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Federal government awards the University of Toronto $114-million regenerative medicine grant

University of TorontoOn Tuesday, July 28, 2015, the federal government announced a $114-million grant to cement the University of Toronto‘s position as one of the world’s leading centres for the design and manufacture of cells, tissues and organs to treat degenerative disease.

This announcement was covered in The Globe & Mail and Lab Products News, and by CBC.ca, CTV News and Global TV. MaRS Innovation was specifically mentioned as a commercialization partner in the Toronto Star‘s coverage.

As the university’s commercialization agent, MaRS Innovation welcomes this news and the downstream companies and technology licenses it will create. The Honourable Ed Holder, Minister of State (Science and Technology), made the announcement.

The funding will allow U of T, in partnership with its research partners and fellow MI members — The Hospital for Sick Children, the University Health Network and Mount Sinai Hospital — to conduct transformational research and clinical translation in regenerative medicine, enhance capability in synthetic biology and computational biology and foster translation, commercialization and clinical impacts.

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BioDiaspora founder appears on CBC’s “The National” to discuss the Ebola crisis

Dr. Kamran Khan, founder of BioDiaspora, appeared on CBC’s “The National” on September 23, 2014, as part of a health panel examining the current state of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa.

CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge hosted the discussion.

Dr. Kamran Khan, an infectious disease clinician-scientist at St. Michael's Hospital and founder of BioDiaspora, on CBC's "The National."
Dr. Kamran Khan, an infectious disease clinician at St. Michael’s Hospital and founder of BioDiaspora, on CBC’s “The National.”

Watch the clip on CBC’s website.

BioDiaspora, spun off from St. Michael’s Hospital in partnership with MaRS Innovation, developed an easy-to-access, web-based solution that generates and communicates customized, actionable intelligence about global infectious disease threats in real-time.

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CBC’s Lang and O’Leary Exchange features Whirlscape’s Minuum keyboard

Whirlscape logoUTEST graduate Whirlscape, makers of the wearable, one-line Minuum keyboard, were recently featured on CBC’s Lang and O’Leary Exchange.

Minuum has also broken the 100 billion pixels mark in screen space saved for its users. Read about it on input, the Minuum blog.

Founder and CEO Will Walmsley was interviewed by Amanda Lang. The footage was also made available on CBC News, and was included in CBC’s weekly summary of the week’s top business stories. Watch the video.

Here’s an excerpt:

Typing on a smartphone is hard enough – imagine doing it on a smartwatch or other wearable device.

A Toronto startup called Minuum is trying to solve that problem with a tiny virtual keyboard.

It’s a downloadable app costing $3.99 that combines a tiny keyboard with a powerful autocorrect that helps you get the message out, no matter how you punch it.

[. . .]

“What really drives us to work on this technology is the future potential it has. The core concept is a keyboard that is just one line of characters, which means if you can imagine typing on a line anywhere, that can be a keyboard,” he said.

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WaveCheck co-directers talk crowdfunding commercialization research on CBC’s “The World This Weekend”

waveMaRS Innovation staff and WaveCheck Campaign Co-directors Dr. Fazila Seker and Elizabeth Monier-Williams spoke with the CBC’s Colleen Ross about the process of crowdfunding WaveCheck’s partner-based clinical studies on “The World This Weekend.”

The radio segment, called “Crowdfunding Science,” aired on January 25, 2014 and discussed the lack of funding researchers have access to for commercialization, making it harder to advance research that could be helping people in a variety of industries.

To listen to the full interview, click here.

WaveCheck’s crowdfunding campaign is an example of how MaRS Innovation gets creative when traditional funding channels take too long or run dry, speeding up the commercialization process.

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CBC News’ “The National” Features Granata Decision Systems

Amanda Lang interviews U of T prof and co-founder Craig Boutilier in segment on innovative start-ups and Canada’s future

Granata Decision System logo Nov 2013Following an appearance on the CBC’s “Lang and O’Leary Exchange” on November 28, MaRS Innovation UTEST company, Granata Decision Systems, appeared on CBC news “The National.” The segment included an interview with Amanda Lang.

Watch Boutilier’s interview with Lang for “The National” on CBC’s website. 

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Granata Decision Systems’ Co-Founder and University of Toronto Professor Craig Boutilier gives his pitch at a OneEleven investor session. Boutilier and Granata were featured on CBC News’ “The National.”

Founded by Craig Boutilier and Tyler Lu, Granata Decision Systems is one of the first six companies incubated through the UTEST program for early-stage technologies, jointly administered by MaRS Innovation and the University of Toronto.

Granata is one of eight companies to join OneEleven’s accelerator program for companies tackling big data problems.

Their software allows marketers to optimize the effectiveness of their campaigns.

The segment features co-founder Craig Boutilier’s pitch at an invitation-only investor gathering at OneEleven to secure funding to further the success of Granata Decision Systems.

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Lang & O’Leary Exchange features Granata Decision Systems

UTEST company makes cameo through launch of OneEleven, Toronto’s new data-driven accelerator for entrepreneurs

Granata Decision System logo Nov 2013CBC’s Lang & O’Leary Exchange featured Granata Decision Systems, one of the first UTEST companies incubated through that program for early-stage technologies by MaRS Innovation and the University of Toronto, in their program on Wednesday, November 28, 2013.

Granata founders Tyler Lu (left) and Craig Boutilier on the Lang & O'Leary Exchange
Granata founders Tyler Lu (left) and Craig Boutilier made a cameo on CBC’s Lang & O’Leary Exchange November 28, 2013.

The data-driven company is one of eight to join the inaugural cohort for OneEleven, a new accelerator funded by OMERS Ventures, the Ontario Centres of Excellence, Ryerson University and other industry partners to support mature, sophisticated entrepreneurs tackling big data problems.

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Simple test could replace surgery to diagnose male infertility

Dr. Keith Jarvi (left), Head of Urology and Director of the Murray Koffler Urologic Wellness Centre and Dr. Andrei Dabrovich, lead author of the paper.
Dr. Keith Jarvi (left), Head of Urology and Director of the Murray Koffler Urologic Wellness Centre and Dr. Andrei Darbovich, lead author of the paper.

Mount Sinai’s Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute has developed a new test that could make a big difference to men facing infertility.

A study published in a leading international journal, Science Translational Medicine, details the discovery of a key biomarker that can pinpoint the cause of infertility without the need for invasive surgery.

This story was covered by BBC News, ABC News’s “PM” with Mark Colvin, CTV News, CBC News, The Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, Ottawa Citizen and the Calgary Herald.

About half a million Canadian men are infertile, according to clinician-research Dr. Keith Jarvi. As a urologist who treats men with infertility, he knows how valuable this simple, inexpensive test could be. “Testing a semen sample can be done in the doctor’s clinic as it’s noninvasive and much easier for the patient than surgery,” he says.

Dr. Jarvi directs the Murray Koffler Urologic Wellness Centre, is head of Urology, and associate scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute. He is a professor of Surgery at University of Toronto.

MaRS Innovation, which commercializes discoveries made by University of Toronto hospitals and research institutes, is already working on the project, which Jarvi believes may lead to commercial tests within the next couple of years. [For more information, contact Barry Elkind].

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