Chemistry

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Subheadline

Federal funding will be used to strengthen talent development and health intelligence in order to respond to emerging health threats

Four research programs in the Canadian Hub for Health Intelligence and Innovation in Infectious Diseases (HI³) have received $72 million in federal funding from the Canada Biomedical Research Fund (CBRF) and Biomedical Research Infrastructure Fund (BRIF), bolstering the country’s biomanufacturing capacity and readiness to respond to emerging health threats.

Support for HI³ and the four funded research programs through the CBRF and BRIF is part of a larger investment in Canada’s Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy. The strategy aims to grow a strong, competitive domestic life sciences sector with cutting-edge biomanufacturing capabilities and to improve the country’s ability to respond to future health challenges.

HI³ – a coalition of 87 academic, hospital, research networks, industry, government, not-for-profit and community partners – was one of five national hubs established in March 2023 with CBRF funding.

Together, the four awarded programs will provide critical health intelligence data to guide the co-development of health threat surveillance platforms and next-generation precision interventions by the hub’s academic and industry partners, while building a highly skilled workforce to support Canada’s growing biomanufacturing and life sciences sector.

“Congratulations to HI³ and the collaborative teams behind these CBRF-funded programs. These four programs leverage the tremendous expertise of the 91�Թ�'s researchers and our partners in academia, hospitals, industry and other sectors to develop the talent, tools and data required to be at the forefront of emerging health threats,” said Leah Cowen, 91�Թ�’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“On behalf of the 91�Թ� and HI³, I thank the government of Canada for its investment in building a strong domestic life sciences sector ready to take on the health challenges of today and tomorrow.”

One of the CBRF-funded programs is the Biomanufacturing Hub Network (BioHubNet), an immersive talent development program based at 91�Թ� and led by University Professor Molly Shoichet along with Darius Rackus, an assistant professor of chemistry and biology at Toronto Metropolitan University, and Gilbert Walker, a professor of chemistry at 91�Թ�.

“With world-leading scientists and researchers established across Canadian leading research institutions, Canada is home to a competitive and robust biomanufacturing and life sciences sector. We made a promise to Canadians that we would rebuild the domestic sector,” said François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s minister of innovation, science and industry. “With this investment, our government is delivering on this promise by supporting the excellent innovations, collaborations and infrastructures necessary to rapidly respond to future public health threats and keep Canadians safe.”

The predicted supply of biomanufacturing workers is only enough to fill one-quarter of the positions that will be needed in the sector by 2029, according to a 2021 report from BioTalent Canada.

To address the shortage, BioHubNet will leverage its 26 industry and training partners – which include multinational and homegrown biotechnology companies, as well as five Ontario colleges and nearly $19 million in funding from CBRF – to develop a range of training programs and curricula that provide experiential, hands-on learning to graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and others who are ready to transition to industry.

The program will also outfit entrepreneurs with the skills and resources they need to commercialize their lab-based innovations, further strengthening the translational pipeline. Over the next four years, BioHubNet will produce close to 1,000 highly skilled workers through micro-credential courses, industry internships, academic exchange placements and entrepreneurial training.

A central tenet underlying all BioHubNet’s offerings is a commitment to create more equitable and inclusive participation in the biomanufacturing and life sciences sectors through intentional recruitment and active support for trainees from under-represented groups.

“Canada’s future as a leader in bio-innovation depends on having highly qualified workers, yet the sector is predicted to face severe workforce shortages in the coming years,” says Shoichet, who is the Michael E Charles Professor in Chemical Engineering at 91�Թ� and scientific director of PRiME Next-Generation Precision Medicine, a 91�Թ� institutional strategic initiative based at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy.

“By expanding the pipeline of skilled research talent in Canada, BioHubNet will accelerate the translation of promising discoveries from bench to market and ensure that this country’s biomanufacturing sector continues to grow and attract further international investment.”

In addition to BioHubNet, three other research programs were also funded:

The Integrated Network for the Surveillance of Pathogens: Increasing Resilience and capacity in Canada’s pandemic response (INSPIRE) based at the University of Windsor. Co-led by Windsor professor Mike McKay and University of Guelph professor Lawrence Goodridge, the INSPIRE program leverages community-level wastewater surveillance data, infrastructure and expertise to monitor the arrival and spread of infectious threats. The program also received infrastructure funding from BRIF to implement technologies and processes across its network that will streamline wastewater surveillance efforts to be more rapid, agile and sensitive. Importantly, these infrastructure supports will expand wastewater monitoring capacity in northern Ontario and at the Windsor-Detroit border to strengthen supply chains.
The Prepare, React, Collect, Innovate, Share and Engage (PRECISE) Diagnostic Platform, based at Sinai Health and co-led by Jennie Johnstone and Anne-Claude Gingras – who are both faculty members in 91�Թ�’s Faculty of Medicine – will advance a comprehensive, streamlined approach for responding to emerging threats by driving the timely development of rapid diagnostic tools that will scale up testing capacity and reduce reliance on global supply chains.
The Pandemic Preparedness Engaging Primary Care and Emergency Departments (PREPARED) program, based at Unity Health Toronto and led by Andrew Pinto, who is a faculty member in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, aims to engage primary care clinics and emergency departments across the country to enhance disease monitoring, improve patient care and health system efficiency, accelerate the development of medical countermeasures and boost recruitment to clinical trials.

All four research programs reflect the hub’s extensive network of nearly 100 partners from academia, hospital, industry, public and other sectors. The programs leverage the collective resources and expertise of this network, including 91�Թ�’s position as a global leader in artificial intelligence, data, life sciences and engineering, and the Toronto Academic Health Sciences Network’s strong track record of clinical impact and health-care innovation.

“Our goal at HI³ is to advance mission-driven, team-based science that will help Canada be more prepared, resilient and independent in the face of emerging health threats,” said Jen Gommerman, co-director of HI³ and a professor of immunology in 91�Թ�’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

“As we support and grow these four research programs, we will continue to work closely with our hub partners and with our counterparts across the country to ensure that we have the capacity and resources needed to respond in a co-ordinated, effective and equitable manner.”

91�Թ�'s Mark Lautens performs 100th citizenship ceremony

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 14:28:40 +0000

91�Թ�'s Mark Lautens performs 100th citizenship ceremony

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 04/12/2024 - 10:28

Cutline

University Professor Mark Lautens, chair of the department of chemistry, chose an event at the Mississauga Citizenship and Immigration Centre for his 100^th appearance as a presiding official (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Alyx Dellamonica

Topic

Subheadline

University Professor and chair of the department of chemistry estimates he has sworn in as many as 6,000 new Canadians over the past decade

The 91�Թ�’s Mark Lautens recently conducted his 100^thCanadian Citizenship Ceremony, officially welcoming 120 new Canadians from 31 countries of origin.

A University Professor and chair of the department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Lautens estimates that he may have sworn in as many as 6,000 new Canadians since 2014.

He chose an event held in the Mississauga Citizenship and Immigration Centre for his 100^th appearance as a presiding official. As is often the case, there were members of the university community at the ceremony, along with their families.

(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

“People are often excited to meet a scientist or a professor,” he says, adding that 91�Թ� alumni, students, faculty and staff whom he swears in often reach out afterward with their personal thanks and sometimes even ask if they can attend his classes.

“Officiants are encouraged to share some of their journey at the beginning of each ceremony and I talk about my mother, who came to Canada from the UK as a teenager, had a career as a legal secretary and then chose to complete high school after I became a professor.

“Many of the people at my ceremonies are especially touched by hearing that – both about my family and the transformative experience of pursuing higher education in Canada.”

(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Lautens was first invited to preside in citizenship ceremonies after receiving the Order of Canada in 2014 for contributions at the forefront of organic chemistry. The honour qualifies Canadians to administer the Oath of Citizenship on a voluntary basis.

A passionate advocate for immigrants’ contributions to Canada, Lautens has written about the benefits for academic communities welcoming international students. "These individuals bring superb skills and a passion to succeed to their new home,” he wrote in a recent op-ed piece in the Globe and Mail.

(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lautens says efforts were made to preserve a sense of occasion when the ceremonies became virtual affairs. Being unable to stand together with an officiant for a picture, for example, has evolved so that participants in remote ceremonies are urged to turn off their cameras at the end, leaving only the image of the presiding officer on the meeting screen. This allows everyone to take a selfie with the officiant – via the computer screen.

"I had to learn to hold a smile for a full minute,” Lautens says, “to ensure everyone has time to get a good picture.”

Acceleration Consortium funds $1.2 million worth of research projects powered by self-driving labs

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 18:35:37 +0000

Acceleration Consortium funds $1.2 million worth of research projects powered by self-driving labs

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 03/06/2024 - 13:35

Cutline

91�Թ� Engineering researcher Yu Zou’s effort to develop improved materials for hip and knee replacements is among 12 projects receiving funding through the Acceleration Consortium (photo by Neil Ta)

Sean Bettam

Andrea Wiseman

Topic

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

Acceleration Consortium

Artificial Intelligence

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Computer Science

91�Թ� Scarborough

Subheadline

From joint replacements to sustainable chemical manufacturing, 91�Թ� projects aim to develop new materials that could yield scientific breakthroughs

Canada’s aging population is placing a host of new stressors on the health-care system, including an increasing number of hip and knee replacements that, in a best-case scenario, will last a maximum of 25 years using current materials.

With people living longer, that means there will be more subsequent surgeries to fix or replace the replacements — adding even more stress on the system.

New materials are needed to help solve this problem – and self-driving labs, or SDLs, can help. The labs combine artificial intelligence, robotics and advanced computing to discover new materials and molecules for commercial, clinical and industrial use in a fraction of the usual time and cost.

Yu Zou, an assistant professor in the department of materials science and engineering in the 91�Թ�’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, is using an SDL to rapidly test combinations of elements in his quest to develop alloys that can be used in longer-lasting joint replacements.

His work is just one example of the problems being tackled by scientists who have received a total of $1.2 million in Accelerate Grants through the Acceleration Consortium, a 91�Թ� institutional strategic initiative that is accelerating the discovery of new materials using SDL technologies.

The Acceleration Consortium is funding a diverse array of research efforts across nine departments in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, the Faculty of Arts & Science, the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and the 91�Թ� Scarborough. Zou’s research is one of 12 new research projects that are either developing technologies that will support the development of SDLs or using SDL technologies to accelerate discovery.

Made possible by the $200 million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) awarded to the Acceleration Consortium last April – the largest federal research grant ever awarded to a Canadian university – the projects enabled by the grant promise innovative advances in fields ranging from health care and climate change to sustainable materials design and food waste management.

“Using AI and automation to carry out more laboratory experiments in a smarter way, we’ve supercharged the process of scientific discovery,” said Alán Aspuru-Guzik¸ director of the Acceleration Consortium and professor in the departments of chemistry and computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science. “These 12 Accelerate Grants are not only an investment in science, but are an investment in our future.

“The creativity and the diversity of thought shown by the researchers on these projects tells me that the materially different future that the Acceleration Consortium is striving for is achievable in our lifetime.”

The Acceleration Consortium awarded the 12 grants in three categories: Accelerate Seed, which builds accelerated discovery capacity at 91�Թ� by helping faculty members enter the field or collaborate with those already doing accelerated discovery; Accelerate Moonshot, which support high-risk, high-reward grants that will make significant contributions to the development or use of SDLs; and Accelerate Translation, which support accelerated discovery projects with clear commercialization goals and viable market potential, as well as the implementation or scaling of knowledge mobilization activities, training, and community engagement.

“This suite of Acceleration Grants is an excellent example of how the Acceleration Consortium is advancing the globally recognized strategic research mission of the 91�Թ� in a way that’s critical for Canada to remain competitive on the international stage,” said Leah Cowen, 91�Թ�’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. “By enabling the next generation of scientists to use self-driving labs and fostering research collaboration and partnerships between departments and institutions, these grants will enable the recipients to conduct high-impact, interdisciplinary accelerated research to discover materials that will improve our world.

“I congratulate the principal investigators and their teams who are leading these varied investigations, and I look forward to seeing their results in the accelerated timeline now made possible in part by CFREF and the remarkable demonstration of support for their work.”

While the CFREF funding will help to further advancements made by several researchers who are recognized as leaders in their fields, most support is going to early-career scientists who are pioneering new discoveries just as SDL technology is emerging as a revolutionary approach to knowledge.

Projects dedicated to the continuous improvement of SDL technology are also being funded. For example, a project by Nandita Vijaykumar, an assistant professor in the department of computer and mathematical sciences at 91�Թ� Scarborough, will develop software that can better manage the fast-flowing data streams SDLs create as well as the resources required to run the experiments.

“The work our grant recipients are doing will help us ensure that the Greater Toronto Area and Canada remain world leaders in AI-frontier discovery,” said Aspuru-Guzik. “And we’re doing so with innovative contributions from people at every stage of their career, with an eye to developing the next generation of groundbreaking researchers along the way. No one is resting on their laurels; each grant recipient and member of the AC is pushing the edge of what is possible and is working towards a materially better future.”

The Acceleration Consortium will welcome proposals for its next funding competition in summer 2024.

Read the story and full list of grant recipients at the Acceleration Consortium

Read the story and full list of grant recipients at the Faculty of Arts & Science

91�Թ� researcher leads breakthrough in production of green carbon monoxide using light

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 18:51:29 +0000

91�Թ� researcher leads breakthrough in production of green carbon monoxide using light

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 12/11/2023 - 13:51

Cutline

University Professor Geoffrey Ozin said the research aims to decarbonize the generation of industrial chemicals (supplied image)

Alyx Dellamonica

Topic

Breaking Research

Faculty of Arts & Science Staff

Sustainability

Subheadline

The process is an eco-friendly alternative to burning fossil fuels to generate industrial carbon monoxide

A team of advanced materials chemistry researchers, led by University Professor Geoffrey Ozin of the department of chemistry in the 91�Թ�’s Faculty of Arts & Science, have made a significant breakthrough in the use of light to convert carbon and carbon dioxide (CO2) into carbon monoxide (CO).

In a study published in Energy and Environmental Science, Ozin and his team showcase the process, which represents an alternative to carbon-intensive methods of producing industrial carbon monoxide.

Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are both hazardous to human health, with rising carbon dioxide concentrations in our atmosphere increasing the threat of climate change induced by global warming. However, both gases are also vital elements of large-scale production of commodity chemicals and fuels.

In the chemical sector, for example, carbon monoxide serves as feedstock for the synthesis of acetic acid and methanol, pharmaceuticals, fragrance and polymers. In the food industry, it’s used for packaging of fresh meat products and to acidify carbonized beverages. Its uses are wide-ranging, from refining or removing rust from metals to serving as a key component of infrared lasers.

Creation of carbon monoxide for such applications is typically done via thermally powered processes involving the gasification of coal and partial oxidation of natural gas, processes that are associated with large carbon footprints and significant toxic byproducts.

Rather than burning fossil fuels to generate carbon monoxide, the greener approach being advanced by Ozin’s team utilizes light for the production process, combining this with the emerging practice of using carbon dioxide as chemical feedstock.

The source of carbon to enable this conversion process can be natural, the study shows. It may also come from fossil emission sources as well as air using specialized capture, storage and release technologies, or biochar made by slow burning of agricultural biomass.

The 91�Թ� team uses a light-powered reaction that employs this captured carbon dioxide, converting it to carbon monoxide in ways that are less energy- and chemical-intensive than the same reaction driven by heat.

“The CO generated photochemically by this means can justifiably be called green,” Ozin said.

A principal investigator in 91�Թ�’s interdisciplinary Solar Fuels Cluster, Ozin said the research group’s vision is to help gradually move the chemical and petrochemical industries away from their reliance on legacy fossil resources to more eco-friendly processes enabled by waste carbon dioxide and carbon, driven by light in solar refineries.

"By this means, it should prove feasible to decarbonize the generation of commodity chemicals and fuels, motivated by the desire to ameliorate greenhouse gas-induced climate change and global warming,” Ozin said.

Previous attempts at eco-friendly carbon monoxide production utilized thermal steam-gasification of fossil fuels, biomass or waste materials — super-heating the necessary feedstock with steam to produce the carbon monoxide. However, this generates a large carbon footprint and can be hampered by issues like ash melting and tar contamination. The process requires injections of pure oxygen and produces combustion-related contaminants like dioxins and furans.

Ozin’s team is instead spearheading photochemistry methods that can be carried out at room temperature, while generating fewer contaminants.

Green carbon monoxide generation is expected to become more economically viable as advancements are made in the efficiency of photoreactors, battery performance, solar concentration optics and light-emitting diodes – with improvements in these technologies vital to making it competitive with existing thermochemical and electrochemical production methods.

Ultimately, transitioning production of carbon monoxide away from processes that burn fossil fuels toward using renewable energy, unwanted atmospheric carbon monoxide and waste forms of carbon offers the prospect of reducing the environmental footprint of producing this toxic yet vital industrial chemical – while also helping to create green sector jobs.

91�Թ� breaks ground on a new home for the Acceleration Consortium

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 14:14:37 +0000

91�Թ� breaks ground on a new home for the Acceleration Consortium

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 11/15/2023 - 09:14

Cutline

A rendering of the Lash Miller building expansion (image courtesy of Mikkelsen Arkitekter AS / Cumulus Architects)

Topic

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

Acceleration Consortium

Artificial Intelligence

Subheadline

The expansion of the Lash Miller building also includes upgrades to department of chemistry labs, classrooms and other spaces

The 91�Թ� recently held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the expansion of the Lash Miller building on the St. George campus – a place that will serve as the new home of the Acceleration Consortium while providing improved facilities for the department of chemistry.

An institutional strategic initiative launched in 2021, the Acceleration Consortium fuses artificial intelligence, robotics, engineering and chemistry to accelerate the design and discovery of new materials.

Using self-driving laboratories powered by AI, the consortium works to discover materials needed to build a more sustainable, prosperous and healthy future.

“The research being done at the Acceleration Consortium is a cutting-edge approach to materials discovery,” said Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science. “Now, more than ever, we need such new technologies to help solve the world's most existential and intractable problems, from climate change to plastics pollution to cancer.

“This expansion is truly about advancing the university’s mission of research and teaching excellence.”

From left to right: Mark Lautens, chair of the department of chemistry, Alán Aspuru-Guzik, director of the Acceleration Consortium, Anna Kennedy, chair of Governing Council, Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science, and Robert Batey, former chair of the department of chemistry (photo by Diana Tyszko)

The university earlier this year received a grant of $200 million from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) – the largest federal research grant ever awarded to a Canadian university – to support the Acceleration Consortium’s research.

“Developing such innovative technologies is made possible by the federal government's visionary investment. This grant allows us to do big science, ensuring Canada remains competitive on the international stage,” said Woodin.

The building expansion will also include renovations to the department of chemistry, with upgrades being made to labs, classrooms and faculty and administrative space to provide students and scientists with enhanced facilities for research, learning and innovation.

“I've watched the plans emerge from both the department and the Faculty side, and it's really an amazing project,” said Mark Lautens, chair of the department of chemistry. “The self-driving labs are the cornerstone of the AC, but there will be new lecture theatres and some amazing meeting spaces for chemistry that will figure very prominently in the design.

“Our students will be prepared for the future, regardless of how that future unfolds.”

Robert Batey, former chair of the department of chemistry, also reflected on the origins of the project, the founding of the Acceleration Consortium and the initial success in enlisting Alán Aspuru-Guzik, director of the consortium, to lead 91�Թ�’s efforts in the emerging field of machine learning-guided materials development.

Faculty, staff and members of the design and construction teams gathered for a recent groundbreaking event (photo by Diana Tyszko)

“This project really has been a long time in gestation. In 2017, we saw an opportunity to take advantage of a nascent and emerging field of science and technology, which is AI and machine learning, and how it might be applied to, and enabled by, chemistry and automation,” Batey said.

The revolutionary work being done at the Acceleration Consortium will be key in positioning Canada as a world leader in materials discovery, with a state-of-the-art space that will not only house this important work, but also attract top tier talent.

“The AC building represents a new global era where countries are looking inward while at the same time collaborating with each other,” said Aspuru-Guzik. “We're building a team of people who are going to be able to take advantage of this new space and of the federal grant to move the needle and make Canada the leader in materials discovery.”

A rendering of the interior of the Lash Miller building’s expansion (Image courtesy of Mikkelsen Arkitekter AS / Cumulus Architects)

The Acceleration Consortium considers and includes contributions from several other disciplines of study in its work.

“We are very excited that this project is also integrated with Canadian society in such areas as Indigenous scholarship, social sciences and economics,” said Aspuru-Guzik. “Materials discovery has to do with everything, and impacts society in a very complex way.”

Anna Kennedy, chair of 91�Թ�’s Governing Council, acknowledged the impact the consortium has already made at the university.

“Since its launch, and under the expert guidance of Alán and other brilliant scholars, the AC has solidified itself as one of the university’s most impressive institutional strategic initiatives and as the embodiment of the 91�Թ�’s capacity to support large-scale, high-impact interdisciplinary research.”

Woodin also noted the importance of philanthropy in leveraging the historic support from the federal government and investment by industry partners.

“Inspired giving by donors will enable us to build a contemporary space that will attract talent that's needed to advance the goals of the Acceleration Consortium, which will have major economic benefits for the Greater Toronto Area and for Canada,” she said.

The Lash Miller building expansion is set to be completed in the spring of 2026. The complex project is being delivered through an integrated design team led by the university’s Planning, Design & Construction (UPDC) portfolio and a collaboration between Canadian firm Cumulus Architects and Danish firm Mikkelsen Architects, among other firms specializing in key areas of the project design and technical specifications.

The construction will be completed by Urbacon.

Global experts gather at 91�Թ� to discuss how ‘self driving labs’ will revolutionize scientific discovery

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 18:44:06 +0000

Global experts gather at 91�Թ� to discuss how ‘self driving labs’ will revolutionize scientific discovery

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 08/31/2023 - 14:44

Cutline

Linda Hung, manager of Toyota Research Institute, speaks at this year’s Accelerate Conference at 91�Թ� (photo by Worker Bee Supply © Acceleration Consortium)

Catrina Kronfli

Topic

Acceleration Consortium

Artificial Intelligence

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Computer Science

Creative Destruction Lab

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

History

Rotman School of Management

Subheadline

The Acceleration Consortium’s second-annual Accelerate conference focused on talent development, collaboration and commercialization

The Acceleration Consortium (AC) at the 91�Թ� recently brought together more than 350 representatives from academia, industry and government from 16 countries to discuss how “self-driving labs” are revolutionizing the speed and impact of scientific discovery.

Held over four days in August, the consortium’s second annual Accelerate conference focused on key themes such as talent development, collaboration and commercialization – all with an eye to finding and developing new materials and molecules that can help solve humanity’s most pressing challenges, from climate change to pandemics.

Alán Aspuru-Guzik, director of the AC and a professor in 91�Թ�’s departments of chemistry and computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, said the conference has quickly emerged as a major draw in a field that’s rapidly gaining momentum around the world.

“The Acceleration Consortium’s Accelerate Conference attracts the world’s leading academic and industry researchers working to accelerate scientific discovery,” he said. “Given the tremendous growth and excitement we have seen since launching the conference just one year ago, it is clear Accelerate is becoming the flagship event for accelerated discovery.”

A 91�Թ� Institutional Strategic Initiative that launched in 2021, the AC earlier this year received a $200-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) to help it achieve its bold vision of realizing the age of materials on demand.

The largest federal research grant ever awarded to a Canadian university, the CFREF grant allows the consortium to bring together researchers and industry to design, develop and implement self-driving lab technologies. These labs combine the power of artificial intelligence (AI) with robotics and advanced computing to create new materials and molecules needed for a sustainable future – at a fraction of the usual time and cost. Applications include everything from life-saving medications to biodegradable plastics.

Alán Aspuru-Guzik speaks at the Accelerate Conference 2023 (photo by Worker Bee Supply © Acceleration Consortium)

Chandra Veer Singh, an associate professor in the department of materials science and engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and Christine Allen, a professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, noted AI will be critical to a variety of careers in the future and that continuous learning is necessary to equip workers with the knowledge and skills needed to fill these roles.

Sterling Baird, the AC’s director of training and programs, spoke about the consortium’s upcoming digital discovery program – the first of its kind in Canada. Thanks to support from the Ontario Micro-credentials Fund, the program will train scientists looking to apply AI to materials discovery. Flora Wan, a technical education specialist with the Vector Institute, shared the programs that the institute developed to help professionals and businesses develop AI knowledge.

As an emerging field, ecosystem development is also important. Anjuli Szawiola, policy analyst with Natural Resources Canada, spoke to the two networks the federal government is co-leading – Materials for Energy and the German-Canadian Materials Acceleration Centre – to promote knowledge sharing and the adoption of advanced materials for clean energy in Canada and abroad.

For its part, the AC has become a magnet for cross-sector collaboration as its partners look to gain access to the wide range of expertise, research and innovation it has assembled.

The consortium includes more than 100 academics from more than 40 research institutes and 30 private and public sector organizations. Together, they are creating a global community to tackle key challenges in the field such as data sharing and reproducibility of self-driving labs.

Michelle Murphy, a professor in the department of history in 91�Թ�’s Faculty of Arts & Science and a Canada Research Chair in Science & Technology Studies and Environmental Data Justice, spoke about the importance of incorporating social scientists and Indigenous communities in the research process given the ethical implications of speeding up the pace of science.

Murphy will examine critical issues associated with self-driving labs, including ensuring that those impacted most by the technology have a say in its development in order to prevent unintended harms, whether direct or indirect. With this in mind, equity, diversity and inclusion will continue to guide the AC’s project implementation and research design.

On the topic of commercialization, Sonia Sennik, executive director of the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), shared the non-profit’s history of and philosophy towards supporting entrepreneurs.

“New founders have thousands of things on their to-do list. CDL believes the best judgment an early-stage entrepreneur can get is ‘entrepreneurial judgement’ from an experienced entrepreneur,” Sennik explained. CDL’s program allows select entrepreneurs to benefit from the entrepreneurial knowledge of fellows and associates who help guide CDL ventures.

Co-founded by Aspuru-Guzik, CDL’s Matter Stream is working with the AC to help founders seeking to discover, develop or recycle materials.

What comes next? The AC will assemble a steering committee to tackle various issues facing the sector. In addition to building six self-driving labs and a machine learning and automation lab, the consortium is hiring new scientists, chemists, AI experts, roboticists and more, with the goal of making the Greater Toronto Area and Canada a world leader in accelerated materials discovery.

With files from Erin Warner and Tabassum Siddiqui

New photoreactor technology could pave the way to a carbon-neutral future, researchers say

siddiq22 — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 17:00:32 +0000

New photoreactor technology could pave the way to a carbon-neutral future, researchers say

siddiq22 Wed, 08/09/2023 - 13:00

Cutline

(Photo courtesy of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

Topic

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Solar

Sustainability

Subheadline

An international team that includes researchers from 91�Թ� has designed and implemented an innovative prototype photoreactor for making green chemicals and fuels

An international team that includes researchers from the 91�Թ� has designed and implemented a new model for photoreactors, a solar-powered technology for converting water, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen into greener chemicals and fuels.

The innovative design allows the photoreactor to capture photons at high efficiency under varying sun directions, eliminating the need for sun-tracking. The panels are also manufacturable via extrusion of polymers, making them inexpensive and easily manufacturable at scale – all of which could help make a sustainable future more affordable and practical.

Geoffrey Ozin (supplied photo)

Geoffrey Ozin, University Professor in 91�Թ�'s department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science, and his team collaborated with researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany on the project.

“Solar cells are renowned for efficiently and economically converting sunlight to green electricity, circumventing the use of greenhouse-gas-emitting fossil fuels,” Ozin says.

Unlike thermoreactors, photoreactors combine the photons in sunlight and reactants to generate green chemicals and fuels. By using sunlight and water, photoreactors could effectively reduce carbon emissions.

Despite their potential, many photoreactors have been plagued by several challenges, including the high cost of construction materials. They can also be inefficient in converting photons to products. To create these photochemical conversions, photoreactors rely on a photocatalyst, a material that absorbs light and converts a reactant into a product.

However, non-productive processes due to the reflection, scattering, transmission and absorption of light by the photocatalyst and the photoreactor materials can result in energy loss. Photoreactors would benefit from sun-tracking, a device that adjusts the angle of the photoreactor with respect to the position of the sun for optimal harvesting of light.

To be technologically and economically viable, the photon-to-product conversion efficiency of the photoreactors must be at least 10 per cent. While the science of integrating photocatalysts into photoreactors over the past decade for making green chemicals and fuels has yielded significant advances, the efficiencies have remained low – often one per cent or less.

Ozin's team and the group from KIT – which included postdoctoral researcher Paul Kant, PhD student Shengzhi Liang, research scientist Michael Rubin and Professor Roland Dittmeyer – developed a panel-like photoreactor that contains hundreds of parallel microscale reaction channels. They recently published a paper on the promising results of their proposed model in the journal Joule.

A key feature of their design is that each reaction channel is connected to a V-shaped light-capture unit that guides the light into the channel where the photocatalyst is located. All surfaces are highly reflective to optimize the transport of photons from the external light source to the photocatalyst housed in the microchannels with minimal light losses.

Future design adaptations can address the issue of intermittent sunlight by using light-emitting diodes integrated into the photoreactor as the photon source, powered by renewable electricity from photovoltaics and backed up by lithium-ion battery storage to provide 24-7 operations.

Illustration of the photoreactor model, which can be placed on rooftops; upper left shows the photoreactor panels; upper right shows the photoreactors' V-shaped concentrators and tube-like cavity (supplied image)

The new photoreactors model can outperform existing state-of-art photoreactors and can be used on rooftops of houses and solar farms, as well as be integrated with photovoltaics to produce both renewable electricity and green chemicals and fuels.

“This technology has inspired the development of a new generation of solar-powered devices that instead make green fuels such as hydrogen from sunlight and water,” Ozin says.

The advancement comes at a time when the need to combat climate change is more pressing than ever, with record-breaking temperatures marked around the world this summer.

“These solar products will substitute their fossil-based analogues – and will help to reduce our carbon footprint,” says KIT researcher Kant.

“This directly increases chances that we will be able to reach the dream of a sustainably living humanity. Hopefully, we will even make it in time – without drastic temperature overshoot and related disasters.”

Researchers partner with Moderna to develop new mRNA-based therapies for HIV and other diseases

siddiq22 — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 19:19:09 +0000

Researchers partner with Moderna to develop new mRNA-based therapies for HIV and other diseases

siddiq22 Wed, 07/26/2023 - 15:19

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EPIC

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Projects will develop mRNA vaccines to treat HIV infection and technologies to modulate the body's immune response

Two teams of researchers at the 91�Թ� have partnered with Moderna Canada to advance new mRNA-based therapies for HIV and other diseases.

The projects – one led by Mario Ostrowski, an infectious disease physician at Unity Health Toronto and a professor of medicine, immunology and pathobiology and lab medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine; and the other by Haissi Cui, assistant professor in the department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science, and Landon Edgar, assistant professor in the department of pharmacology and toxicology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and an investigator in the PRiME research group – are supported through the partnership framework agreement between 91�Թ� and Moderna.

Launched in April 2022, this partnership was the first between Moderna and a Canadian university and provides opportunities for 91�Թ� researchers to collaborate with a leading biotechnology firm to create new tools to prevent and treat diseases.

“The partnership between the 91�Թ� and Moderna Canada is a testament to the power of industry and academic collaborations, and one that will advance the frontier of mRNA-based vaccines and therapies,” said Derek Newton, assistant vice-president, innovation, partnerships and entrepreneurship at 91�Թ�.

“Researchers from both organizations have a shared vision to create new health-care innovations to prevent and treat infectious diseases that will impact patients across Canada and globally.”

From left: Researchers Mario Ostrowski, Haissi Cui and Landon Edgar will be working on projects supported through the partnership framework agreement between 91�Թ� and Moderna (supplied photos)

Ostrowski’s project brings together his decades of research on the immune response to HIV with Moderna’s expertise in mRNA vaccines to develop personalized mRNA vaccines to treat HIV infection.

This strategy could address one of the biggest challenges in HIV management: the long-term persistence of viral reservoirs within immune cells in the body, which necessitates life-long antiretroviral therapy treatments for people with HIV. While these therapies help people with HIV live longer, they can also lead to side effects that negatively impact a person’s overall physical and mental health.

To tackle this challenge, the researchers will design mRNA vaccines that are tailored to the unique strain of HIV found in each person. Ostrowski believes that these highly targeted vaccines can activate powerful immune cells to seek out and eliminate hidden viral reservoirs. Similar approaches have been used successfully to create personalized therapeutic vaccines for people with cancer.

This work will also leverage the capabilities of the Toronto High Containment Facility (THCF), which is equipped to allow researchers to study high-risk pathogens, such as HIV and SARS-CoV-2, in a safe and secure way. The facility is a cornerstone of the Emerging and Pandemic Infections Consortium (EPIC) institutional strategic initiative, a partnership between 91�Թ� and five major Toronto hospitals to advance innovative infectious disease research and strengthen preparedness for future pandemics.

Containing the only containment level 3 (CL3) research lab in the Greater Toronto Area and the largest in the province, the THCF plays a critical role in supporting Ontario’s life sciences research ecosystem. Its unique infrastructure and capabilities enable cutting-edge research on vaccines and therapeutics and provide training opportunities needed to drive innovation and biomanufacturing in Ontario.

Modulating the body’s immune response is also at the core of the project led by Cui and Edgar.

Their work focuses on the sugars that coat the outside of all immune cells. These sugars, called glycans, have recently been shown to play an important role in fine-tuning the function of some immune system components. However, designing targeted and effective therapies to modulate the glycans themselves has remained elusive.

In collaboration with Moderna, Cui and Edgar will develop mRNA technologies that can be used to adjust glycan levels within specific tissues – or even on specific cell types. If successful, this approach could be used to alter how immune cells function in a myriad of diseases.

Through this cross-faculty and cross-sector collaboration, Cui and Edgar’s work would demonstrate the feasibility of using these cutting-edge technologies to manipulate the architecture of a cell’s surface and to improve immune responses through cell-surface engineering.

“At Moderna, we are focused on the creation of transformative mRNA medicines. For the past 13 years, we have been investing in research and innovation into different facets of mRNA science,” says Patricia Gauthier, Moderna Canada president and general manager.

“Our collaboration with the 91�Թ� and its exceptional scientists further strengthens our resolve to push the boundaries of what can be achieved in this rapidly evolving field to improve the lives of patients through mRNA science.”

As part of the partnership, each team will be paired with a scientific expert at Moderna who can champion their research and provide support and feedback.

The selection of these two projects follows the announcement in October 2022 of a partnership between Moderna and a team of 91�Թ� researchers led by Omar F. Khan, an assistant professor in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, to develop next-generation RNA platform technologies. The project recently received support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Alliance Grant program, which aims to foster collaborations between university researchers and partner organizations in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.

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Betty Zou & Mayuri Punithan

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Researchers find high levels of banned toxic chemicals in toys and headphones

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 02 May 2023 14:42:45 +0000

Researchers find high levels of banned toxic chemicals in toys and headphones

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 05/02/2023 - 10:42

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Josslyn Johnstone

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Plastics