Department of Immunology

• Congratulations to Dr. Bhupesh Kumar Thakur on being named the 2025 BD Biosciences Immunology Postdoctoral Research Award recipient!
• The BD Biosciences Immunology Postdoctoral Research Award will take place on 10 APRIL 2025.

• Call for ABSTRACTS for PDF Research Day CLOSED - Deadline: 20 March 2025 (5PM)

Working with PhD candidate, and now Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Nathaniel Winsor, they discovered an issue in mice they were using to study the interaction of the gut microbiome and colon cancer. Facing a dilemma – scrap two years of experiments or start again and dig deeper into the issue – they chose to follow their curiosity which could now change our understanding of the role of parasites in gut inflammation. Their study, a culmination of 10 years of investigation, has recently been published in Cell Host & Microbe

Researchers from the University of Toronto have shown how a low-carbohydrate diet can worsen the DNA-damaging effects of some gut microbes to cause colorectal cancer.

The study, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, compared the effects of three different diets — normal, low-carb, or Western-style with high fat and high sugar — in combination with specific gut bacteria on colorectal cancer development in mice.

Congratulations to Dr. Arthur Mortha for receiving the Visiting Research Professorship Award as recognition by the Canadian Association of Gastroenterologists!

Congratulations to Dr. Eleanor Fish for receiving a medal of appreciation for her exceptional contributions to Canada’s response against COVID-19 from the Chief Science Advisor of Canada - Dr. Mona Nemer and the Government of Canada!

Congratulations to Dr. Jen Gommerman (Chair, Department of Immunology) for being selected by the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) as a Distinguished Fellow of AAI —Class of 2025!

In a new study published today in the journal Cell, Artuhur Mortha, Kyle Burrows and his colleagues focused on a different category of microorganism called protozoa. These microbes are also single-celled like bacteria, but much bigger and with more complex bodies. While most known protozoa are classified as parasites, several lesser-known species can live in symbiotic relationships with their animal hosts.

Read more about the study in this article.

Congratulations to Dr. Jasty Singh for receiving the Cheryl Regehr Early Career Teaching Award at the Excellence in Teaching reception hosted by the University of Toronto!

Dr. Singh is the Associate Chair - Undergraduate Studies & an Associate Professor - Teaching Stream within the Department of Immunology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. 

Read more about her accomplishment and approach to teaching in this article.

Congrats to Dr. Pailin Chiaranunt, recent PhD Immunology alumna from Dr. Arthur Mortha's Lab within Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, for being one of just TWO University of Toronto recipients of the prestigious 2024 Chorafas Foundation Prize.

Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation information & the full list of winners can be found here.

Congratulations to Dr. Veronique Miron from the Department of Immunology at the University of Toronto for being elected as a Member of the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists!

Read more about it in this U of T Article.

Congratulations to Dr. Janna Shapiro, co-supervised by Dr. Tania Watts, Immunology, and Dr. Shelly Bolotin, Dalla Lana School of Public health, for receiving the Alice Wilson Award from the Royal Society of Canada. 

Read more about it in this U of T Article.