Leading
Stem Cell Researcher Chooses Ontario Over U.S.
In
January 2007, Dr. Gordon M. Keller
officially began his new role as Director of the McEwen Centre for
Regenerative
Medicine at Toronto’s University Health Network. Dr.
Keller is one of the world’s leading stem cell biologists and
researchers, and the Centre calls bringing Dr. Keller to Toronto a
“coup”,
considering the competition Ontario was up against.
The Centre was officially opened
in October 2006 with cultural
icon, renowned humanitarian and visionary Sir Bob Geldof.
"One
of Toronto’s unique features is
its existing strength in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine,"
Dr.
Keller says, who is also past President of the International Society
for Stem Cell
Research. "I was
especially attracted to the collaborative nature of Toronto’s
scientific
community. It's one I feel comfortable
with and it's one that I feel will promote stem cells and regenerative
medicine
exceptionally well.”
A
Saskatchewan native, Dr. Keller came to
Toronto in 1979 for a post-doctoral fellowship at the Ontario Cancer
Institute. He spent much of his
research career in the U.S., where he became best known for his seminal
research with embryonic stem cells.
Home for leading
researchers
Dr.
Keller’s move is likely to draw other
top stem-cell researchers to work with his all-star cast.
Groundbreaking research in stem
cell biology
is helping propel Ontario into the big leagues.
Ontario’s
rich heritage of discoveries in
life sciences is very much alive as leading researchers push the
boundaries of
knowledge in many fields. In 2005,
UHN/University of Toronto’s Drs. Ernest McCulloch and James Till won
the
prestigious Lasker Prize for their ingenious experiments that first
identified
a stem cell.
Also
in 2005, Endel Tulving of the Rotman
Research Institute at the Baycrest Centre in Toronto received a
Gairdner Award
for his pioneering research in understanding human memory.
Anthony Pawson of the Samuel
Lunenfeld
Research Institute was inducted in 2006 into the Canadian Medical Hall
of Fame
for his international leadership in the field of cell signalling
research.
Location,
location, location
Ontario’s
“Innovation Corridor” runs from
the nation’s capital, Ottawa, (on the Quebec border) to Windsor (on the
U.S.
border) and into Northern Ontario. 11
life science clusters form the corridor, where world-leading companies
collaborate with more than 150 university, college and public research
centres
to speed new discoveries and processes from the lab to the marketplace.
Two
of the three companies in Canada
currently working on commercializing stem cell therapies are in the
corridor. Mississauga-based Insception
Biosciences and StemPath in Ottawa, a company that is working on
producing a
drug that will coax a person’s existing stem cells in the heart to
regenerate
themselves, and help repair any damage caused after a heart attack.
Ottawa
is also home to the Stem Cell
Network, a not-for-profit corporation that brings together more than 70
leading
stem cell experts with a mandate to advance the science of regenerative
medicine, and commercialize any promising therapies or processes.
Ontario
has one of the most diverse and
innovative life sciences sectors in the world, with more than 800
companies
employing 40,000 people. The Toronto
Stock Exchange is the second largest life sciences market in the
world—home to
more than 70 life sciences companies with a total market capitalization
of
almost Cdn $18 billion.
The
24 colleges and 20 universities in
Ontario include some of the world’s top business and science schools. This post-secondary network produces 29,000
graduates a year in math, engineering and sciences, ensuring a steady
supply of
new talent.
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