Generating solutions

Phase 1 Project

Proteins are the cell’s primary molecules for performing virtually every biological process. When they don’t work as they should, they can be expressed improperly, subject to degradation, or mislocalized, leading to common human diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and heart disease. Yet despite the recent rapid increase in information about genes and genomes, we still know very little about the roles, locations and interactions of the many different proteins expressed by genes in healthy and diseased cells or tissues.

Dr. Andrew Emili of the University of Toronto wants to increase our level of knowledge about proteins. He and his team will develop a revolutionary new sub-microscopic imaging technology that will allow researchers to identify and quantify each and every one of the many millions of different protein molecules present in human cells and tissues at an unprecedented level of detail. The proprietary chemical probes and tool “kits” the team develops will enable a new paradigm in biomedical research, allowing scientists to understand how biological systems work at the molecular level and allowing clinical researchers to detect much smaller lesions and hence diagnose diseases like cancer much earlier and more accurately than has been possible to date.

This groundbreaking technology will be applicable to a wide diversity of biomedical specimens, displacing existing technologies and ultimately changing the study of human cell biology and medicine.