Two graduate students are trying to solve medical mysteries by using the latest in animal-free testing technologies.

Omotayo Gbadamosi (BSc 2021) and Jessica Szawara (BSc 2021) each received a Canadian Institute of Health Research Canada Graduate Scholarship - Master’s Program for their health research proposals. They are using a 3D bioprinter to create miniature versions of human organs to emulate human disease in a Petri dish.

Szawara is researching new ways to assess the effects on human health of inhaled chemicals. She is working in the Canadian Centre for Alternatives to Animal Methods (CCAAM) to develop and validate a 3D-bioprinted human lung tissue model they have dubbed “lung-in-a-dish” to test the toxicity of chemicals in consumer products such as cosmetics and personal care items, household cleaners, and pesticides.

“We are using the latest in 3D tissue bioprinting technology to investigate adverse health effects such as lung fibrosis and carcinogenesis arising from exposure to inhaled chemicals like gases, aerosols, and nanoparticles,” says Szawara.

“To create our lung-in-a-dish, we mix human lung alveolar cells with a ‘bioink’ that acts as a glue to hold the cells together in a defined architecture, much like in real tissue. This tissue can then be kept in culture from days to weeks to study many aspects of lung physiology from genes to organ-level function.”

After they create the lung-in-a-dish model and optimize its function, she says she and her team, led by Charu Chandrasekera, executive director of CCAAM, will expose it to different chemicals to measure acute and chronic biological responses.

“Inhalation is a major exposure route for humans, and we will use our novel tissue model to predict the toxicity potential of various chemicals, to identify chemicals that could cause damage to the human lung. We hope that our model will help reduce and replace animal use in inhalation toxicity testing, which is routinely done in rats and dogs,” says Szawara.

“I never thought I’d be using cutting-edge techniques like 3D tissue bioprinting — it is incredible to have these tools at my disposal and I am thrilled to receive this scholarship to pursue my graduate studies.”

Gbadamosi is using chemistry to help develop early diagnostic tools for Alzheimer’s disease. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree under the supervision of chemistry and biochemistry professor Drew Marquardt.

Gbadamosi says she feels proud and accomplished to win the award for her thesis that is based on developing a lipid-based delivery targeting agent for magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography scans. She says early Alzheimer’s symptoms can often look like other neurodegenerative disorders but with a specialized target for Alzheimer’s, they can ensure they are detecting it, which will allow for earlier treatment.

“We want to target our specialized lipid vesicles towards beta-amyloid plaques characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease,” says Gbadamosi.

“By improving the diagnostic techniques with this targeted liposome agent, we hope to essentially make the diagnosis earlier, so detect the disease earlier and to start the treatment earlier.”

To validate the functionality of their lipid vesicles, Gbadamosi says they plan to develop a miniature human brain tissue model using the 3D bioprinter at CCAAM.

“We’ll collaborate with CCAAM to build a 3D-bioprinted Alzheimer’s-in-a-dish model replete with a blood-brain barrier to ensure our lipid vesicles can actually cross the blood-brain barrier to target the beta-amyloid plaques in the brain tissue,” says Gbadamosi.

She says they chose to use a non-animal method because there are significant differences in Alzheimer’s disease biology and how compounds cross the blood-brain barrier in laboratory animals compared to humans.

“Using a mixture of human brain cell types, we will create a 3D-bioprinted blood-brain barrier-in-a-dish connected to a miniature Alzheimer’s-in-a-dish brain tissue model,” Gbadamosi says. “This will allow us to have a physiologically relevant model to test our targeting agent.”

—Sara Elliott

UWindsor professors Clayton Smith and George Zhou have published a new book that builds on their research into international education.

The Handbook of Research on Teaching Strategies for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse International Students, published by IGI Global, comprises 20 chapters written by 35 authors from 12 countries. Contributing authors include fellow Faculty of Education professor James Oloo and several doctoral students.

“This book presents the student voice as it relates to student satisfaction and student perceptions of learning, covering topics such as learning technology integration, student engagement, and instruction planning,” said Dr. Smith.

“We hope it will be an essential resource for faculty in higher education, university administration, pre-service teachers, academicians, and researchers.”

Smith said he intends to use the book as a text in his special topics course this fall.

—Sarah Sacheli

Leddy Library staff have created a list of books intended to provide a sliver of insight into the diverse Asian-Canadian experience.

The books are by Asian-Canadian authors and cover a range of themes and styles. There are memoirs of growing up Chinese in Canada, experiencing hockey as a South Asian, finding a sense of identity in a multicultural society, and more.

All are available through the Leddy Library catalogue; see the Asian Heritage Month collection.

The University received $63,700 from Enbridge Gas as an investment in its efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to the transition to a greener future.

The incentives under the Commercial Energy Efficiency program supported seven projects completed in 2021, saving an estimated 540,000 cubic metres of natural gas per year — enough to power about 132 homes.

These include a condensate return system that collects heated water and re-uses it within the steam system, a project reducing the volume of air flow requiring heat, an upgrade to the roof of the law building, pipe insulation throughout the campus, the addition of steam meters, a steam trap study, and the repair of steam traps.

“The University’s Energy Management Program has been very successful over the last 35 years,” says Danny Castellan, manager of facility planning, renovations, and construction in Facility Services. “The University has been very proactive in allocating funds to reduce energy consumption and has saved several million of dollars.”

Sarah Van Der Paelt, director of marketing and energy conservation for Enbridge Gas, notes the company works with customers to ensure they are as efficient as possible with their energy usage.

“The combination of innovation, collaboration, and conservation efforts has proven a successful strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today as we move to a clean energy future,” she says.

A day-long event June 3 will bring together like-minded individuals in the realm of social entrepreneurship to create connections between people with a passion for making a difference.

The Entrepreneurship Practice and Innovation Centre (EPICentre) has titled its social enterprise summit “Purpose Beyond Profit.”

The morning session, conducted over Zoom, will feature keynote presentations by Hakeem Subair of One Million Teachers, which aims to attract educators into the profession, and Gurbeen Bhasin of Aangen, a Toronto-based agency focused on advancing foods security and social justice, as well as a panel discussion on sustainable housing. Find details and register here.

In the afternoon, tune in to YouTube to watch competitors in the 2022 cohort of the EPIC Social Enterprise Program make their final pitch presentations. Learn more here.

The agenda will conclude with an in-person social at the Sandwich Brewing Co. More information is available on the event webpage.