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Phyllis Billia is part of a Medicine by Design team working on a screening tool that can predict the risk of cardiac disease and other inflammatory diseases of aging using only a blood test. Billia is a heart failure specialist, and the director of research at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, University Health Network (UHN). Read more.

Michael Garton, an assistant professor at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto (U of T), is focused on designing tissues that are better than nature. To accomplish this goal, Garton is leading a team funded by Medicine by Design’s Grand Questions Program. Read more.

Plaque build-up in the arteries can be dangerous, often leading to a blocked artery and heart or arterial disease. Researcher Clinton Robbins, who leads a Medicine by Design team project, is focusing on how immune cells, primarily two types called monocytes and macrophages, contribute to this problem. Read more.

Stephanie Protze, a scientist at the McEwen Stem Cell Institute at UHN, is focused on developing a biological pacemaker from stem cells, which could one day be transplanted into a patient to be a long-lasting, potentially permanent, therapy for those with too slow heart rhythm. Read more.

A team led by Michael Laflamme, a clinician-scientist at the McEwen Stem Cell Institute at UHN, is developing a novel injectable cell therapy to repair hearts damaged by heart attack or disease. Made from stem cells, the therapy targets scar tissue, back into muscle. Eventually, this therapy could replace the need for a heart transplant. Read more.