重口味SM

Nine U of T researchers receive Connaught funding

Researchers at the 重口味SM are receiving over $800,000 from the Connaught Fund, a research funding source unique to the U of T. 

The funding comes from two Connaught programs. The Connaught Innovation Award accelerates the development of promising technologies and promotes knowledge transfer arising from the U of T.  The Connaught Summer Institute brings together Canadian and international graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and other scholars to foster collaboration among disciplines and support new methods for research and innovation. 

鈥淭he Connaught Fund builds on the university鈥檚 rich history of research,鈥 said Vivek Goel, U of T vice-president of research and innovation. 

Founded in 1972, the Connaught Fund was created from the sale of the Connaught Laboratories, which was established in 1914 to produce diphtheria antitoxin and later expanded to produce insulin and other vaccines and antitoxins. Insulin was discovered by Nobel Prize winners and U of T researchers Frederick Banting, Charles Best, John Macleod and Charles Collip. The university has managed the Connaught Fund for more than 40 years, over that time awarding more than $150 million to U of T researchers. 

鈥淭hat rich history is still paying dividends as the fund supports the work of today鈥檚 researchers, each of whom is making their own unique contribution to progress on a wide range of local and global research issues,鈥 Goel added. 

Today, the fund invests more than $4 million annually in emerging and established scholars from the full spectrum of research and scholarship at the U of T. 

Nine U of T researchers are sharing in a total of more than $750,000 in support from the Connaught Innovation Award:

  • J. Stewart Aitchison of the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, for 鈥淎n Optimized Waveguide Based Light Delivery System for Algal Biofilm Reactors鈥
  • Roman Genov of the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering for 鈥淧re-market Clinical Validation of a Seizure-Aborting Smart Implantable Neurostimulator for Treating Drug-Resistant Epilepsy鈥
  • Glenn Gulak of the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering for 鈥淎 Wireless CMOS Device for Rapid Point of Care Diagnosis of Bacterial Infections鈥
  • Boris Hinz of the Faculty of Dentistry for 鈥淐ommercialization of a novel high-throughput screen  to test the contractile function of heart muscle cells鈥
  • Shana Kelley of the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy for a 鈥淒evice for the Rapid Electrochemical Phenotypic Profiling of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria鈥
  • Robert Morris of the Department of Chemistry for 鈥淪ustainable iron catalysts for the hydrogenation of esters and carbon dioxide鈥
  • Dwight Seferos of the Department of Chemistry for 鈥淒evelopment of a flexible thin-film battery鈥
  • Yu Sun of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering for 鈥淒evelopment of an automated instrument to standardize embryo vitrification in IVF clinics鈥
  • Paul Yoo of the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering for 鈥淣ovel electrical stimulation target for treating overactive bladder鈥

In addition, David K. Lam from the Faculty of Dentistry is receiving $50,000 in support from the Connaught Summer Institute for 鈥淎dvancing the integration of pain research and knowledge translation鈥.  

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