A role for androgens in building muscle and making neurons: Sabrina Tzivia Barsky earns Christine Hone-Buske Award

Sabrina Tzivia Barsky, a grad student in the Monks lab at UTM, has earned the Christine Hone-Buske Award from Cell & Systems Biology for her publication “Androgen action on myogenesis throughout the lifespan; comparison with neurogenesis”. With this paper she is taking her research on androgen…

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Blocking the signal: Dr Sylvia Mutinda earns Provost Post-doctoral Award to understand how parasitic plants eavesdrop on crops

Dr Sylvia Mutinda is a scientist from Kenya who works on a parasitic plant, Striga hermonthica, that infests crops in Africa. She will be coming to work on Striga in the Lumba lab in Toronto with the aid of a Provost Post-doctoral Fellowship from the University of Toronto. Prof Shelley Lumba in…

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Driving discoveries over 35 years: Bob Strome reflects on UofT’s dynamic research community

CSB research technician Bob Strome recently received his pin for 35 years of service at UofT. Through decades of molecular biology research at UofT, he has been at the core of new technology development, seen old technologies sidelined, and has witnessed UofT buildings fall and rise. Strome started…

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Dr. Ian Tobias on neural stem cell fate and academic career choices

Dr Ian Tobias is a post-doctoral researcher in the Mitchell laboratory in the Department of Cell & Systems Biology (CSB) working on neural stem cells. He is a member of the Chippewas of the Nawash Unceded First Nation. Upon starting his position in CSB, he earned a Provost Post-Doctoral…

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Global Biodata Coalition designates UofT’s Bio-Analytic Resource as a Global Core Biodata Resource

The Bio-Analytic Resource for Plant Biology is thrilled to have been designated as a Global Core Biodata Resource by the Global Biodata Coalition. The Bio-Analytic Resource (BAR) at bar.utoronto.ca encompasses and provides visualization tools for large ‘omics data sets from plants. The BAR covers…

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AI for Protein Structure leads to unexpected biological discoveries and a new seminar course

Cell & Systems Biology (CSB) Professor Alan Moses is using a breakthrough innovation in AI, AlphaFold2, for new directions in both teaching and research. AlphaFold2 is an astonishing development in deep learning that can predict the structure of almost any protein based on its sequence alone.…

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Gonzales-Vigil lab reveals cuticular waxes as producer of volatile compounds

The lab of Prof Eliana Gonzales-Vigil has released its findings on "Dynamic changes to the plant cuticle include the production of volatile cuticular wax–derived compounds" in the prestigious journal PNAS. The article notes that "Cuticular waxes are widely regarded as physical defenses that…

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Connaught Award for aquatic VR to understand neural dynamics

A Connaught New Researcher Award to CSB Professor Qian Lin will combine engineering, neuroscience, game design and AI to reveal new insights on how the brain controls movement through space. In an aquarium in Lin's lab, a fish sees two paths and swishes its tail to take the left path. A sensor…

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Designing for Feathered Friends: Ramsay Wright Gets Bird-Friendly Makeover

An avian-friendly design has been added to the St. George entrance of the Ramsay Wright Laboratories thanks to a collaboration between Bird Safe UofT and Cell and Systems Biology. Ramsay Wright’s glass doors on St George Street are now permanently marked with dots and adorned with beautiful artwork…

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Retirement celebration features fond recollections

CSB held an emotional get-together on Oct 18th in the Faculty Club to celebrate the retirements of Professors Dorotea Godt and Rudi Winklbauer, and of our Chief Adminstrative Officer Tamar Mamourian. Chair Nick Provart noted that Prof Godt and Prof Winklbauer are valued experts in flies and frogs…

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