Canadian Society for Life Science Research

The 3rd Annual CSLSR Meeting will be held at
Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario
November 7 & 8, 2008

Preliminary Keynote Speaker List:

Dr. Albert J. Aguayo - Director of the Center for Research in Neuroscience, McGill University

Albert J. Aguayo is a Professor and former Director of the Centre for Research
in Neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. A scientific journal editor, as
well as a member of several Editorial Boards, he has authored more than 150 scientific
publications. He is the recipient of several awards and of honorary degrees from the
University of Lund (Sweden) and Queen's University (Canada). The awards include the
Gairdner International Prize, Wakeman (USA), Helmerich (USA), Ameritec (USA),
Ipsen (France), Leo Parizeau (Canada), Cotzias (USA), Wilder-Penfield (Prix du
Québec), the Alcon Research Institute Award for Vision Research (USA), the Killam
Prize (Canada), the Christopher Reeve Medal (USA), The ER Golden Jubilee Medal
(Canada) , the J.E. Purkinje Honorary Medal for Merit by the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic and the CMA’s F.N.G. Starr Achievement Award (Canada) . He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Institute of Medicine of the National
Academy of Sciences (USA), an Officer of the Order of Canada. and has received
Honorary Memberships in several professional organizations including the Latin American Academy of Sciences, The European Neurological Society, Ontario Neurotrauma Honorary Directorship, The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives Distinguished Leadership in Neurosciences.

His past and current administrative responsibilities include the Presidency of the Society for Neuroscience (USA), the Canadian Neurological Society and the Canadian Association of Neuroscientists. He has served as Scientific Director of the Canadian Network of Centres of Excellence in Neuroscience, Chairman of the Council of Scientists of the Human Frontier Science Program (Strasbourg), and been a member of a number of scientific advisory and review boards, including the Medical Research Council of Canada, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (USA), the American Paraplegic Association, the Pew Charitable Trusts (USA), the Rick Hansen Legacy Fund (Canada), the Grass Foundation (USA), the Max-Planck Institute at Martinsried, Germany (Chair), the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, C.H. (Chair), the Riken Institute's Frontier Research Program (Japan), the Ipsen Foundation (France), the Neuroscience Canada Foundation, the Leloir Institute for Medical Research in Argentina
(Chair) , the Institutos Cientificos Milenio (Chile), the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation (USA) and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Professor Aguayo has taught at institutions in various parts of the world, including the Marine Biology Laboratories in Woods Hole (USA), Cold Spring Harbor (USA), the Society for Neuroscience’s “Neurobiology of Disease” and IBROsponsored schools and courses in the Philippines, Sri-Lanka, Spain, Morocco, South Africa and Uruguay.

He served as Secretary General of the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) from 2001 to 2003 and in 2004 was elected President of this Organization. IBRO is an ICSU and UNESCO affiliate that represents over 50,000 neuroscientists from 62 countries. Its headquarters are in Paris.

Aguayo’s main scientific interest is in the study of the mammalian central nervous system's capacity for regeneration and repair.

Talk: A Potential for Repair in the Central Nervous System ?

Elizabeth A. Eisenhauer, MD, FRCP (C) - President of the National Cancer Institute of Canada

Obtained her MD from Queen’s University Kingston, Canada in 1976 and subsequently completed Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Canada) training in both Internal Medicine and Hematology. In 1982 she became Director of the Investigational New Drug Program (IND) of the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group (NCIC CTG) where her major responsibilities lie in identifying and bringing into clinical trial novel cancer agents. She is also a Professor in the Department of Oncology at Queen’s University.

Her major research interest has been the evaluation of new anti-cancer agents. Through her work in the IND Program at NCIC CTG coordinating over 170 phase I, II and III trials carried out in institutions in Canada, the US and Europe. These have included some of the first trials of paclitaxel and docetaxel, studies of topotecan, gemcitabine, various targeted antisense agents and small molecule signaling inhibitors.

Dr. Eisenhauer has also has served on committees of many national and international bodies including the National Cancer Institute of Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the US National Cancer Institute.

In 1998 she was the Michel Clavel Award lecturer at the NCI-EORTC Symposium on New Drugs in Cancer Treatment held in Amsterdam. In 2002 she was awarded the O. Harold Warwick Prize by the National Cancer Institute of Canada that recognizes a scientist whose research has had a major impact in Cancer Control in Canada.

In 2002 she was appointed to the Board of Directors of the National Cancer Institute of Canada and in June 2006 became President of NCIC.

Stephen Scherer, PhD, FRSC - Senior Scientist and Professor
Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto

Professor Scherer is perhaps best known for his co-discovery of the most common type of genetic variation in the human genome – so-called copy number variations of DNA and genes. Most recently, his lab and collaborators discovered just such copy number variation appears to cause at least some cases of autism. Dr. Scherer's lab- one of the busiest in the world- has also collaborated (with Craig Venter of the U.S.A.) on the decoding of chromosome 7 and helped generate the first genetic sequence of an individual. Dr. Scherer has published more than 250 scientific papers and has received a host of honours, including the prestigious Steacie Prize in the Natural Sciences, Canada's Top 40 Under 40 Award, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholarship. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Scholar of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and on the Council of the Human Genome Organization.

Talk: Knowing your genome: information like no other

Dr. Jake Barralet, Canada Research Chair in Osteoinductive Biomaterials

Dr. Barralet is an Associate Professor in the faculty of Dentistry at McGill University. He gained a BEng in Materials Science at the University of Leeds and a PhD in Bioceramics from Queen Mary University, London. After a postdoc at Tokyo Medical Dental University he joined Smith & Nephew’s group research centre. He then began an academic career at the University of Birmingham and has been at McGill University for four years. He studies bioceramics for bone grafting and other applications and is interested in nanoparticle synthesis from aqueous systems.

Tentative Talk title: Bioceramics: Between a rock and a hard phase

Dr. Michael Sven Pollanen - Chief Forensic Pathologist for the Province of Ontario

BSc. (Guelph) 1992, Ph.D. (Toronto) 1995, MD (Toronto) 1999. Dr. Pollanen is the Chief Forensic Pathologist for the province of Ontario, an Associate Professor of Pathology in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and an Associate Professor of Forensic Science at the University of Toronto (Mississauga). He holds specialty certification in Anatomical Pathology as Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (FRCPC), and is qualified in Forensic Pathology as a diplomate in Medical Jurisprudence in Pathology [DMJ (Path)] from the Society of Apothecaries of London, England. He is also a member of the Royal College of Pathologists (United Kingdom) (MRCPath). Dr. Pollanen is the consulting forensic pathologist for Bermuda. Dr. Pollanen's international forensic work includes missions including postings in East Timor, Cambodia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. He was the forensic pathologist on the Canadian forensic team to Southern Thailand after the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Dr. Pollanen trains international clinical fellows and oversees graduate research as well as doing undergraduate teaching in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology. He maintains an interest in post-conviction pathology reviews and has played a role in the Truscott and Mullins Johnson appeals as well as the Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario.

Dr. David Shindler, Executive Director of Biodiscovery Toronto

Dr. Shindler has recently been appointed as Executive Director of BioDiscovery
Toronto. BioDiscovery Toronto comprises 9 of Toronto's leading research universities and hospital research institutes, and has a mandate to enhance technology transfer and commercialization based on Toronto's world-class biomedical research. BioDiscovery Toronto is developing strategic relationships with local and international industry partners to further its commercial objectives. BioDiscovery's office is located at MaRS, in the core of Toronto's Discovery District.
Dr. Shindler previously served for 6 years as founding President and CEO of Milestone Medica Corporation, a seed venture investment and management company, working with Canada's top biomedical research centres in order to create innovative health products. The fund is fully invested and he is currently a Director of the Corporation. Between 1990 and 1998, Dr. Shindler served as Senior Executive and Commercial Director of the Canadian Genetic Diseases Network, headquartered at UBC, Vancouver. Before that, with Industry Canada he was responsible for Canada's National Biotechnology Strategy, and also served as Counselor - Science and Technology, at the Canadian High Commission in London, England. His Ph.D. is from the University of Ottawa with specialization in microbiology and biochemistry.

Andrew Maxwell - Biotechnology Entrepreneurship

Andrew started his career working for two technology multinationals, in Europe and North America. He was attracted by the lure of an entrepreneurial activity and left to found two environmental technology companies with his customers. Enjoying this experience, he went on to create a wireless, medical device and web company and found the excitement of new technology ventures alluring. He subsequently joined the U of T’s Innovation Foundation and founded its technology incubator where he helped create 30 technology businesses, as well as teaching at the Rotman School of Business. He is currently working at the Canadian Innovation Centre and pursuing a Ph.D. in the area of new venture creation at the University of Waterloo. In his spare time he enjoys teaching at UTM and Waterloo in the area of technology entrepreneurship.

Translational Dentistry Research Symposium

The expanding research programs in Canadian Faculties of Dentistry are translating basic
sciences and new knowledge into novel applications in health care. Here we present research from the fields of growth, development and regeneration, biomaterials and pain and neurosciences to briefly skim over the breadth and depth of remarkable dentistry research.
Sanaz Kermanshahi
Biodegradation of the Composite Resin–Dentin Interface Contributes to Bacterial Microleakage
Azza Gramoun
The Extracellular Matrix Protein Fibronectin Positively Regulates the Osteoclast Function
Hugh Kim
Filamin-Vimentin interactions Mandeep Sood Neuroplastic changes in the motor cortex

Mandeep Sood
Neuroplastic changes in the motor cortex in response to alterated sensory input in the oral cavity

National Health Sciences Students’ Association (NaHSSA) Symposium

The World Health Organization (1978 & 2005) has stressed the need to prepare health
professionals who are able to work within collaborative patient-centred teams to meet the challenges of growing complex patient needs. In Canada, the federal and provincial governments are fostering a change in the delivery of health care through various initiatives including the Health Canada IECPCP program (Interprofessional Education for Collaborative Patient-Centred Practice, 2006) and more recently the Ontario government’s HealthForceOntario Interprofessional Care and Education program (2007).
The purpose of this session is to provide an overview of interprofessional education (IPE) and collaborative practice – its history, current applications and implications for the delivery of health care in Canada - while also highlighting current student research in the field. This session will begin by addressing the process of interprofessional socialization of health students, followed by results from a study that examined the perceptions, experiences and expectations of medical students towards a newly-created IPE curriculum at the University of Toronto. The session will then explore the cultural and educational issues underpinning IPE through an autoethnographic account of a medical student’s experience participating in a pilot IPE clinical placement. Lastly this session will discuss the relevance of IPE in the field of life sciences research.

Schedule of Events:

Friday, November 7, 2008-10-11

8:00AM - Registration, coffee, poster setup

9AM - Dr. Albert Aguayo

10AM - Dr. Jake Barralet

11AM - Translational Dentistry Research symposium

12PM - lunch

1PM - Dr. Shindler

2PM - Mr. Andrew Maxwell

3PM - Dr. Scherer

4PM - Panel discussion on Career Development and Life in Research

Saturday, November 8, 2008

8:00AM – Registration, coffee, poster setup

9AM - Dr. Elizabeth Eisenhauer

10AM - Dr. Michael Pollanen

11AM - Student Oral presentations

1PM - Lunch and poster session

2:30PM - NaHSSA symposium

4 PM – Awards and Closing Comments

5PM - CSLSR Council meeting

9PM – Student Evening Event

Metro Toronto Convention Centre

Metro Toronto Convention Centre
255 Front Street West,
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 2W6