Innovative Learning

Innovators are off and running

In 2016, the Royal Bank of Canada launched the RBC Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship and Innovation Graduate Scholarship programs at U of T. The RBC Innovation programs recognize emerging leaders who are establishing a record of research, scholarship and impact, and exhibit the potential to make significant contributions to research in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation. In addition to research excellence, preference will be given to those who have a demonstrated or future interest in entrepreneurship and company creation.

This year, there were two winners, both from the Department of Computer Science: Gellert Mattyus won an RBC Innovation Fellowship, valued at $100,000 over 2 years, in the lab of Professor Raquel Urtasun, and Perumal Varun Chadalavada won an RBC Innovation Scholarship, valued at $50,000 over 2 years, in the lab of Professor Daniel Wigdor.

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Innovators are off and running

Premier Kathleen Wynne, Mayor John Tory, Ontario cabinet minister Reza Moridi and U of T president Meric Gertler were on hand for the official opening of JLABS @ Toronto. (Photo by Johnny Guatto)

JLABS@Toronto opened in 2016, welcoming the first of 22 startups (eight of which have ties to the University of Toronto and its partner hospitals) selected to be part of the innovative research centre designed to advance bio/pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer and digital health programs. The 40,000-square-foot facility has cutting-edge, modular, and scalable lab space, equipment and, most important, access to scientific, industry, and capital funding experts.

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Speaking truth to innovators

Brad Katsuyama and John Stackhouse at the inaugural RBC Speaker Series event. (Photo by Johnny Guatto)

In November, U of T and RBC launched the RBC Innovation and Entrepreneurship Speaker Series, kicking it off with a conversation with innovator and CEO of IEX Group, Brad Katsuyama. The series is part of a $4-million commitment made by RBC to support Canada’s innovative entrepreneurs by enhancing the University’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Thanks to RBC’s generous support, over the next five years U of T will host 15 more conversations with innovative leaders covering topics that span the breadth of innovation and entrepreneurship activities occurring at U of T.

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A new set of machine learning algorithms developed by U of T researchers in Professor David Fleet’s lab at UTSC’S Department of Computer and Mathematical Sciences can generate the correct depictions of 3D structures for tiny protein molecules based only on two-dimensional images —and may revolutionize the development of drug therapies for a range of diseases from Alzheimer’s to cancer.

U of T PhD student Ali Punjani helped develop the algorithms. Existing techniques often generate depictions of the wrong structure, since the molecules being studied are microscopic. What’s novel about this approach is that it eliminates the need for prior knowledge about the protein molecule being studied. The team’s startup, Structura Biotechnology Inc., has developed the algorithms into a new platform called cryoSPARC that is already being used in labs across North America.

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Dr. Beverley Orser, a professor at U of T's Faculty of Medicine and a staff anesthesiologist at Sunnybrook Hospital, obtained a new U.S. patent called “methods for the prevention and/or treatment of memory impairment” for a class of drugs that may help mitigate troubling and costly disorders that plague some patients after surgeries requiring general anesthesia, such as delirium and cognitive dysfunction.

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Blue J Legal uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze data for lawyers, accountants, and other tax professionals. Their Tax Foresight program collects and analyzes the facts and findings from thousands of cases to predict what a court would decide in new situations. In 2016, the company signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Thomson Reuters. Led by CEO Ben Alarie, Osler Chair in Business Law at U of T, the company continues to grow as a result of its success and has recently expanded its staffing complement to the equivalent of 12 full-time positions.

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Three U of T startups were among 36 projects from across the country receiving funding from the federal government in support of their clean technology innovations. Nanoleaf, QD Solar and ARDA Power Inc. received a total of almost $6 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), a governmental foundation which helps cleantech entrepreneurs commercialize their products by removing the funding barrier that hinders so many high potential startups.

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After experiencing firsthand the Syrian refugee crisis in Turkey for a year after her University of Toronto graduation, Nouhaila Chelkhaoui knew she wanted to help make a positive impact on the lives of newcomers. A former international student in the Department of Political Science, she joined U of T startup iamsick’s newest initiative, which helps refugees navigate Canada’s complex healthcare system. iamsick is a digital health platform that focuses on providing people with access to healthcare services. Whether it’s a doctor accepting new patients, a walk-in-clinic that’s open late, a pharmacy, a diagnostic lab or nearby emergency room, iamsick shows users their nearest healthcare option anytime, Canada-wide.

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In 2016, U of T launched a massive project to sequence the whole genomes of 10,000 people per year using an Illumina HiSeq X™ Ten sequencing system. Whole-genome sequencing is used to understand life at its most fundamental level but also to find unique genetic defects that underlie disease in individuals, allowing researchers to design diagnostics and precision treatments for them.

In partnership with Illumina, U of T will also work with leading health tech innovators, including Verily Life Sciences, an Alphabet company, and will position Toronto as a leader in the global race to understand complex diseases. With the population of Toronto among the most diverse in the world, the project will have an unusual breadth of genetic material to study. Led by Stephen Scherer, Director of U of T’s McLaughlin Centre and the Centre for Applied Genomics at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), the initiative will help accelerate the big data revolution and create a new generation of precision therapies.

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The world’s solar market is growing rapidly, and Phantin – a dust-repelling, self-cleaning nanomaterial coating that keeps solar panels clean, boosts their energy production and requires less maintenance – is poised to capitalize on this potential for global impact. Invented by research associate Cheng Lu and Professor Cynthia Goh of the Department of Chemistry, Phantin could generate an extra 0.45 billion kWh of electricity annually – worth $200 million – in Canada alone by 2020. Phantin was one of the ground-breaking U of T inventions recognized at the 2016 U of T Celebrates Innovation event.

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In 2016, the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, and Nobel Prize winner John Polyani joined us in U of T Celebrates Innovation, an event that recognized four ground-breaking inventions in medicine, electronics, and energy production that were created at U of T by some of our most entrepreneurial faculty and students. The event was part of the Lieutenant-Governor’s May 17 visit to the St. George campus, which focused on innovation and the university’s position as a world leader in producing important research, attracting top talent, and instilling and supporting an entrepreneurial spirit in its students and faculty.

In addition to Phantin, invented by Cheng Lu and Cynthia Goh from the Department of Chemistry, here are the three other inventions that were recognized in 2016: