top of page
OCTOBER - DECEMBER  2016

  • Check out this feature article on mechanical priming on the Faculty of Dentistry website: LINK.

  • Ho Ho Ho! We have had our annual LTRR Christmas lunch on December 12. The the annual Matrix Dynamics Group Christmas Party was celebrated on Friday, December 16, 2016. All Santas were secret.

  • Good bye and good luck to Markus Auler! All the very best in your upcoming adventures and hope you will stay in touch!

  • Welcome to Dr. Tobias Kuehl! Tobias comes from the Bruckner-Tuderman lab (University of Freiburg) and will join the LTRR until approximately March 2017 to work on part of his post-doc project. He will be utilizing soft silicone substrates to investigate dermal fibroblast from Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa patients.

JULY - SEPTEMBER 2016

  • New Publication: Langevin, H., Keely, P., Mao, J., Hodge, L., Schleip, R., Deng, G., Hinz, B., Swartz, M., de Valois, B., Zick, S., and Findley, T. (2016): Connecting (t)issues: How research in fascia biology can impact integrative oncology. Cancer Research

  • New Publication: Li, C.X., Talele, N.P., Boo, S., Knee-Walden, E., Koehler, A., Kapus, A., Speight, P., Balestrini, J.L., Hinz, B. (2016). Micro RNA miR-21 preserves the fibrotic mechanical memory of mesenchymal stem cells. Nature Materials

  • New Publication: Spinale, F.G., Frangogiannis, N.G., Hinz, B., Holmes, J.W., Kassiri, Z., Lindsey, M.L. (2016): Crossing Into the Next Frontier of Cardiac Extracellular Matrix Research. Circulation Research

  • New Publication:  Hinz, B. (2016): The role of myofibroblasts in wound healing. Current Research in Translational Medicine

​

  • LTRR is back on-line with an updated web presence. Many thanks to Alice Green and Boaz Wong for making this possible.

  • More work, more fame: Boris joined the Canada-based journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (BCB) in the capacity of Associate Editor. Coincidentally, Boris published his first paper ever with the BCB in 1997. Whenever he had some beers, he claims to have invented the now standard kymograph analysis for cell membrane dynamics. He just gave it an ugly name: SACED.

  • Welcome to Mariëlle Walraven who joined the lab as Post-Doc fellow on September 6, 2016. Mariëlle comes with a PhD in Genetics from the University of Amsterdam. Her thesis was on “Cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in scarless wound healing in the fetal skin”.

  • Welcome to Trong Shen who started on September 6, 2016. Trong comes with a Bachelor of Applied Science, Honours in Nanotechnology Engineering from the University of Waterloo and hopefully stays to start a Master thesis in January 2017.

  • LTRR on the water again: This year we spent three days on beautiful campsites at Mew Lake in Algonquin Park. We canoed for one day on the lakes with splendid weather conditions.

  • LTRR on the move: The University of Toronto has been successful in its bid to secure strategic research infrastructure funds from the Governments of Canada and Ontario, a portion of which has been earmarked for Dentistry. The Faculty of Dentistry is now embarking on project to renovate and revitalize its research infrastructure over the next two years. The Matrix Dynamics Group and LTRR will then leave Fitzgerald and join the Faculty physically. Check this related article from the Varsity Student Newspaper at U of T, featuring mind-boggling statements from Hinz.

APRIL - JUNE  2016

  • New Publication: Bochaton, M.-L., Gabbiani, G., and Hinz, B. (2016) The Myofibroblast in Wound Healing and Fibrosis: Answered and Unanswered Questions. F1000 Biol Reports.

  • New Publication: Dadson, K., Kovacevic, V., Rengasamy, P., Kim, G.H.E., Boo, S., Li, R.K., George, I., P. Schulze, C., Hinz, B., Sweeney, G. (2016), Cellular, structural and functional cardiac remodeling following pressure overload and unloading. International Journal of Cardiology.

  • New Publication: Szeto, S.G., Narimatsu, M., Lu, M., Sidiqi, A., Chan, L., De Freitas, K.,Boo, S., Hinz, B., John, R., Wrana, J.L., Kapus, A., Yuen, D.A. (2016) YAP/TAZ are mechanoregulators of TGF-?-Smad signaling and renal fibrogenesis. J Am Soc Nephrology.

  • New Publication: Varney, S.D, Betts, C.B., Zheng, R, Wu, L., Hinz, B., Zhou, J., Van De Water, L (2016) Hic-5 is required for myofibroblast differentiation by regulating mechanically dependent, MRTF-A nuclear accumulation Journal of Cell Science.

  • New Publication: Hinz, B. and Suki, B. Does breathing amplify fibrosis? An editorial on: Froese et al. (2016): Stretch Induced Activation of TGF-beta1 in Pulmonary Fibrosis. American Journal of Respiratory And Critical Care Medicine

​

  • Yousef Shafieyan was invited to present progress made on his Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research (TRCHR) fellowship at the TRCHR 1st Scientific Symposium, May 12-13, 2016, Toronto.

  • Congratulations to Pardis Pakshir for passing her PhD qualifying exam!

  • Welcome to Michelle Im. Michelle will be starting on April 18 as Research Assistant in our lab to provide project support to our staff and students. Michelle comes with an MSc in Physiology and Pharmacology from the lab of Lina Dagnino at Western University.

  • Congratulations to Henna Karvonen for receiving a prestigious 3-year Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Research Council for Health of the Academy of Finland. The funding rate for this competition was only 11%, so very well done!!

  • Our application for support under the Connaught Innovation Award program has been awarded to commercially develop a cardiomyocyte contraction screening device.

JANUARY - MARCH  2016

  • New Publication: Nanchahal, J. and Hinz, B. (2016) Strategies to overcome the hurdles to treat fibrosis, a major unmet clinical need. PNAS

​

  • Congratulations to Pardis Pakshir and Ericka Knee-Walden for winning the Best Poster Presentation Prize in the PhD trainee category at the 22nd Canadian Connective Tissue Conference in Hamilton!

  • The lab attended collectively the 22nd Canadian Connective Tissue Conference at McMaster University in Hamilton June 1-3, 2016. Support the Canadian Connective Tissue Society.

  • Welcome to Markus Auler who will be performing a 6-month research project in the lab, officially starting on May 30, 2016. Markus will be working on the effect of specific micro RNAs on fibroblast contractility and differentiation phenotype.

  • Welcome to Boaz Wong who will be performing a summer research project in the lab starting on May 2, 2016. Boaz will support the macrophage crew. Also, congratulations to Boaz for obtaining an important Undergraduate Fellowship from CIHR.

  • Congratulations to Hicham Majd et al. (2015) for winning the prestigious Biomaterials 2015 Top Images poster award for an image published in the paper entitled “Novel micropatterns mechanically control fibrotic reactions at the surface of silicone implants”! The award was handed out (in absentia) at the World Biomaterials Congress in Montreal, Canada (May 21).

  • The Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research (TRCHR) has selected the application “Multi-factorial Immune Cell Based Development of Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy” for a TRCHR Innovation Fund Seed Grant/New Ideas award. Principal Investigator is Dr. Slava Epelman, with Co-PIs Drs. Boris Hinz and Tania Watts.

bottom of page