Behind the Breakthrough

The co-director of UHN’s Krembil Brain Institute and Senior Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre shares her fascinating findings that have led to a new way of understanding the biology of meningiomas, skull base tumours.

In the latest episode of UHN podcast Behind the Breakthrough we feature KITE researcher Dr. Tatyana Mollayeva, who talks about her pioneering research on sleep disruption and its impact on patients with neurological disease and brain injury. Her research, for example, reveals a connection between a patient’s ability to recover from mild traumatic brain injury and sleep disruption, and, she’s been able identify risk factors such as adverse cognitive reactions and loss of reaction time in people with mild TBI who have sleep issues. Dr. Mollayeva also speaks to her role as an educator, and, advocacy work promoting sleep health awareness, including with the World Health Organization where she has pushed for the inclusion of sleep as integral to brain health. And Dr. Mollayeva reveals her inspiring journey to becoming an award winning research scientist, beginning at age 16 after graduating high school in her hometown of Novyi Rozdil , Ukraine when she left to study the sciences and earn a medical degree in Moscow. In the early 1990s, she fled the collapsing Soviet Union to Turkmenistan, where she met her husband. After stints in Wyoming and then back to Turkmenistan, Dr. Mollayeva and her family were accepted in 2003 to come to Canada under the Independent Immigrant Program. In her 2022 acceptance speech upon receiving a prestigious Canada Research Chair, Dr. Mollayeva paid homage to all immigrants who take the risk of leaving their homeland to seek new opportunity. “As an immigrant, this award is not just for me. It is for all immigrants who have a passion and take the often frightening step of changing their professional identity.”

The human microbiome consists of viruses, fungi, bacteria - even parasites and protozoa - that live on and in our bodies. And today the microbiome is having a ‘scientific moment’. Researchers are testing its uses to improve health, and, as a therapeutic agent to treat everything from bloodstream infection to the ill effects of cancer treatment. In this episode of UHN's ‘Behind the Breakthrough’ leading Canadian microbiome research scientist Dr. Bryan Coburn explains how our understanding of the microbiome is growing exponentially, and the human clinical trials he’s conducting to determine if it can be a therapeutic tool to treat patients.

The podcast "Behind the Breakthrough" features Dr. Hance Clarke, an anesthesiologist and director ofpain services at Toronto's University Health Network, discussing the challenges of managing pain aftersurgery. Dive into the consequences of the lack of a protocol and the scope and scale of addiction inCanada as a result of post-surgery pain. Dr. Clarke discusses the need for a balance between patient comfort and preventing addiction, and howhis research protocols are used to achieve this balance. The opioid crisis has led to a focus on pain as apart of the process, and how to support patients through the hospital system

Season 5 launches with an interview with pioneering social medicine advocate Dr. Boozary, who speaks to how UHN is tackling one of the biggest challenges to health for those who are marginalized – homelessness.

Renowned UHN surgeon scientist Dr Shaf Keshavjee sits down with Behind the Breakthrough podcast Host Christian Cote’ and takes listeners on a behind-the-scenes journey of his ground breaking medical discoveries – two of which have had a profound impact on lung transplant around the world. For his Master’s thesis in the late 1980’s he developed a lung preservation solution – LDP – which is now the standard for lung preservation worldwide. Twenty years later he followed that up with the invention of a lung perfusion machine that preserves and treats damaged donor lungs outside the body – or ex vivo. The Toronto Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion System has doubled the number of lungs available for transplant and is now in use around the world. Today the system is being tested to treat other damaged organs including the liver, kidney, and heart. In this wide-ranging and revealing conversation Sprott Department of Surgery’s Dr. Keshavjee speaks to the importance of mentorship, the qualities necessary to be a successful scientist, and, the importance of scientists learning about patenting and commercializing their work.

Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease with poor survival rates. Huge contributors to this dire outcome are the fact it is typically diagnosed at an advanced stage, has limited treatments, and no cure. This is what makes the discovery of Dr. Rama Khokha and her lab so profound. In this episode of Behind the Breakthrough podcast the senior scientist at UHN's Princess Margaret Cancer Centre walks us through her world first discovery - mapping the biology of a pancreatic cancer tumor. Dr. Khokha found three distinct tumor microenvironments [TME’s] for pancreatic cancer – Resistant; Deserted; and Intermediate. The Resistant TME was found to be the most aggressive, while the Deserted MTE was found to resist - and grow - during chemotherapy. Dr. Khokha’s mapping discovery now gives researchers a clear understanding of the behavior of pancreatic cancer. It has the potential of far reaching impact – contributing to research for new and improved treatments, the potential for earlier diagnosis, as well applying her mapping technique to other cancers such as colorectal and lung cancer.

In this episode of Behind the Breakthrough, Dr. Eleanor Fish dives into her groundbreaking research of treating viruses by harnessing a naturally occurring antiviral protein in our body called Interferons. Dr. Fish, an Emerita Scientist at Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, is a world leading immunology researcher and a passionate about the importance of Interferons in fighting pandemics and virus outbreaks such as COVID-19, SARS, and Ebola.

Each year over 20,000 Canadians are sustain a traumatic brain injury, which affects an individuals personality, well-being and those around them. In this episode of Behind the Breakthrough, we sit down with Dr. Carmela Tartaglia at UHN's Krembil Brain Institute to discuss her research. The goal: to better understand concussion, their effects and eventually develop diagnostic tools for conditions like Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.

In this episode of Behind the Breakthrough Dr. Gordon Keller talks about his staggering legacy of advancing the field of regenerative medicine, including his lab’s world-first discovery of the hemangioblast. The hemangioblast is the precursor cell that goes on to form blood vessels and other blood cells in the body. That 1997 discovery led to the next step in Dr. Keller's research – successfully ‘differentiating’ or coaxing precursor cells into becoming a specific cell type that could potentially replace or regrow damaged parts of the body. This seminal work laid the foundation for the research he oversees today at UHN’s McEwen Stem Cell Institute harnessing stem cells to repair damaged organs such as the heart, liver and pancreas.

We're thrilled to be producing season four for you! But until then check out our friend's at UHN's Krembil Brain Institute and their podcast, Your Complex Brain. Explore the myths, mysteries, and medical breakthroughs of the most complex and powerful organ in your body – your brain. Weaving together expert interviews with heartfelt, inspiring snapshots of the patients and family members in the middle of it all, Heather Sherman dives into the latest science on Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, epilepsy, stroke, concussion, spinal cord injury, brain cancer and other brain diseases and disorders. Along the way she uncovers surprising insights, sheds light on the latest research, and shares heroic, real-life stories from the people on the front lines. Brought to you by Krembil Brain Institute at UHN, one of the largest and most comprehensive neurological centers in North America.

The “UHN Oral History Project” launches with an in-depth conversation with Dr. Bernie Langer, an exceptional surgeon and visionary leader whose career at Toronto General Hospital spanned almost 40 years until his retirement in 2002. The "UHN Oral History Project" is a special series featuring interviews with former leaders of the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada's largest research and teaching hospital. This debut episode is dedicated to Dr. Langer who died February 23, 2022.