Year 2005 Achievements at UHN

The following research breakthroughs are only a selection of the achievements made by UHN researchers this year. For more research stories see Net Results and Net Results EXPRESS.

January
A groundbreaking discovery by Dr. Mitsu Ikura and PhD candidate Ivan Bosanac will lead to the development of new therapies for treating and preventing heart and brain disorders. In collaboration with Dr. Katsuhiko Mikoshiba of the University of Tokyo, Dr. Ikura used special molecular imaging techniques to visualize the IP 3 receptor molecule in three-dimensions. [More] (PubMed abstract)

February
Following amputation, many people retain an awareness of, and may still feel pain in, their missing limb. Referred to as "phantom limb awareness", a recent study by Drs. Karen Davis and Joel Katz and PhD student Judith Hunter provides new information about this unusual phenomenon. They found that despite having both similar injuries and phantom limb awareness, sensory abnormalities varied from person to person. [More] (PubMed abstract)

March
A team of UHN researchers including Drs. Tak Mak, Fei-Fei Liu, Armen Manoukian, Ming Tsao and student Raymond Kim have discovered that a molecule called DJ-1-previously implicated in Parkinson disease-plays a role in the development of cancer. Using a genetic screening method in fruit flies, they discovered that DJ-1 prevents the tumour suppressor molecule PTEN from doing its job. [More] (PubMed abstract)

March
In collaboration with a team of Toronto scientists, Drs. Andres Lozano, Sidney Kennedy and Dr. Helen Mayberg (Emory University School of Medicine) recently showed that deep brain stimulation -a procedure usually reserved for treating Parkinson disease and epilepsy-alleviates severe depression. [More] (PubMed abstract)

April
A molecular link between the immune and hormonal systems was recently discovered by UHN's Drs. Sylvia Asa and Shereen Ezzat. The link may explain why some people have difficulty fighting off infections, and why some are more likely to develop autoimmune diseases. [More] (PubMed abstract)

May
New research by UHN's Drs. Ian McGilvray and Jenny Heathcote have put health care providers one step closer to providing personalized care for the 230,000 Canadians with Hepatitis C. The research team used advanced genomics techniques and microarray technology to identify a subset of 18 genes that can predict a patient's response to therapy. [More] (PubMed abstract)

June
Drs. John Floras and Douglas Bradley were the first to discover that treating obstructive sleep apnea decreases sympathetic activation in patients with heart failure—a condition where the heart is unable to pump enough blood through the body. [More] (PubMed abstract)

July
A National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group study, led by Dr. Frances Shepherd in collaboration with Dr. Andrea Bezjak and 17 other researchers from eight different countries, showed that erlotinib-a drug that curbs cells from growing and multiplying-can prolong survival for some non-small cell lung cancer patients who have been treated previously. [More] (PubMed abstract)

August
Drs. Tak Mak and Rama Khokha discovered that the molecular switch RhoC is crucial for tumour metastasis-the spread of cancer from one part of the body to another. [More] (PubMed abstract)

August
Researchers Drs. Wen-Chen Yeh, Razq Hakem, Tak Mak and Pam Ohashi determined that cFLIP is critical for maintaining immune cell survival, a process that, when unregulated, may lead to cancers of the immune system such as lymphoma. [More] (PubMed abstract)

September
A team led by Dr. Razq Hakem has added new evidence for the role of caspase-8 in immune regulation. This may shed light on why caspase-8 deficient patients have symptoms of immune deficiency, as well as autoimmunity. [More] (PubMed abstract)

October
A team led by Drs. Peter Liu, Mansoor Husain and Wen-Chen Yeh, discovered that myeloid differentiation factor-88 (MyD-88), a protein critical to the innate immune response to pathogens, appears to have a novel function mediating the host inflammatory response to viral infection. [More] (PubMed abstract)

November
A team of researchers led by Drs. Douglas Bradley, Alexander Logan, and John Floras recently showed that treatment with continuous positive airway pressure in patients with both central sleep apnea and heart failure reduced the frequency of central sleep apnea episodes and improved other health factors. [More] (PubMed abstract)

December
UHN researchers Drs. Gregory Downey and Patrick Shannon led a team that discovered that Meg2 protein has a crucial role in the early development of mice and the activation of white blood cells in adult mice. [More] (PubMed abstract)

December
Dr. Cathy Barr was part of a team including postdoctoral fellow Dr. Nancy Laurin, that identified calcyon—a gene that encodes for a brain-specific protein—as a risk factor for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). [More] (PubMed abstract )