/TWH, and scientist at TWRI's Vision Science Research Program—has developed an easy-to-use system to generate large quantities of specific proteins for biochemical studies.
By infecting healthy cells with the Semliki Forest Virus (SFV)—a genetically modified monkey virus—Dr. Bremner has created a system to deliver genetic material to a cell or organism.

“Using this system, we can 'hijack' the cell and get it to produce up to 25% of its own proteins as our proteins,” says Dr. Bremner. “Many companies are interested in this technology as a way of making therapeutic proteins or vaccines against diseases such as herpes, hepatitis and cancer. We’ve distributed it to 100 laboratories and companies around the world.”

Institute: TWRI/TWH
Division: Cell and Molecular Biology
Priority Platform: Genes, Proteins & People

UHN Entrepreneurs Score Big with Investors


Entrepreneurship is another aspect of innovation at UHN. Under the leadership of dynamic researchers, particularly promising ideas or techniques can be spun out into the marketplace. The company described below is one such example at UHN.

A multi-million dollar biotech company that was the brainchild of two OCI/PMH scientists is leading the way in bringing the science of structural genomics out of the lab and into the business world.

Founded in August 2000 by OCI/PMH scientists Drs. Aled Edwards and Cheryl Arrowsmith (and UT professor Dr. Jack Greenblatt), Affinium Pharmaceuticals—previously Integrative Proteomics Inc.—uses genetically engineered bacteria and insect cells to produce proteins, and uses technologies such as NMR, mass spectrometry and X-ray crystallography to visualize 3-D molecular images of them. This knowledge forms the basis of structure-based drug design to develop new therapies.

“Affinium grew out of our first company, Chalon Biotech, which was founded at OCI/PMH in the late 1990’s. UHN 'incubated' our fledgling company by providing laboratory space and infrastructure to help get our business off the ground,” says Dr. Arrowsmith. In return, UHN negotiated a 10% equity stake in Chalon.

Since its inception, Affinium has raised over $33M US, and it recently announced a major strategic alliance with Pfizer Inc. and a venture with GlaxoSmithKline in the area of structure-guided drug discovery.

Institute: OCI/PMH
Division: Molecular and Structural Biology
Priority Platform: Genes, Proteins & People

Supporting Research: UHN's RBDO