重口味SM

Professor Molly Shoichet is leading award-winning nano-material delivery research that could help restore brain and nerve connections damaged by stroke, spinal cord injury, blindness (photo by L'Or茅al)

Molly Shoichet wins L鈥橭r茅al-UNESCO For Women in Science award

Innovative research leader already the only person ever elected to all three of Canada鈥檚 science academies

重口味SM biomedical engineering professor Molly Shoichet has been named the North American laureate for 2015.

Already the only person ever elected to all three of Canada鈥檚 science academies and a (the highest distinction U of T awards its faculty), Shoichet is the . She is also the innovative mind behind breakthroughs ranging from 鈥榮pace suits鈥 for fragile stem cells to polymer-based 鈥榲ehicles鈥 that could let cancer drugs 鈥榙rive鈥 to affected areas.

The award&苍产蝉辫;鈥&苍产蝉辫;which involves a $140,000 prize&苍产蝉辫;鈥&苍产蝉辫;recognizes accomplished female researchers and encourages more young women to enter science and technology careers. (A recent report from Engineers Canada revealed that only 18.3 per cent of undergrad engineering degrees in the country were awarded to women in 2013 鈥 .)

鈥淪ince I can remember, my mom encouraged me to have a profession,鈥 says Shoichet. 鈥淚 did well in math and science in high school and was lucky to be able to dream about what I could contribute. Now I鈥檓 following that dream for a living.鈥

Stem cell 鈥榮pace suits鈥 made of Jell-O

For Shoichet, the key to that dream lies in Jell-O-like materials called hydrogels 鈥 networks of polymer chains that swell in water, can thin and flow when forced through a needle, and then set almost immediately. These hydrogels allow stem cells or drugs a better chance of getting to and integrating into the parts of the body where they鈥檙e needed.

鈥淚f you have a series of wires that are all broken, just throwing in more wires won鈥檛 fix things,鈥 says Shoichet. 鈥淚n the nervous system, for example, we need those wires to be connected to a circuit to work鈥. We need the stem cells to survive long enough to integrate, but we need the cells to integrate in order to survive.鈥

Shoichet and team have solved this chicken-and-the-egg dilemma with a delivery system that acts as a sort of space-suit, incorporating fragile stem cells in a hydrogel that has survival-promoting 鈥榣ife-support鈥 cells inside the gel. This enables the stem cells to survive long enough to give them a fighting chance to integrate&苍产蝉辫;鈥&苍产蝉辫;a stage which most stem cells implanted into the body fail to reach.

Such transplants could someday lead to treatments for spinal cord injuries, stroke and blindness, to name a few&苍产蝉辫;鈥&苍产蝉辫;where hydrogel-based 鈥榲ehicles鈥 could transport specifically-engineered cell groups more safely directly to damaged tissue that needs repairing.

鈥楧riving鈥 polymer 鈥榲ehicles鈥 to treatment sites

Shoichet and team are also designing polymers to deliver specially-engineered nano-scale drugs to specific areas of the brain and spinal cord, stimulating existing stem cells to mend damaged tissue.

To do this without damaging the brain or spinal cord, Shoichet and her colleagues take a hydrogel containing the stem-cell-stimulating drug and nano-spheres filled with an additional drug to slow the release of the stem-cell-stimulating drug and inject it directly on top of the brain or spinal cord for a local, sustained release to the damaged tissue.

This allows the stem-cell-stimulating drug to be carefully laid onto the brain (or spinal cord), safely getting around the blood barrier (or the blood-spinal-cord barrier), beyond which the drug is able to act to promote repair.

鈥淚f I knew how complex the central nervous system was, I wouldn鈥檛 have gotten into this field,鈥 Shoichet jokes. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 this complexity that makes my field so exhilarating and full of promise.鈥 

鈥楽eep-and-destroy鈥 cancer treatment

Cancer research caught Shoichet鈥檚 interest after a good friend of hers died of breast cancer 10 years ago. Now, Shoichet and team are creating materials that will deliver drugs directly to cancer cells, aiming to overcome some of the horrible side effects of current cancer treatments. 

To do so, they deliver potent drugs to the centre of a cancerous area where they disperse throughout that area and stay around long enough to kill cancer cells, leaving healthy cells largely untouched.

Riding inside the polymers that carry these drugs, nano-beads spread through cancer-stricken areas via the vascular system. At 1/1000 the thickness of a human hair, the beads are small enough to cross the leaky cancerous vasculature but large enough to stop at the more solid healthy vasculature.

Shoichet hopes that these discoveries and many others her team is working on 鈥 such as microscopic scaffolding that guides where cells will grow tissues for transplantation 鈥 will soon help improve our quality of life. 

Culture of collaboration 

When those real-world benefits come (some of Shoichet鈥檚 work has already been commercialized), she insists that it鈥檚 all been possible only through connections with hundreds of colleagues and students.

鈥淢olly is a fantastic collaborator who never gives up on people or ideas,鈥 says Dr. Cindi Morshead, colleague and Anatomy Chair at the U of T鈥檚 Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research. 鈥淪he just has such an incredible energy.鈥

The motto of The Shoichet Lab&苍产蝉辫;鈥&苍产蝉辫;鈥淪olving Problems Together鈥&苍产蝉辫;鈥&苍产蝉辫;is evident in every aspect of the workplace she鈥檚 created: At the end of their time with the facility, students have their lab coats 鈥渞etired鈥 and hung on a wall of fame like the jerseys of iconic hockey legends.

鈥淧hD and master's students that come here to learn very quickly end up teaching me about what they鈥檝e been tasked with becoming an expert on,鈥 says Shoichet.

Like the time she and research students discovered that one of their hydrogels did more than hold its contents properly; the material it was made of was also therapeutic for the tissues to which it it was delivering drugs.

鈥淪ometimes discoveries are a slow progression, but that was a bit of an 鈥榓h-ha!鈥 moment,鈥 says Shoichet. 鈥淲hen the gel didn鈥檛 seem to do anything bad and actually seemed to do something good, we stood back and said, 鈥榟ey, we鈥檝e really got something here鈥.鈥

In addition to the honour for Shoichet, U of T and Hospital for Sick Children postdoctoral researcher Vanessa D鈥機osta received one of this year鈥檚 for her research into new drug-resistant strains of salmonella.

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