
Event details at a glance
Date: Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Venue: MaRS Auditorium, 101 College Street with live virtual streaming available
Poster session: Posters will be displayed during the symposium. Trainees will be available to discuss their work on Dec. 6 between 12:10 p.m. and 1:40 p.m. Submit abstract here.
About the symposium
From Grand Questions to Pivotal Experiments, the theme of this year’s symposium is ‘Intentional Innovation’.
Since 2016, Medicine by Design has married high-risk, high-reward research, with a strategy for accelerating the early-stage translation of emerging innovations toward new regenerative medicine products and companies.
Invited speakers and Medicine by Design principal investigators and trainees will share the impacts of their research across the innovation continuum.
We will also hold a poster session featuring the research of select trainees working on Medicine by Design-funded projects.
Invited speakers

Helen Blau — Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation Professor and Director, Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine

Derrick Rossi — President and CEO, Convelo Therapeutics, Co-founder of Moderna Therapeutics


Peter Zandstra — Professor and Director, School of Biomedical Engineering and Michael Smith Labs, University of British Columbia and Co-Founder ExCellThera and Notch Therapeutics
Session 1: Living therapy innovations in neurological diseases
- Valerie Wallace – Co-Director and Senior Scientist Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute, University Health Network (UHN)
- Jack Hickmott – Postdoctoral Fellow (Morshead Lab), Department of Surgery, University of Toronto (U of T)
- Dr. James Dowling – Senior Scientist, Genetics and Genome Biology,The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)
Session 2: Tackling cardiac disease with regenerative approaches
- Dr. Michael Laflamme – Senior Scientist, McEwen Stem Cell Institute, UHN
- Xuetao Sun – Research Associate (Vasconcelos Lab), Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, UHN
- Craig Simmons – Professor, Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering U of T and Scientific Director, Translational Biology and Engineering Program, Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research
Session 3: Panel discussion – Driving discovery to impact in Regenerative Medicine: the role of innovative partnerships
- Moderator: Michael May – President and Chief Executive Officer, CCRM
- Helen Blau – Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation Professor and Director, Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine
- Derrick Rossi – President and CEO, Convelo Therapeutics and Co-founder of Moderna Therapeutics
- Fiona Watt – EMBO Director, European Molecular Biology Laboratory
- Peter Zandstra – Professor and Director, School of Biomedical Engineering and Michael Smith Labs, University of British Columbia and Co-Founder ExCellThera and Notch Therapeuticss
Session 4: Novel strategies for immunomodulation
- Sarah Crome – Scientist, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and Ajmera Transplant Centre, UHN
- Julius Landas – PhD Candidate (Zúñiga-Pflücker Lab), Department or Immunology, U of T
- Omar Khan – Assistant Professor, Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Immunology, U of T
Poster session
The symposium will feature an in-person poster session to highlight the innovative research taking place in Medicine by Design-funded labs. The posters will be judged and prizes will be available for top posters, most translational research and people’s choice.
All attendees are encouraged to browse the posters, which will be displayed during the symposium. Trainees whose posters are featured in the session will be available to discuss their work on December 6, between 12:10 p.m. to 1:40 p.m.
Contact
Please email info.mbd@utoronto.ca if you have any questions about the symposium.