Thomas Hawke: Uncovering the effects of diabetes on adolescent muscles

Hawke is studying the effects of diabetes on the capacity for young muscle to grow and to repair itself following injury. His work is expected to lead to improved treatments, which currently cost Ontario's health care system more than $5-billion a year.

Judith Shedden, Martin von Mohrenschildt and Scott Watter: Building better training simulators

Shedden, von Mohrenschildt and Watter are building a next generation motion simulator that will use wrap-around video displays, 3D simulation software, eye-tracking, and electrophysiological brain-imaging.

Michael Farquharson: Developing a new system to improve success rates in cancer surgery

Surgical oncologists try to remove all tumour tissue while conserving as much healthy tissue as possible – but failure rates remain stubbornly high. Farquharson is developing a tissue analysis system to help surgeons and improve results.

Gregory Wohl: Developing new strategies for preventing and treating musculoskeletal diseases

Wohl is investigating the properties of bone, and the impact on it of diet, injury, surgery, pharmaceutical therapies and aging. He hopes his research will lead to better strategies for prevention and treatment of musculoskeletal diseases like osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.

Dawn Bowdish: Developing drugs to treat antibiotic resistant bacteria

Bowdish is working to develop immunomodulators, drugs that defend against disease by stimulating the body's white blood cells. This research holds the potential for fighting infectious diseases, overcoming antibiotic resistant bacteria and for treating cancer.

Robert Pelton: Advancing competitiveness in Ontario's forestry industry

Pelton wants to develop new technologies to support Ontario's forestry industry, while at the same time protecting the environment. He is working on bringing bioactive paper – paper that can detect pathogens easily and inexpensively – to the market.

Christoph Fusch: Improving the health of premature babies

Fusch is investigating the role nutrition plays in early growth and brain development, to help improve the health of premature babies.

Nathan Magarvey: Using microbes to develop new effective medical treatments

Microbes may represent the future of medicine, with the potential to treat myriad diseases from gastrointestinal problems to tooth decay. Magarvey is using microbial genomics to search for new bioactive small molecules, with the goal of developing effective treatments for drug resistant pathogens and a variety of cancers.

Michael Noseworthy: Developing new imaging techniques to improve treatment of musculoskeletal disease

Noseworthy is developing new imaging techniques for assessing skeletal muscle during activity, the best time to make evaluations. His research will also innovative medical technologies to fuel Ontario's biotech industry.

Maikel Rheinstadter: Learning more about how membranes function

Rheinstadter is studying membranes at the molecular level, supporting research into better treatments for infectious disease, and the development of advanced materials like biosensors.

Jeffrey Weitz: New techniques for identifying and treating the causes of blood clot formation

Weitz is investigating the molecular mechanisms that underlie the blood clots that form in heart or brain arteries and cause heart attacks and strokes, the leading cause of death and disability in Canada and worldwide. His work is expected to lead to the creation of spin-off companies to commercialize the technology.