Two researchers from the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry were the recent recipients of The Canada Council for the Arts Killam Fellowship. Professors Elizabeth Edwards and Molly Shoichet were selected from a nationwide list of nominees, honoured for their outstanding research. This prestigious award, valued at $70,000 per year for a two-year period, will allow both professors to continue their work. Following this amazing win, AISHA GREENE sat down to speak with each professor about their careers, research, and how they aim to take science from the lab to your doorstep
Molly Shoichet
Upon entering the office of Professor Molly Shoichet, you immediately notice a picture of the last Rick Hansen’s Wheels in Motion community fundraiser, featuring Shoichet and the graduate students within her lab that took part. This event began with Rick Hansen, a Canadian paraplegic athlete and activist for people with spinal cord injuries. It has been important to the Shoichet lab over the last few years—for them, this event connects them to people afflicted with injuries and diseases the lab attempts to understand and find novel therapies for. Shoichet acknowledges that for her lab it has given them a “broader sense to their research,” where they can learn and interact with the general public.
Though researchers today are gaining a better understanding of the complex mechanisms which control the central nervous system, Shoichet is leading the way in devising novel regeneration strategies to treat spinal cord injuries.
Professor Shoichet—who holds the Canada Research Chair in Tissue Engineering and is also a member of the Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto—began her undergraduate studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As an undergraduate student in the department of chemistry, Shoichet recalls the intensive hands on research opportunities she took part in which ignited her interest in scientific research.
Following graduation, Shoichet applied and was accepted to both medical school and the graduate program in polymer science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Initially, Shoichet deferred her acceptance to medical school so that she could explore the option of medical-based research at UMass. Ultimately, it was her thirst for curiosity and a desire to devise answers to questions surrounding human health and disease that motivated her to remain in research.
“In a sense, it was like discovering the future of medicine, while ultimately advancing our knowledge about disease,” said Shoichet.
Even today, she is at the forefront of emerging medical technologies: Shoichet’s Killam project, entitled Three Dimensional Presentation of Immobilized Growth Factors to Guide and Control Cell Differentiation, will utilize tissue engineering to build three-dimensional scaffolds upon which stem cells can grow.
To Shoichet, the acceptance of this Killam fellowship has deeper meaning, since the nomination of this award was made by her peers. It not only acknowledges the significance of her work, it also highlights the support of her colleagues and graduate students whom have made her work possible.
Though Dr. Shoichet acknowledges that they are years away from understanding and implementing these techniques within humans, one can only marvel at the possibilities behind this current research.
“[Our work] will bring together the fields of biology and engineering as a means to guide where cells grow and influence how they decide their ultimate fate.”
Elizabeth Edwards
For Professor Elizabeth Edwards, academia was in the blood. With two professor parents, that drive for curiosity was bound to rub off. After gaining a Master’s degree in science from McGill University, a chance occurrence while employed at Seagram’s (makers of wines and spirits) helped to solidify her research focus. At the time, a neighbouring plant in Waterloo closed down for having large amounts of trichloroethene (TCE)—an industrial pollutant linked to dry-cleaning solvents within their well water. This incident prompted Edwards to consider studying environmental engineering, where she could combine her microbiology experience from working at Seagram’s with the idea of bioremediation (the use of naturally occurring microorganisms in the soil or water to break down pollutants) to combat environmental toxins.
However, following a PhD at Stanford University, Edwards began to notice a shift in the research community.
“We have always known that microorganisms exist within our soil and water…but what had become clearer over the years [was] that there was a ‘natural attenuation’ of contaminated sites,” said Edwards.
Nature’s ability to repair itself, and the fate of pollutants within the environment began to impact Edwards’ research. Novel organisms that specifically degrade chlorinated solvents and monoaromatics (such as the compounds benzene and toluene) under anaerobic (non-oxygenated) conditions were identified and sequenced. Edwards’ lab was one of the first to show that as a mixed microbial culture, the metabolism of one type of these dechlorinators was highly specific for degrading TCE, yet its activity was dependent upon the dynamics of a complex community setting.
During the Killam fellowship endowment period, one question that Edwards hopes to answer is why this community as a whole is so effective at breaking down chlorinated solvents. Her project, Bioremediation in the 21st Century: Contaminant-Degrading Processes Revealed through Metagenomic Analysis of Microbial Consortia, will look at the DNA of microorganisms within this community.
“If we can understand this community dynamic, we may be able to ‘tweak’ the overall metabolic rate of some of these organisms,” said Edwards.
The end result of such manipulations for the long term would essentially change the current ways in which we treat polluted soil and water.
Though the chemistry behind these mechanisms of de-chlorination— and more specifically benzene metabolism—are still being clarified, commercial entities have already begun the use of mixed microbial communities to treat the lingering affects of industrial waste products.
The future looks very promising in the field of environmental engineering. What continues to motivate Professor Edwards is not only understanding the metabolism of these mixed cultures, but also how she can affect the overall social good of our community. She acknowledges that her work and inspiration would not have been possible without the support of her colleagues and graduate students with whom she says she stands shoulder to shoulder with.
“I learn more from them everyday. This award not only honors me, it acknowledges the great work of my students,” said Edwards.
