What is regenerative medicine? How is it going to change how doctors treat disease and injury? And what pathways lead to careers in the field?

These are some of the questions that 240 high school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area explored at Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo on Nov. 5 at the new Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Hosted in partnership with University of Toronto Schools, the expo included lectures by Medicine by Design principal investigators Yun Li and Michael Laflamme on the basic science of stem cells and how regenerative medicine discoveries are translated into new therapies, a talk on science literacy by PhD student Kenneth Grisé, and a debate on gene editing between Medicine by Design graduate students — and twin brothers — Aaron and Ashton Trotman-Grant. Students participated in hands-on demonstrations featuring research from 16 Medicine by Design-funded labs and visited with admissions staff from the University of Toronto and the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

The afternoon session featured talks by two recent graduates of Medicine by Design’s Science Through Stories communications workshop: PhD candidate Emily McGaugh on how she decided to study regenerative medicine approaches to type 1 diabetes, and post-doctoral fellow Matthew Hildebrandt on how failure can actually lead to success in research.

Here are a few images from the day:

High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo
High school students and their teachers from across the Toronto area attending the Medicine by Design’s second annual Regenerative Medicine Expo

All photos by Neil Ta