Mitacs

But interruptions to athletic programs due to the coronavirus were also an opportunity to think of better ways for youth to develop through sport after the pandemic. Simon Darnell, an associate professor in the University of Toronto's Faculty Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education (KPE) and director of the Centre for Sport Policy Studies, helped conduct a research project that evaluated youth access and engagement in sport in the wake of the pandemic.

Simon Darnell

Despite a slight uptick in youth engagement in individual sport and activities such as running, strength training or conditioning, the report found large declines in team and facility-based sports such as soccer, basketball, hockey, swimming and baseball.

“The impact of COVID-19 on sport access and engagement has been drastic,” Darnell says. “There has been a steep decline in the frequency of sport participation overall, as well as changes to both how and where youth have been able to access opportunities to engage in sport.”

Darnell worked on the report – titled “Change the Game” – with Daniel Sailofsky, a PhD student in sociology at McGill University, and Bryan Heal, manager of research and evaluation at the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) Foundation. The study, the largest of its kind in Canada, received funding from Mitacs, a non-profit national research oganization.

Between March and May of this year, the researchers surveyed close to 7,000 youth of different backgrounds, including race, geography, age, gender, ability and income, to get a better understanding of barriers to sport participation after the pandemic and explore opportunities to build back better – with a focus on more equitable access to sports for youth.

They found that, while different virtual initiatives have been introduced across the sport sector, the increase in virtual engagement paled in comparison to the proportion of youth who previously enrolled in sport or recreation offerings in-person and who are no longer able to participate.

“To make things worse, youth who have relied on Ontario’s school system for accessible opportunities and competition have now experienced two consecutive years of disruption due to the pandemic,” Darnell says. “Almost unanimously, they expressed feelings of frustration and sadness about the loss of sport.”

The full report includes an interactive visual dashboard that shows how youth responded to key topics, from how many participated in sports multiple times per week before COVID-19 to how those patterns have changed.

It also includes suggestions on how to rebuild the sector in positive ways, including:

Expanding access to free, low-cost or subsidized youth sport and sport for development opportunities
Developing a culture of representation and inclusion that is supported by policies and processes
Designing post-pandemic plans around why youth play – making it fun, social and safe
Investing in sport to build community belonging

“We set out to better understand how youth from across this land engage in sport and how to build a more equitable sport system for them,” Darnell says. “Along the way, it became the largest youth sports study of its kind in Canada – one which will provide sport and recreation providers, policy-makers, funders and future researchers with valuable data and recommendations to change the game for the better.”

‘We need to prepare’: �鶹��Ƶ’s Christine Allen on investing in biomanufacturing, life sciences research

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 12 May 2021 19:52:14 +0000

‘We need to prepare’: �鶹��Ƶ’s Christine Allen on investing in biomanufacturing, life sciences research

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 05/12/2021 - 15:52

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(Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Biomedical Innovation

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Mitacs

Research & Innovation

St. George

�鶹��Ƶ Mississauga

�鶹��Ƶ Scarborough

With an eye to supporting Canada’s pandemic recovery and preparing for future threats to public health, the federal government recently announced $2.2 billion in investment over seven years in the life sciences.

“These growing fields are not only critical to our safety, but are fast-growing sectors that support well-paying jobs and attract investment,” the budget document reads.

The investments are welcomed by the University of Toronto and will help the university to modernize critical lab infrastructure, support cutting-edge research and industry partnerships, and train the next generation of researchers, says Christine Allen, associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives and professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy.

She added that, with the new investments in these key areas, there is a need to work together across sectors to develop a pan-Canadian bio-innovation and life sciences strategy.

�鶹��Ƶ News recently spoke with Allen about what the federal budget means for �鶹��Ƶ and life sciences research in Canada.

Why is it necessary to invest in life sciences and biomanufacturing?

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of investing in research and innovation in our society. Within less than a year from the first case of COVID-19, two vaccines were developed by researchers around the world and later approved by Canadian regulators. That was only possible because the vaccines were not developed from a standing start. They were based on research that had been underway for decades.

Investment in biomanufacturing – the manufacturing of biological therapies such as vaccines – is critical to ensure the health security of the population, support the development of therapies including biologics and cell-based therapies, and prevent locally developed biomedical technologies from moving outside of Canada for manufacturing and commercialization.

But biomanufacturing capacity can’t thrive on its own. A strong biomanufacturing industry requires upstream investments in areas such as training a capable workforce. Where can this be done better than in academia?

Entrepreneurship is another key element to ensure bio-medical discoveries are translated into effective treatments by the creation of startups and attracting large companies and venture capital. At �鶹��Ƶ, we have numerous industry partnerships that provide students and post-doctoral researchers with opportunities to commercialize discoveries and develop skills in demand by industry.

It’s important to invest in a pipeline of innovative research, so you have something to bio-manufacture. These breakthroughs take place in academic labs.

We need each of these elements for a successful national biomanufacturing strategy that fosters a vibrant local industry.

How will some of the measures announced in the federal budget affect �鶹��Ƶ?

We advocated very strongly for investments in the life sciences, including funding for discovery research and infrastructure. The government came through with $250 million toward a new biomedical research program to be delivered by our federal granting agencies, which we expect will provide a big boost to our researchers.

On the infrastructure side, we were quite hopeful to see an investment in biomedical lab infrastructure. There are specified containment levels required to work with certain viruses or infectious agents. For SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus responsible for COVID-19, you need to work in a containment level three (CL3) lab.

Our CL3 lab at �鶹��Ƶ is the go-to facility in the GTA, used by leading researchers, hospital partners, government agencies and industry throughout the pandemic. It is the only operational CL3 facility that researchers at �鶹��Ƶ and the Toronto Academic Health Science Network (TAHSN) can use, so it’s a very important facility. However, it’s more than 20 years old and in need of renewal.

The facility was underutilized and struggled to remain operational prior to the pandemic because the funding for that type of research dried up after the SARS outbreak. But since COVID-19, research in this area has become very popular – and urgent – all over again.

We fortunately did see $500 million in the federal budget earmarked for the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the research infrastructure fund. Further details about the fund are still to come, but it appears it could provide a mechanism to help us renew and modernize our facility.

In its budget documents, the government says it’s making these investments to prepare for the next pandemic. How will they improve Canada’s readiness?

If you were to speak to Scott Gray-Owen, a professor in the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, who runs the CL3 facility, he would say we would have been in a much different place if we had continued to do the research we had started during the SARS outbreak.

There will be another pandemic at some point, and we need to prepare ourselves so that we’re not scrambling. At the same time, there are other emerging concerns such as antimicrobial resistance. These investments will bolster a life sciences ecosystem that can respond to these threats and create high-quality jobs and growth.

The budget also contains more than $1 billion in funding to support company creation, scale up and training activities in the life sciences sector, including investments to grow clinical research capacity.

At �鶹��Ƶ, we have over 230 life sciences startups that have emerged from our ecosystem and they have raised capital in the billions. However, there is an increasing desire to see domestic sources of capital for our growing firms, and the government has earmarked new funding through the renewed Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative to try to incentivize more Canadian venture capital for life sciences startups.

Could the new investments benefit other �鶹��Ƶ infrastructure needs?

As I mentioned earlier, the other area requiring investment is biomanufacturing.

There’s significant interest – not just on behalf of �鶹��Ƶ, but also our industry partners – in setting up a biomanufacturing lab for training and innovation that includes modular, flexible equipment for process improvement, automated platforms to accelerate discoveries and pilot facilities to transfer academic innovations into industrial-scale manufacturing processes.

Such a facility would hold tremendous value in the training of students and post-doctoral fellows as well as retraining of individuals who have been out of the workforce, or who work in that space but need to learn new techniques or approaches.

The federal government is investing $365 million in Black, women and Indigenous entrepreneurs and innovators? How will that help �鶹��Ƶ support a diverse research ecosystem?

This is very welcome news – and it aligns well with some of the work that we’re doing at �鶹��Ƶ. We recently launched an Indigenous research network and a Black research network at the university.

We also have Black post-doctoral fellowships and strategies to recruit Black and Indigenous faculty members.

Several �鶹��Ƶ professors and researchers, including Maydianne Andrade, vice-dean faculty affairs, equity and success at �鶹��Ƶ Scarborough and a Canada Research Chair in Integrative Behavioural Ecology, were involved in the creation of the Canadian Black Scientists Network this spring.

We’re also doing work in the entrepreneurship space, with a Black Founders Network in development.

How will these federal investments affect students?

Students are the next generation of talent, and we’re going to be relying on them to address the next pandemic and a host of other challenges. They are critical to the growth and development of our economy.

This has been a really challenging time. The major investment we saw in this area was through Mitacs, a national nonprofit that aims to support research and training.

The federal investment will support 85,000 work-integrated learning placements – that's incredible.

What I like about Mitacs is it brings post-secondary institutions and industry together. Now more than ever, we need to be working together across industry and academia to ensure that research is focused on practical solutions to real-world industrial challenges.

It’s a win-win for students and industry partners. It provides students with hands-on training in a real-world setting, while companies gain access to new knowledge, techniques and approaches.

The hope is that students will be hired on a permanent basis beyond their training period or gain experience that will serve them well in the future.

�鶹��Ƶ Engineering students build smart, sterilizing UV lamp to fight COVID-19

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 13:02:12 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ Engineering students build smart, sterilizing UV lamp to fight COVID-19

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 10/07/2020 - 09:02

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A prototype UV lamp, designed by a team of �鶹��Ƶ Engineering students, is part of a smart robotic assembly that is designed to sterilize surfaces in hospitals, schools and residential buildings (image courtesy of Junho (Dave) Jeong)

Tyler Irving

Topic

Our Community

Coronavirus

Creative Destruction Lab

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Mitacs

Rotman School of Management

Undergraduate Students

Bipasha Goyal is creating what she hopes will be the newest line of defence against the global COVID-19 pandemic: a smart UV lamp.

“Hospitals already use a similar method called ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) to sterilize operating theatres and other spaces,” says Goyal, a third-year engineering science student in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “The challenge is that these systems are very expensive, and it’s hard to ensure a sufficient UV dosage has been applied to a surface.”

Goyal and her colleagues on Team LumineSence – which also includes Joyce Poon, a professor of electrical engineering, and several fellow �鶹��Ƶ Engineering students – are designing a new UVGI system that would be more effective and less costly than currently available machines. They are focused on both the light emission and light sensing aspects of the device.

“Much of the innovation in existing systems has been the autonomous mobile robot supporting the lamps,” says Goyal. “But when it comes to the lamps themselves, the emission pattern is usually not shaped or purposefully directed. The lamps have not been integrated with any sensors to monitor their efficacy.”

Team LumineSense is creating an integrated system that would eliminate this shortcoming and could be mounted on mobile racks, ceilings or tabletops. The team and its flagship product sprung from CDL Recovery, a program run by the Creative Destruction Lab at the Rotman School of Management that focuses on smart solutions to accelerate the world’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

Using smart sensors and carefully designed algorithms, the device would adapt its output to provide optimal UV light exposure to sterilize surfaces. The sensors would also enable it to automatically shut down if human presence is detected, minimizing the risk of exposure to harmful UV radiation.

Currently, Goyal’s contribution to the project is being supported by a Mitacs Research Training Award, which is being matched by �鶹��Ƶ Engineering. She is among 87 �鶹��Ƶ Engineering undergraduate and graduate students whose research projects have earned the awards, with projects ranging from data science and artificial intelligence to advanced materials and manufacturing.

Many of the projects also involve partner organizations. In Goyal’s case, it’s the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Microstructure Physics in Germany, where Poon serves as director. Early in the project, MPI researchers brought new ideas, advice and insight to LumineSense.

“Communicating with a large team across multiple time zones was a difficult task,” says Goyal. “It taught me the importance of being in regular communication and seamlessly distributing roles and responsibilities.”

“As engineers, we contribute to solutions to better the world,” says Poon. “I am very proud of Bipasha and all of the students and postdocs who have come together for this team project.”

In addition to enhancing her technical understanding of light sensing and autonomous robotics, Goyal says the project is also teaching her about the challenges of translating research from the lab to the marketplace.

“The overall features and use cases of the design required us to identify potential stakeholders, which include schools, research labs and even residential buildings, and create an adaptable modular design to better suit their needs” she says.

“COVID-19 affected everyone professionally and personally. I consider myself very lucky to have found this opportunity to be involved in such a meaningful project.”

�鶹��Ƶ and IIT Bombay to launch entrepreneurship program, shared innovation pipeline

rahul.kalvapalle — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 19:50:10 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ and IIT Bombay to launch entrepreneurship program, shared innovation pipeline

rahul.kalvapalle Thu, 03/12/2020 - 15:50

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The new entrepreneurship program developed with the Indian Institute of Technology will be a key component of �鶹��Ƶ's new Entrepreneurship Centre in Mumbai, India's financial capital (photo by Pramod Thakur/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Topic

The University of Toronto and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) are developing a new entrepreneurship program that will strengthen ties between the innovation ecosystems in Canada and India, benefitting startups in both countries.

The partnership will see the two top-ranked universities implement exchange programs for budding entrepreneurs, support research collaborations and develop a strong, two-way innovation talent pipeline.

The program will be an important component of �鶹��Ƶ's new Entrepreneurship Centre in Mumbai, part of the upcoming �鶹��Ƶ Centre in India, a wide-ranging collaboration that will also include the Indian affiliate of �鶹��Ƶ’s School of Cities. Programming will include an innovation conference that alternates between Canada and India, startup competitions, workshops and sustained support for entrepreneurs.

There will also be opportunities for placements within the entrepreneurship hubs of select Indian companies.

“The University of Toronto is delighted to build on our already strong relationship with IIT Bombay, an institution that’s recognized worldwide for excellence in teaching, research and innovation in the engineering and technology disciplines,” said Derek Newton, �鶹��Ƶ’s assistant vice-president, innovation, partnerships and entrepreneurship.

“As leading universities in Canada and India, each located in our respective countries’ commercial hubs of Toronto and Mumbai, this partnership will leverage our many commonalities, as well as our unique strengths, to promote research collaboration, knowledge-sharing and market access, while creating an environment where new business ideas can thrive.”

Poyni Bhatt, the CEO of IIT Bombay’s Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SINE), said the partnership will enrich entrepreneurship activities in both countries.

“SINE IIT Bombay is excited to work with �鶹��Ƶ to leverage mutual synergies for startups from India and Canada,” she said. “We look forward to productive outcomes out of this partnership in the coming years.”

Both �鶹��Ƶ and IIT Bombay are leaders in university-managed startup incubation.

Over the past decade, �鶹��Ƶ has nurtured more than 500 startups that have secured more than $1.5 billion in investment. SINE, set up in 2004, has supported more than 150 startups that have raised more than $223 million in funding and created more than 4,000 jobs.

Exchange programs will be a central part of the new initiative, with �鶹��Ƶ Entrepreneurship set to welcome IIT Bombay startups to Canada and curate their engagement with the Canadian innovation scene, and SINE doing the same for �鶹��Ƶ startups in India.

Up to 30 �鶹��Ƶ entrepreneurs will have the chance to go to India through the Mitacs Entrepreneur International program, allowing them to explore new business development opportunities. Mitacs is a not-for-profit organization that fosters growth and innovation in Canada by solving business challenges with research solutions from the best academic institutions at home and around the world.

It’s an initiative that resonates with the entrepreneurs behind iMerciv, a �鶹��Ƶ startup that developed a wearable mobility device for people with vision loss called the BuzzClip. Co-founded by �鶹��Ƶ civil engineering alumnus and CEO Bin Liu and chief operating officer Arjun Mali, iMerciv received support from �鶹��Ƶ’s Impact Centre accelerator, one of several �鶹��Ƶ campus-linked entrepreneurship hubs. The company is active in India, where Mali’s family are longtime supporters of a school and orphanage for blind children – and where much of BuzzClip’s early testing took place.

Bin Liu, CEO of iMerciv, and Rylan Vroom, a digital accessibility expert who is one of iMerciv’s senior advisers (photo courtesy of iMerciv)

Mali said �鶹��Ƶ’s partnership with IIT Bombay presents a great opportunity for entrepreneurs in both universities.

“The market potential in India is massive,” said Mali. “If your product is competitive when it comes to quality as well as cost, it can be a very large market for your business.

“That’s a key benefit for Canadian entrepreneurs who go and explore the Indian market.”

As for IIT Bombay entrepreneurs who get to take part in exchange programs in Canada, Mali said: “It’s about understanding how the culture and sales-cycle process work on this side of the world … learning how to take a company that’s growing in India and adapting that to make it essentially global.

“Toronto is a great stepping stone to go international.”

�鶹��Ƶ signs $1.4-million deal with Mitacs to fund global research opportunities

geoff.vendeville — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 04:00:00 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ signs $1.4-million deal with Mitacs to fund global research opportunities

geoff.vendeville Tue, 10/16/2018 - 00:00

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Alexander MacIntosh, a PhD student in bioengineering and biomedical engineering, received Mitacs funding to conduct research in Paris and help develop a video game to improve hand function for kids with cerebral palsy (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

Global Lens

Centre for International Experience

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Global

Graduate Students

International Students

Mitacs

Research & Innovation

Undergraduate Students

Alexander MacIntosh wanted to make occupational therapy less of a chore for people with cerebral palsy.

The third-year PhD student in bioengineering and biomedical engineering has helped design a video game – one that scrolls side-to-side like the classic Super Mario Bros. – for kids with CP who are trying to improve function in a neglected hand.

The player makes their character perform an action by opening the palm of their hand. They wear a smart arm band, which MacIntosh describes as a “Fitbit on steroids,” that tracks their movement and gives them feedback on how well they did.

MacIntosh was able to undertake his research in Toronto and in Paris during a year-long placement thanks in part to funding from Mitacs, a national non-profit that supports innovation in areas as diverse as child literacy and aerospace systems.

In France, MacIntosh says he learned to “navigate a different culture.

“When you’re there, you learn who to talk to and how to talk to them, and learning those things and how it’s different is so important. It makes you much more aware of how to operate,” he says.

The research partnership in Paris also allowed him to stay close to his wife, Laura, who was mastering the art of pastry-making at a school in the sixth arrondissement. They lived together in the Latin Quarter, 30 metres from the picturesque bistros and vendors on the Rue Mouffetard.

More University of Toronto students will soon be able to benefit from formative research opportunities abroad after �鶹��Ƶ penned a three-year deal with Mitacs on Monday to provide about $1.4 million in funding for inbound and outbound students in any discipline.

Up to 200 �鶹��Ƶ students at the undergraduate, graduate or post-doctoral level can apply for funding to take part in a research exchange abroad, which will be supervised by faculty at �鶹��Ƶ and a partner university. At least 80 international students will receive funding from Mitacs and �鶹��Ƶ to conduct research in Toronto.

Outbound students are eligible for $6,000 in funding for a research placement of at least 12 weeks, while inbound students will receive the same amount, with Mitacs providing $3,000 and �鶹��Ƶ or a partner institution making up the difference.

The agreement will help more �鶹��Ƶ students acquire experience in pre-eminent labs and other research settings around the world, says Christopher Yip, associate vice-president of international partnerships. And incoming students will bring an array of cultural perspectives to campus, enriching the university experience for domestic students, he added.

“It really is about building a global community and experience for everyone,” he says. “What I’m particularly excited about is how the Mitacs support will nucleate new ideas and concepts by helping students move between different labs around the world.”

Christopher Yip, �鶹��Ƶ’s associate vice-president of international partnerships, signs a funding agreement with Ridha Ben Mrad, Mitacs' chief research officer and associate academic director (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

For �鶹��Ƶ students who participate in an international research exchange, the benefits go far beyond getting course credit, Yip says. “It's about learning about different cultures, perspectives and really getting a world view,” he explains.

The partnership will help prepare Canada’s youth for tomorrow’s economy, adds Ridha Ben Mrad, chief research officer and associate academic director at Mitacs. He is also a professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering at �鶹��Ƶ. “To succeed in the global economy, innovators need opportunities to develop their skills in international environments,” he says.

Surveys show employers value the skills fostered by international learning opportunities. A 2014 study by Léger Marketing for Universities Canada found that 82 per cent of hiring managers at Canadian small and medium businesses “believe employees who possess intercultural knowledge and an understanding of the global marketplace enhance their company’s competitiveness.” And a European Commission report suggested that going abroad improves one’s career prospects. It found that students who took part in the EU’s Erasmus exchange program were half as likely to be unemployed five years after graduation than their peers who didn’t go abroad.

�鶹��Ƶ students who are interested in applying for a research opportunity through Mitacs can use the university’s new learning abroad portal to get in touch with staff at the Centre for International Experience. Students are responsible for lining up a supervisor, or principal investigator, at their home and host institutions. They are asked to write a research proposal as part of the application, and should provide at least eight weeks’ notice before they plan to begin their placement.

The new funding agreement builds on other supports for learning abroad that the university has announced this year. �鶹��Ƶ doubled the amount of funding available to students who have a demonstrated financial need. The university is aiming to provide $2 million in funding in 2018-2019 and to increase it further to $3 million annually by 2021-2022.

“Student international mobility is a big priority for the university,” says Mahvish Wesley, assistant director, global initiatives at �鶹��Ƶ. “We don't study in isolation, we don’t operate in isolation. Having globally diverse experiences for students undertaking research is very important.”

Mitacs was founded in 1999 and it originally supported applied and industrial research in mathematical sciences and related disciplines. It now supports research in all fields.

�鶹��Ƶ researcher receives the Mitacs Award for outstanding innovation

ullahnor — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 15:04:28 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ researcher receives the Mitacs Award for outstanding innovation

ullahnor Tue, 11/15/2016 - 10:04

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Mitacs award winner Wei Zhang with Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan

Jovana Drinjakovic

Author legacy

Jovana Drinjakovic

Topic

Breaking Research

Research & Innovation

Mitacs

Donnelly Centre

Centre for Commercialization of Antibodies and Biologics

As a protein engineer, Wei Zhang gives old molecules new tricks. And now, he’s transformed a single human protein into a virus-crushing arsenal that could lead to long-sought treatments for deadly infections.

On Tuesday, Zhang received the Mitacs Award for Outstanding Innovation for his work on creating molecular antidotes against viruses that cause Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (Congo Fever). His patent-pending research was crucial to the launch of a new Toronto-based company called Ubiquitech, which will further commercialize his work so it can be used in a clinical setting.

Read the Toronto Star profile on Zhang

As a postdoctoral researcher in Associate Professor Jason Moffat’s group at �鶹��Ƶ's Donnelly Centre, Zhang already holds the competitive Elevate Fellowship from Mitacs, a nonprofit that supports innovation across the public and private sectors. The Mitacs fellowship enabled Zhang to start thinking about commercializing his research through a collaboration with the Centre for Commercialization of Antibodies and Biologics (CCAB), which is located at �鶹��Ƶ.

“Wei has done a phenomenal job of applying a cutting-edge new technology to the pressing issue of emerging pathogenic viruses. It’s a great example of how an investment by Canada in basic research and talented young scientists can lead to real impacts on human health,” says Sachdev Sidhu, CEO of CCAB.

After completing a doctorate with Professor Daniel Durocher, Zhang joined Moffat and Sidhu’s labs to learn the ropes of protein engineering. The two teams had previously developed a powerful technology to quickly create synthetic proteins that could be used as research reagents, or developed further into drugs.

Although Zhang’s work revolves around a single protein, called ubiquitin, its applications are far-reaching. Named for its pervasive presence in every cell on earth, ubiquitin works by attaching to other proteins to help relay signals telling the cell to grow or fight infections, for example.

Encoded by genes, proteins do most of the work in the cell. They are built from amino acids, which are stitched together based on the DNA blueprint. Using molecular tricks, scientists can change how a protein behaves by changing its DNA sequence.

And so, through subtle tweaks, Zhang has turned a lone, naturally occurring ubiquitin into a set of tools—synthetic ubiquitin variants (UbV)—which allow him to manipulate the proteins that ubiquitin normally binds to. For example, a ubiquitin variant may spur the activity of the other protein, or it may take it out of action completely. But each variant has a unique target, allowing Zhang to control protein activity with unrivalled precision.

Being able to thwart a protein is particularly useful when dealing with harmful molecules, like those made by bacteria and viruses, for example.

“Ubiquitin-dependent signalling is important in the immune response, and a lot of viruses encode proteins that bind human ubiquitin, which allows them to topple the body’s defence mechanism," says Zhang. One of them is MERS, a respiratory virus similar to SARS that caused a global epidemic in 2002. Fourteen years later, nothing has come out of clinical trials. While vaccines are being developed for many viruses, there is no treatment in sight for people who are infected.”

MERS emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012, and it kills almost 40 per cent of those who become infected, making it even more dangerous than SARS. Zhang has engineered a ubiquitin variant which blocks MERS’ ability to evade the immune response.

“When we treat the cells infected with MERS with the ubiquitin variant, we can kill the virus in two days,” says Zhang.

The list of anti-viral ubiquitins could become long. Zhang has already created a variant that’s effective against Congo Fever virus, which causes internal bleeding and kills almost half of those infected. But what’s most exciting about Zhang’s approach is that it can be applied to any viral protein that binds ubiquitin.

“We are able to quickly – in less than one month – generate inhibitors for any ubiquitin-binding proteins in the virus,” says Zhang. This means that Zhang’s work could also be applied to viruses such as SARS, Zika, and Ebola, as well as to preventing viral damage to food crops and animals.

“Wei has fully captured the potential of protein engineering technology with his research," says Moffat. "He is poised to turn basic science into applications that could help people.”