We are excited to welcome new colleagues and announce some role changes at Ontario Genomics.

We would like to provide a warm welcome to Dr. Yoo Jin Park and Dr. Michael Dorrington, both joining us in the role of Advisor, Sector Innovation & Programs.

During Yoo Jin’s 10+ years in the biomedical research sector, she successfully led several projects across multiple therapeutic areas, including metabolism (obesity/diabetes), immuno-oncology, and cardiovascular diseases, resulting in high impact publications peer-reviewed journals. Before joining Ontario Genomics, Yoo Jin worked as a Scientist at Sanofi Pasteur, where she was responsible for validating and improving the vaccine manufacturing and quality testing processes.

Before joining Ontario Genomics, Mike was a post-doctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Immune System Biology at the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases outside of Washington, DC. In this position, he studied the many roles of antiviral cytokines in inflammation and antibacterial immune responses using cutting-edge genomic and transcriptomic technologies. He was also a post-doctoral representative to the NIH’s Immunology Interest Group.

Yoo Jin and Michael will support the Ontario Genomics community by implementing projects and programs to bring new genomic-derived solutions to Ontario’s key sectors.

We are pleased that Dr. Helen Petropoulos has taken on the role of Associate Vice-President, Sector Innovation and Programs. In this capacity, Helen will be responsible for our core translational research and commercialization programs and strategic initiatives to advance genomics in key sectors. Helen will also lead the Sector Innovation and Programs team.

Dr. Dennis McCormac, Associate Vice-President, Science and Innovation, has also grown his responsibilities as our Science-lead and will directly manage the Research Operations & Program Management team. In this capacity, Dennis will support our community to ensure that our investments in research and innovation lead to the desired outcomes.

Over the past several months, our communications team has also seen some exciting growth. Joining us in October 2019 as Director of Communications, Polina Martins is responsible for leading and implementing the Ontario Genomics communications strategy, supporting government and stakeholder engagement priorities, and executing events and other public relations initiatives.

Previously, Polina served as Senior Communications and Operations Advisor to several Ontario Government Ministers in Economic Development and Growth, Health and Long-Term Care, and Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation portfolios. She brings a unique blend of communications, government relations, stakeholder engagement, and events planning experience to this role.

Having successfully completed her Ontario Genomics practicum placement in the UofT M.H.Sc. Medical Genomics program, Zoya Retiwalla joins Ontario Genomics full-time in the role of Communications Coordinator, Programs and Outreach. Before joining Ontario Genomics, Zoya worked as a communication, marketing, and recruitment coordinator at the University of Toronto. She brings a diverse mix of scientific and genomic knowledge, communications, stakeholder engagement, and business experience to her role at Ontario Genomics. Zoya works with the communications team to provide ongoing communications support for Ontario Genomics programs and special initiatives.

As always, the whole Ontario Genomics team is here to support Ontario’s thriving genomics ecosystem. Should your organization or research team need any support or have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@ontariogenomics.ca.

Listen to Podcast

During the pandemic, different branches of science and researchers from across disciplines have come together to further our knowledge about COVID-19. Jeff Wrana, a senior investigator at Sinai Health’s Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, is a good example of how the scientific research community is pulling in expertise from all directions.

When the pandemic hit, he was studying cancer and learning how to apply robotic technology into the lab work. Seeing the need to boost testing capacity his research group was able to turn from their work analyzing the different cells that make up a tumour, to analyzing samples from COVID-19 patients.

Using sequencing tools which can sequence a single genome overnight and robotics that can process high volumes of samples, he believes his lab can analyze 10,000 COVID-19 samples a day. Or more.

Freelance broadcaster Don Hill talked with project leader Jeff Wrana about the technology and the logistical challenges associated with handling that many samples as he moves from the proof-of-concept stage into real world testing.

The Ontario Government announced phase two of funding for a number of research projects aimed at fighting COVID-19. The projects are a part of $20 million in funding that the Government has put towards the Ontario COVID-19 Rapid Research Fund, which focuses on research into “vaccine development, diagnostics, drug trials and development, and social sciences.”

Among the funded projects are those led by members of the ONCoV Genomics Coalition, Allison McGeer at Sinai Health System, Aaron Campigotto at Hospital for Sick Children and Rob Kozak at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. We would like to congratulate them on their successful funding proposals to the Ontario Government to continue promising research to support innovative solutions to COVID-19.

Ontario Genomics has brought together Ontario’s world-leading experts in genomics to form the ONCoV Genomics Rapid Response Coalition, leveraging the power of sequencing, bioinformatics, genomics epidemiology, and artificial intelligence to expedite Ontario’s response to COVID-19.

Funded Projects:

Control of COVID-19 Outbreaks in Long-Term Care: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Chemoprophylaxis to Control Outbreaks of COVID19 in Long Term Care Facilities (CONTROL-COVID)
Allison McGeer, Principal Investigator – Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System
The frail elderly are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Interventions are urgently needed to prevent and control outbreaks at long-term care homes. This research will use clinical trials to test the efficacy of different chemoprophylaxis regimens to protect elderly residents of long-term care homes from COVID-19.

Ontario Healthcare Worker Seroprevalence of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies (COVID-19 Antibodies in Ontario Healthcare Workers)
Aaron Campigotto, Co-Principal Investigator – Hospital for Sick Children
Healthcare workers have a critical role in the pandemic response to COVID-19 and are at risk of infection. The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in a population of healthcare workers and describe the change in SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies as the pandemic progresses. The research will also track the antibody response in those who are infected with COVID-19 and if possible, evaluate the impact of antibody presence on subsequent reinfection. This research will shed light on the incidence of infection and risk factors for infection in healthcare workers from hospitals across Ontario.

Development of Multiple Vaccine Candidates for SARSCoV-2 and Evaluation of Safety and Efficacy in Animal Models
Rob Kozak, Principal Investigator, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
This project aims to evaluate the safety and long-term protection of two vaccines before advancing them to human trials. The study will test the duration of protective vaccine immunity in both small and large animal models and investigate whether vaccinated animals that are infected with seasonal coronaviruses have adverse immunological reactions, leading to worse disease. The data generated from this proposal will help determine the optimal vaccine to advance into human efficacy trials.

Source: Government of Ontario Newsroom