The Krembil Discovery Centre will be home base for some of Canada's most talented researchers in arthritis, vision, and neuroscience. "We see it as a hotbed of creative activity from which important discoveries will emerge — discoveries that will impact the lives of our patients and their families," says Dr. Christopher Page, Vice President, Research, UHN. Here are some of the top researchers you will find at KDC:
Dr. Rod Bremner Head, Division of Genetics & Development, Toronto Western Research Institute (TWRI)
Senior Scientist, Division of Genetics & Development, TWRI
The Bremner laboratory studies cancer and neurogenesis — particularly retinoblastoma protein because it regulates a pathway that is defective in almost all cancers, and because of its roles in division, differentiation and death are pivotal in developing optimized strategies for retinal regeneration.
Dr. Andres Lozano Neurosurgeon, Toronto Western Hospital Head, Applied and Interventional Research, TWRI
Dr. Lozano is one of the world's leading authorities on deep brain stimulation (DBS). He was the neurosurgeon on a team of researchers who demonstrated promising results in a study where DBS was used to treat depression. Now he has begun a pilot study to see if DBS can help early onset Alzheimer's patients.
Dr. Lyanne Schlichter Senior Scientist, Genes and Development Division, TWRI
Dr. Schlichter is a basic scientist, whose research laboratory investigates cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate activation of the brain's immune cells, and then uses animal models to study how inflammation develops in the brain and affects the outcome after ischemic stroke, hemorrhage and optic nerve damage.
Dr. Peter St George-Hyslop Director, TWRI Director of the Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases
Dr. St George-Hyslop is a pioneer in using genetic and molecular information to gain insight into the causes of neurological diseases and has made a series of seminal scientific discoveries that have vastly increased the understanding of Alzheimer's disease. His work has also set the stage for the first generation of therapies for other neurodegenerative diseases, such as such as Parkinson's, motor neuron disease, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Dr. Michael Tymianski Senior Scientist, Division of Fundamental Neurobiology, TWRI
Dr. Tymianski is a neurosurgeon specializing in the treatment of patients with brain vascular disorders, including surgery for stroke (carotid endarterectomy), brain aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, cavernous malformations, and EC-IC bypass. In his research laboratory, he studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms that cause brain cells to die during a stroke, and new drug treatments for protecting the brain from being damaged by stroke and other injuries.
Dr. Joan Wither Senior Scientist, Division of Genetics & Development, TWRI
The focus of Dr. Wither's laboratory is the immune mechanisms that lead to the development of systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases, such as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). She investigates the immune defects leading to these diseases in mouse strains that spontaneously develop a lupus-like illness and then applies the insights obtained to a focused investigation of the human disease.
