Alan Moses decodes and remodulates proteins to earn Canada Research Chair

Professor Alan Moses of Cell & Systems Biology is at the forefront of data science in cracking the lingering mysteries underlying the function of protein molecules. He has been renewed for his position as Canada Research Chair (CRC), recognizing that he will be leading further advances in his…

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CSB Graduate Students gather online to raise funds for the Christmas Wish Toy Drive

Graduate students at Cell & Systems Biology have spent this challenging year working from home since March and taking distanced shifts in the lab since July. On December 11th, they gathered online to see each other, to spread some holiday cheer and to raise money through the CSBGU Raffle. They…

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Splicing and remixing coded cellular messages reveals new controls on nervous system development.

The Calarco lab in Cell & Systems Biology at U of T has unveiled the signals that direct how RNA messages are remixed within the diverse organs of an animal in a new publication “Global regulatory features of alternative splicing across tissues and within the nervous system of C. elegans”. When…

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In Memoriam: Professor Betty Ida Roots

The University of Toronto Community lost an eminent scholar on October 24th with the passing of Professor Betty Ida Roots, PhD, DSc, FRSC. She served the University in a number of roles; as Professor at U of T from 1969, Assistant Chair of Zoology beginning in 1972, Associate Dean of Science at UTM…

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Preparing to Push: Epigenetic analysis of uterine muscle cells reveals molecular basis of term labour

Answers to some questions in science require the development of new technologies; molecular biologists once examined selected pieces of DNA and the proteins that bound them, but advances in computation and instrumentation mean biologists can now determine where proteins bind across the whole…

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Breaking barriers: Quebec platelet disorder

A decade after the discovery that Quebec Platelet Disorder is caused by a tandem duplication, the Mitchell laboratory and collaborators demonstrate that this causes the additional copy of the duplicated PLAU gene to be on the opposite side of a CTCF genomic boundary. As a consequence, the extra…

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Building excellence in research and teaching: CSB’s new Chair Nicholas Provart

Professor Nick Provart likes building things; he even used his carpentry skills to expand his children’s treehouse while working from home (without losing any fingers). As the new Chair of the Department of Cell & Systems Biology (CSB), he now has the opportunity to build up the academic…

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Cell biology meets engineering in collaborative XSeed grant for Professor Sergey Plotnikov to study wound closure in fruit flies

CSB Professor Sergey Plotnikov has been awarded XSeed funding to identify protein targets that can accelerate wound healing.  The XSeed program catalyzes cross-disciplinary partnerships between investigators from the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering and other faculties. The grant was…

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Prof Vince Tropepe’s lab using zebrafish as a vertebrate model for Usher Syndrome-linked blindness

CSB Chair Vincent Tropepe has received funding from Fighting Blindness Canada to conduct research using zebrafish to study Usher syndrome, a genetic condition that results in hearing and vision loss. Loss of vision in Usher syndrome is the result of retinal degeneration, but the mechanism through…

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CSB neurobiologists identify switch that turns muscles on and off during sleep

CSB Professor John Peever, CSB PhD grad Zoltan Torontali and CSB RA Jimmy Fraigne have demonstrated a new link between arousal and muscle paralysis in mice using behavioral, electrophysiological, and chemogenetic strategies in a paper in Current Biology. During REM sleep, muscle paralysis is…

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