Research Committee and Keynote speakers

Andras Nagy PhD

Professor Faculty of Medcine, University of Toronto, SENIOR INVESTIGATOR-Tanenbaum Research Institute Mount Sinai Hospital Joseph & Wolf Lebovic Health Complex. The Canada Research Chair in Stem Cells and Regeneration.

SLAP Medical Science Research Day Co-Organizer and Keynote speaker

Nisha Aggarwal Gilotra, M.D.

Director, Cardiac Sarcoidosis Program Assistant Professor of Medicine

Dr. Nisha A. Gilotra is a cardiologist in the Johns Hopkins Medicine Division of Cardiology with expertise in advanced heart failure, including the care of heart transplant and ventricular assist device patients. She is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Gilotra received her medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA. She completed her medical residency, general cardiology fellowship and advanced heart failure fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Between fellowships, she served as an Assistant Chief of Service for the Department of Medicine. Dr. Gilotra’s research interests include heart failure, heart transplant, heart assist devices, myocarditis and heart failure quality improvement.

Dr. Vinay K. Aggarwal, MD

Dr. Vinay K. Aggarwal, MD is a health care provider primarily located in New York, NY. His specialties include Orthopedic Surgeon.

Fast, Easy, Accurate Intellijoint HIP is a surgeon-controlled, navigation tool for total hip arthroplasty (THA). It provides real-time, intraoperative measurements for fast, easy and accurate implant alignment for cup position, leg length and offset.

Yi Sheng MD PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Biology, York University

3rd and 4th SLAP Medical Science Research Day Key note Speaker Research Focus Our research focuses on understanding how proteins are targeted by the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS)and how aberration of this system contributes to pathogenesis of diseases.

Tianru Jin MD&PhD

Professor, Dept. of Medicine, Physiology, University of Toronto Principal Investigator, Banting and Best Diabetes Centre, University of Toronto. University Health Network

Supported by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) and Banting and Best Diabetes Centre (BBDC), Dr. Jin’s team has introduced the Wnt signaling pathway into the incretin hormone research field. His team is utilizing mouse models in studying function of GLP-1 and its based diabetes drugs, as well metabolic beneficial effect of dietary interventions.

Feng Hua Yang MD PhD

Associate professor and a member of the Academic Committee of the Guangdong Laboratory Animals Monitoring Institute, Guangzhou, China

SLAP Medical Science Research Day Key note speaker

Jim Hu MD PhD

Professor Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, Paediatrics, University of Toronto

SLAP Medical Science Research Day Key note speaker

Suzan EL-Rass PhD

Ph D University of Toronto

ZhenYu Hao MD PhD

Senior Scientist

Faculty of Medicine, University Of Toronto

Lily Guo PhD

Postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Andras Nagy Lab

Wenbin Liang MD, PHD

Scientist and Director of the Cardiovascular Electrophysiology Laboratory at University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Associate Professor at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa

Dr. Liang completed his PhD studies in the Department of Physiology, University of Toronto focusing on the electrophysiology of cardiomyocytes and vascular smooth muscle cells (Advisor: Dr. Peter Backx), and was trained as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Eduardo Marbàn (Director of Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, in Los Angeles) focusing on gene- and cell-based therapies of heart rhythm disorders. Dr. Liang’s research is focused on mechanistic studies of arrhythmogenic heart disease, with the hope of developing novel therapies for cardiac arrhythmias. Techniques used include somatic gene transfer, stem cells, cellular electrophysiology, organ culture, and whole-animal studies, as well as cellular and molecular biology techniques.

Wenhua Zheng MD,PhD

Professor University of Macau, Macau, China

Ischemic stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability among adults. Despite the economic burden of the disease, available treatment options are still very limited. With the exception of anti-thrombolytics and hypothermia, current therapies fail to reduce neuronal injury, neurological deficits and mortality rates, suggesting that developing novel and more effective therapies against ischemic stroke are urgent. In the present study, we found that artemether, which has been used in the clinic as an anti-malarial drug, improved neurological deficits and attenuated the infarction volume and the brain water content in a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) animal model. Furthermore, artemether treatment significantly suppressed cell apoptosis, stimulated cell proliferation and promoted the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), P90rsk and cAMP responsive element-binding protein (CREB). Artemether protective effect was attenuated by PD98059, an ERK1/2 inhibitor, administration. Similarly, in an in vitro oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/RP) model, artemether pre-treatment induced the suppression of the intracellular ROS, the down-regulation of LDH activity, and the reduction of caspase 3 activity and the apoptosis while application PD98059, an ERK1/2 inhibitor or the knock-on of ERK by siRNA attenuated the protective effect of Artemether. These results indicated the involvement of ERK in the protective effect of artemether. Similar results were obtained with Artemisinin. Our findings provide evidence of the neuroprotective effect of artemisinin and artemether and unravel their potential as the new therapeutic candidates for the prevention and treatment of stroke.

Allina Ding WANG MD, PhD

Senior Medical Science Researcher

Faculty Of Medicine, University of Toronto

research committee and keynote speakers