News

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2021

  • June
  • - ALS Canada/Brain Canada Research Grant with collaborator Dr. Sali Farhan Neuro/McGill

2019

  • September
  • - On the morning of Saturday, September 21, the Duennwald lab came together to support the Walk for ALS in London's Springbank Garden Park. Graduate students Sonja DiGregorio, Vy Ngo, Ahmed Salem, Raja Alsharwi, Christian Lotz and Meaghan Stoltz, postdoc Dr. Mohammad Ali Esmaeili, undergrad students Kihoon Choi, Andrey Petropavlovskiy and Dr. Duennwald went on the 5k walk to support ALS research. Dr. Duennwald also give a brief interview with CTV regarding ALS. "Identifying key players and key proteins that misbehave, that's the first step to finding a cure," says Dr. Martin Duennwald. It was a beautiful day to support a great cause! Click here

  • June
  • - Proteostasis Research in Canada, eh (PRinCe Conference), Toronto, ON, Canada, June 9-11, 2019

  • April
  • - Workshop, New insights of stress proteins in health and disease: chaperones and beyond, Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, April 2-3, 2019. Invited oral presentation: “Sti1 and Hsp90 modulate TDP-43 misfolding in ALS”

  • March
  • - Dr. Matthew Hebb and Dr. Martin Duennwald are studying newly discovered cells to treat Parkinson's Disease. LHSC: Victoria Hospital - Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease, meaning it affects the nervous system and worsens over time. Dopamine is a chemical that controls movement and carries signals between the nerves in the brain. Parkinson’s disease develops when the cells that typically produce dopamine die. Parkinson’s Disease remains an incurable and progressive disease. It results in overwhelming hardship and early death of millions of people each year. Treatments control symptoms, but not the progression of the disease, and often have severe side effects affecting patients’ quality of life. 
  • The Department of Pathology and Laboratory of Medicine would like to offer congratulations to Michael Tauro, who has completed his MSc in Pathology.  Mike's supervisor was Dr. Martin Duennwald. The title of Mike’s thesis is “Alpha-Synuclein Toxicity is Caused by Mitochondrial Dysfunction.”

  • January
  • - Congratulations to Mihai Dumbrava, a fourth year Medical Sciences undergraduate student with honors in Pathology and Biochemistry from Dr. Martin Duennwald’s Lab, who won a highly competitive and prestigious international scholarship for a summer research internship in Switzerland. He conducted research at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland for 12 weeks. He was also invited to present his research and share his experience at the Swiss Embassy in Washington, DC, USA at a Gala dinner with the ambassador and many other VIPs! Mihai has worked for more than three years now in the Duennwald lab and he is outstanding and fully deserves this international recognition.

2018

  • December
  • - Congratulations to Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Associate Professor, Dr. Martin Duennwald, who has been awarded a Lawson Health Research Institute Grant. Dr. Duennwald is principal investigator for the project entitled “Oxidative damage impairs stress signaling in breast cancer cells”.

  • October
  • - October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and on Friday, October 19, the Breast Cancer Society of Canada (BCSC) held their annual national "Dress for the Cause" fundraising event. The BCSC is a long-time supporter of the Translational Breast Cancer Research Unit (TBCRU) at the LRCP, funding breast cancer scientists and graduate/postgraduate scholarships. Led by Dr. Alison Allan, Team TBCRU is made up of a committed group of breast cancer researchers from London, including the Department of Pathology’s Vy Ngo and Martin Duennwald. Through generous donations and a student-run bake sale, the team raised $1,745.00 for breast cancer research across Canada.

  • September
  • - PaLM’s Duennwald lab and the Shaw lab from Biochemistry came together to support WALK-IT for Parkinson’s in London's Springbank Garden Park on the morning of September 5, 2018.
  • - On the morning of September 22, the Duennwald lab came together to support the Walk for ALS in London's Springbank Garden Park. Graduate students Sonja DiGregorio and Mike Tauro, technician Daniel Bour, postdoc Dr. Mohammad Ali Esmaeili, undergrad students Mihai Dumbrava, Andrey Petropavlovskiy and Dr. Duennwald went on the 5k walk to support ALS research. Most of the students and Dr. Duennwald’s postdoc volunteered as organizers for this event. Three local MPs were in attendance to support the fundraiser.

  • July
  • - Martin has been awarded a Western University CIHR Project Grant. Dr. Duennwald is co-investigator for the project entitled “An integrated strategy to identify inhibitors of protein-protein interactions as potential therapeutics for Parkinson's disease” together with Drs. Lorraine Kalia and Philip Kim from University of Toronto.

  • May
  • - Soojie Hong graduated with a BMSc in Biochemistry and Pathology of Human Disease Honors program and received the gold medal for her outstanding achievements.
  • - Karina Lenartowicz graduated with a BMSc in Pathology

  • April
  • - Michael Tauro, MSc candidate in the Duennwald lab, has received notification from the Parkinson Society Southwestern Ontario that his Graduate Student Scholarship Application has been approved for a Research Award.

2017

  • July
  • - Martin presents Lilian’s work how molecular chaperones modulates TDP-43 toxicity and aggregation at the Gordon Research Conference “Stress Proteins in Growth, Development, and Disease” in Sunday River, Maine, USA
  • - Martin present our collaborative work on protein misfolding and aging at the symposium for the late Dr. Susan Lindquist, Martin’s postdoctoral supervisor, at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
  • - Sonja receives the trainee award from ALS Canada for her thesis work on cellular stress response programs in ALS

  • March
  • - Dr. Martin Duennwald has received a Western Strategic Support for CIHR (Accelerator) Success grant for his project, Cellular responses to protein misfolding in aging cells.  The grant offers critical, one-time funding to support an individual investigator’s research activities for the subsequent development of strong, competitive submissions to external, peer-reviewed research sponsors
  • - Lilian Tsai-Wei Lin graduated wither her MSc in Pathology on March 28

  • April
  • - Vy Ngo successfully transferred to PhD on April 6

2016

  • January
  • - Lilian officially starts the MSc program in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

  • March
  • - Sonja, Lilian, and Vy give poster presentations at London Health Research Day
  • - Our JEF CFI grant “Systems Biology Infrastructure to Explore Protein Misfolding and Cellular Protein Quality Control in Human Disease” gets funded

  • April
  • - Lilian gives a platform presentation, and Sonja and Vy give poster presentations at Pathology Research Day
  • - Our collaborators’ (Dr. Patrick Lajoie’s team) paper “A toolbox for rapid quantitative assessment of chronological lifespan and survival in Saccharomyces cerevisiae” is accepted for publication in Traffic
  • - the Brandl team’s paper with our collaboration “Saccharomyces cerevisiae Tti2 regulates PIKK proteins and stress response” is accepted for publication in G3
  • - Our NSERC grant “ J proteins direct the processing of misfolded proteins within cellular protein quality control” gets funded

  • May
  • - Sonja is awarded the Dr. Fredrick Winnet Luney Graduate Scholarship
  • - Lilian and Sonja give poster presentations at ALS Canada Research Forum
  • - Martin presents his talk “Chaperoning TDP-43 misfolding in ALS” at ALS Canada Research Forum
  • - Martin presents his talk “Protein misfolding aggregation, and toxicity - insights from yeasts and other beasts” at the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth

  • September
  • - On the morning of September 24th the Duennwald lab came together to support the Walk for ALS in London's Springbank Garden park. Graduate students Sonja DiGregorio, Lilian Tsai-Wei Lin, Vy Ngo, and work study student Soojie Hong volunteered to greet and register participants. Scholar's Electives student Mihai Dumbrava and postdoctoral fellow Mohammad Ali Esmaeili with family and Dr. Duennwald went on the 5k walk to support ALS research. Dr. Duennwald also gave a brief presentation about the Duennwald's lab research on protein misfolding and failing cellular defense systems as causes and possible therapeutic targets for ALS.

2015

  • January
  • - Alex presents poster at Harold B. Stewart Memorial Lecture and Research Showcase

  • April
  • - Alex present poster presentation at London Health Research Day
  • - Martin presents talk “RGNEF regulates protein misfolding in ALS” and Sonja presents poster at ALS Canada Research Forum

  • May
  • - Lilian starts as a visiting graduate student in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

  • June
  • - Sonja successfully transfers to PhD program

  • September
  • - Vy officially starts the MSc program in the Department of Pathology
  • Alex, Lilian, Sonja, and Vy, volunteer for the ALS walk in London, Martin gives a short talk

  • November
  • - Lilian graduates with MSc in Biomedical Engineering from RWTH Aachen University
  • - The department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine receives a Western Research Grant for a new gel doc system
  • - Our ALS Canada Research Grant “ RGNEF modulates protein misfolding in ALS” gets funded

2014

  • January
  • - Alex presents poster at Harold B. Stewart Memorial Lecture and Research Showcase
  • - Martin presents in Schulich’s New Faculty Series “Protein misfolding and compromised protein quality control in neurodegenerative diseases: causes, effects, and therapeutic oppoprtunities”
  • - Martin presents his talk “Protein misfolding in aged cells” as part of the R.G.E. Murray lecture series in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Schulich

  • April
  • - Martin presents talk “Protein misfolding and compromised protein quality control in neurodegenerative diseases: causes, effects, and therapeutic opportunities” as part of the Neuroscience Axis Seminars at the University of Montreal

  • May
  • - Martin presents talk “Protein misfolding and compromised protein quality control” at Sick Kids at the University of Toronto

  • September
  • - Alex begins MSc program in Department of Biochemistry
  • - our collaborative CIHR operating grant “Celluar stress responses to protein misfolding in aging cells” with Dr. Patrick Lajoie’s team gets funded
  • - our collaborative ALS Canada Research Grant “The role of RGNEF in ALS” with Dr. Michael Strong as lead PI gets funded

2013

  • March
  • - Our collaborative ALS Canada Bernice Ramsay Discovery Grant “RGNEF mediates aberrant RNA metabolism in ALS” with Dr. Michael Strong’s team gets funded
  • - Martin presents talk “Protein misfolding and its consequences in neurodegenerative diseases” in the seminar series of the Department of Biochemistry at Schulich

  • September
  • - Sonja officially starts the MSc program in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

2012

  • September
  • - Martin opens his lab in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
  • - Martin presents talk “Age-dependent protein misfolding” at University of Pennsylvania, Department of Biochemistry