Ryerson and St. Michael鈥檚 team up to establish a unique institute
After only one year, the Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science and Technology (iBEST) has leveraged its model of 鈥渂ench to bedside鈥� applied research to help researchers at Ryerson and St. Michael鈥檚 Hospital innovate medical solutions for the 21st century. iBEST marked its one-year anniversary in January, 2017.
The institute features biomedical research brought to life through collaboration between Ryerson faculty and St. Michael鈥檚 clinicians and researchers.
Within St. Michael鈥檚 Keenan Research Centre, scientists from both institutions have developed labs where they can collaborate freely. The institute brings together the strength of Ryerson鈥檚 science and engineering programs and St. Michael鈥檚 biomedical and clinical expertise to pioneer new technologies and apply these medical advances to patients quickly.
One example of how the partnership is thriving can be seen in a collaboration between Ryerson鈥檚 Scott Tsai and St. Michael鈥檚 Dr. Andras Kapus.
The pair are co-supervising Ryerson biomedical engineering PhD student Huma Inayat in a project that involves printing miniature 鈥渓andscapes鈥� to study how cells covering the surface of organs respond to stresses depending on their location within a population of cells. One such stress is transforming growth factor (TGF) beta, a chemical that can induce serious organ scarring. On the Ryerson side, Tsai carries out the actual printing of these landscape labs.
鈥淲hat we are doing is patterning the cells and creating gaps between the cells that will mimic wounds,鈥� said Tsai, professor of mechanical and industrial engineering. 鈥淲e can change the size of the wound and see cell transformation.鈥�
Dr. Kapus, a researcher with St. Michael鈥檚 Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science, studies organ scarring that occurs in diseases such as diabetes. He鈥檚 studying the biology of the cells in Tsai鈥檚 labs and observing their growth.
鈥淭he magical thing is that cells located at the boundary of a cell layer (e.g., at the edge of a wound) react differently to the same challenge compared to cells surrounded by other cells on all sides, such as those in the middle of an organ. For example, TGF beta transforms 'edge cells' into scar-forming cells, whereas 'middle cells' do not change much,鈥� said Dr. Kapus. 鈥淚f we understand how to reprogram edge-like behavior to middle-type behavior, we could develop therapies to lessen organ scarring. This is important with regard to many diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, and kidney failure.鈥�
Tsai says that working at iBEST not only gives him access to the expertise of fellow researchers, but also to equipment that he might not otherwise have. He says this combination allows the pair鈥檚 research to evolve from bench to bedside at an accelerated pace.