Graduate student excellence earns impressive awards

Graduate students in the Department of Cell & Systems Biology cover a broad range of fields, including plant science, neuroscience, cell biology, infectious disease research, endocrinology and systems biology. The discoveries these students are making and their contributions to the Department…

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Lumba lab eavesdrops on the secret language of soil molecules

There is a silent conversation going on under your feet; plant roots are communicating with soil fungi through a language of small molecules. Until now, the complex genetics of these fungi made it difficult to study how they perceive small molecules directly. The Lumba lab and the McCourt lab at…

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Excellence and excitement at CSB Research Day 2024

The wide variety of cutting-edge science in the Department of Cell & Systems Biology was on full display in the distinguished halls of Hart House at CSB Research Day on May 3, 2024. Grad students from all three campuses shared their findings with faculty, staff and fellow students at talks and…

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Life sciences students honour CSB Teaching Assistants with Teaching Excellence Award

Congratulations to this year’s TA Teaching Excellence Award winners, Ruby He, Mary-Elizabeth Raymond, Andrea-Aditi Taylor and Kathryn McTavish! Students taking classes in Molecular and Cell Biology (BIO130), Techniques in Molecular & Cell Biology (CSB330) and Methods in Genomics and Proteomics…

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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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Setbacks are an opportunity to be seized for Nyman scholarship awardee Dylan Bradizza

Dylan Bradizza’s ability to reflect, learn and share has earned him selection for the Leslie Paul Nyman Scholarship. He felt exhilaration and pride when he was informed of this honour, recognizing the importance of this award and gaining affirmation for his dedication to studying plant science. In…

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End of the tunnel for crop loss due to parasitic plants

Parasitic plants devastate entire fields of crops every year, resulting in billions of dollars of food lost. As food prices rise, protecting crops from parasitic plants is crucial to keeping meals affordable. Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered a path to rescuing crops by…

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CSB Researchers earn multiple NSERC awards

Congratulations to Professors in CSB who earned NSERC Discovery and NSERC-RTI grants! NSERC Discovery Grants The Discovery Grant program supports ongoing programs of research with long-term goals. These grants recognize the creativity and innovation that are at the heart of all research advances.…

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CSPB awards for CSB’s dedicated plant scientists

CSB students won multiple awards at the annual regional meeting of the Canadian Society for Plant Biology, held at University of Toronto Scarborough on December 3, 2022. Jenny Huang (McFarlane lab) noted that "It was exciting to finally meet all the scientists I had only heard of by name before.…

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CSB Professor Shelley Lumba aims to alleviate global hunger by preventing crop loss caused by parasitic plants

Professor Shelley Lumba was recently appointed to the post of Associate Professor in Cell & Systems Biology to pursue her work on the molecular signalling that activates germination in parasitic plants. Her work was profiled in a piece from UofT News titled "Researcher aims to alleviate global…

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