Researchers Under the Scope

Haissam Haddad inadvertently horrified his family when he signed up for engineering courses in his first year of university. The teenager returned the next day to change his major to medicine -- a move he's glad he made. Dr. Haddad practiced family medicine in Syria for three years, then arrived in Canada in 1986 to visit his wife's family, who urged him to stay. Haddad faced an uphill battle when...

In this episode, we meet Dr. Stacey Love, Director of Virtual Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation at Saskatchewan's Virtual Health Hub, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Saskatchewan's School of Rehabilitation. She's also involved with the Saskatchewan Centre for Patient Oriented Research. You can see more of her recent publications here , along with links to her labs: Musculoskeletal H...

Dr. Angelica Lang knows most of the people she sees have to keep working, even if they have shoulder pain.   As an assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan and director of the Musculoskeletal and Ergonomics Lab at the Canadian Centre for Rural and Agricultural Health, Lang's goal is to reduce that pain — keeping patients on the job.   "A lot of daily life has to be done with your hand...

Dr. Munier Nour said osteoporosis is often seen as a disease that affects older adults. But compared to their peers, kids with Type 1 diabetes grow into adults eight times as likely to suffer bone fractures.   "Osteoporosis may actually have its origins during pediatric years," he said. "Because Type 1 diabetes occurs so early in life ….. it influences that bone development that occurs during your...

In the heart of the Health Sciences Building,  Dr. Amanda Hall  studies a tray of organoids under a microscope. "They do need a lot of attention and a lot of feeding," she said, pointing to dot-like points in a gel solution.  The pediatric surgeon and assistant professor of pediatric general surgery will use those dots to identify factors that help infants overcome short gut syndrome. The rare con...

Valerie Verge was in her early twenties when she landed her first job, doing neuroscience research and she loved it. But 43 years ago, her research journey began to take a twist. "I developed an allergy to rats and mice," she said. "I was using a box of Kleenex a day."   She reluctantly had to admit that this may not be her career path, and spent her evenings earning a 'back-up plan' degree in com...

Dr. Evyn Peters has created pivotal changes for patients arriving at Royal University Hospital's mental health short stay unit, and its emergency department.   With 33 publications and interests spanning psychiatry, psychopharmacology and mood disorders , Peters is often one of the first physicians patients see when they ' re experiencing a mental health crisis. Peters was finishing his residency...

By the end of her Grade Eight year in Saskatoon, Wendie Marks was sure about one thing: she knew she wanted to study health and the way early-life development affected the human body.   "I spent a lot of time in the library reading books," Marks said. "I was always kind of the nerdy type."   Marks enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan and thrived, earning her PhD in psychology. Her interests...

When Justin Botterill first arrived at the University of Saskatchewan, he took what he described as a 'shotgun approach' to choosing classes. Midway through his second year, his psychology professors introduced him to neuropsychology, and to psychiatric and neurological disorders. He was hooked. Botterill soon began working with rodent models, later focusing on the hippocampus and pathways involve...

When Bruce Gordon's relatives descend on Saskatoon this month, his wife will put them to work. Bruce Gordon was a police officer and a lawyer, who competed as a triathlete and in the Crossfit Games. He was a fierce competitor until he was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer at age 54. Hear his story in  Episode 43 . After Bruce died in 2017, Chris Gordon became one of the chief organizers...

Midway through his undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia, a laboratory 'help wanted' poster caught Jeff Dong's eye. He applied, gaining invaluable practical experience that summer in Stephanie Borgland 's lab. "She really supported me in understanding what research is about," said Dong, who went on to complete his PhD through UBC's Department of Microbiology and Immunology, mo...

Before we're even born, our bodies begin to grow and train an army of spies and assassins, creating a crew of immune system fighters in the upper chest's thymus gland. While this production is dominated by T cells, other immune cells such as B cells and plasma cells can be generated within the thymus, albeit at a very low level.   After adolescence, the thymus reduces production at its 'spy and as...

Like a lot of kids, Anurag Sakharkar used to dream about being a doctor, or an astronaut. His parents, both academics, encouraged him to follow his dream.   In high school, he began spending evenings and weekends working at the University of Saskatchewan's biomedical labs, perfecting advanced research methods, western blots and PCR analysis . He began learning about Parkinson's disease with Dr. Ch...

When Dr. Rachel Asiniwasis returned to the prairies after her dermatology residency in Toronto, she noticed a pattern among many of her pediatric patients. Hundreds of them were coming to her with itchy, raw patches of skin, the result of atopic dermatitis — eczema. "One of the biggest frustrations for me is when people say 'oh, it's just a skin problem'," said Asiniwasis. "Itching in many ways is...

Patients in intensive care units often move to a regular ward before they're discharged, and sent home. But increasingly, hospitals are skipping that step, sending a handful of ICU patients directly home. "We were really looking at analyzing the data of safety in terms of discharging patients home safely in terms of outcomes such as mortality, or a re-admission to hospital," said Ryan Donnelly, wh...

For decades, families have watched Alzheimer's disease steal their loved ones' cognitive function. It's the most common form of dementia; one that affects a third of people over the age of 85. It's a disease Dr. Ron Geyer and Dr. Andrew Kirk want to tackle. Right now, most pharmaceuticals target the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, without addressing its root cause. Most lose their effectiveness a...

Debra Morgan grew up on a farm and continued farming with her husband, initially working in nursing in the winter. Nursing shifts took her from neurosurgery to pediatrics, to orthopedics, then to Saskatoon's geriatric units at City Hospital and Royal University Hospital. "I just found that I really enjoyed working with older people," Morgan said. She soon followed her passion for research, opting...

If you've ever sat through a bad date at a restaurant, unsure of what to order, you're still doing better than a typical zebrafish date. Dr. Michelle Collins said without safety precautions, a zebrafish male and female left together overnight often eat their embryos. The assistant professor of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Saskatchewan's College of Medicine has studied...

Diagnosing pulmonary diseases ilike asthma in young children is still largely a matter of trial and error, according to Saskatchewan's top pediatric respirologist.   As viruses and colds tear through schools and daycares across North America, Dr. Darryl Adamko wants to change that.   "If you have asthma this year and you're not taking your inhaled steroids, well you're rolling the dice," said Adam...

May this holiday season find all our Researchers Under the Scope listeners feeling cozy, festive and warm.  In the spirit of giving, the Office of the Vice-Dean of Research at the College of Medicine has once again teamed up, to make a donation to students and staff at King George Elementary School in Saskatoon. This is where you can scroll down and find the details you need to make an e-transfer...

When Scott Widenmaier left high school, he wasn't sure what career path he wanted to pursue. He grew up in Alameda, Saskatchewan, and soon found work on oil rigs. But by the time he was in his early twenties, he knew it was time for a change. "I realized that winters are just too cold to continue doing that," said Widenmaier. "I wasn't sure what I was going to do with my life, but I was interested...

As a high school student growing up in Melfort, Sask.. Linda Chelico (PhD) knew she wanted to work in health sciences. She enjoyed biology class, and took an interest in watching nature heal itself. She wanted to find environmentally friendly solutions to health problems. Then, she read a National Geographic magazine about landfills filling up. Chelico began thinking about the environmental footpr...

Colour-changing reactions and small explosions punctuated life at Dr. Oleg Dmitriev's home, when he was a boy. He loved trying out chemical reactions, and experimenting. As a teenager, he was fascinated by the science fiction novels his father brought home.   "It's all about strange worlds and unusual, strange forms of life," said Dmitriev, a protein biochemist. "I started wondering, why is the li...

Asmahan AbuArish grew up in Hebron, surrounded by military checkpoints. She knew she wanted to help people, but she had to give up her dream of being a medical doctor early. Fortunately, AbuArish is no quitter. She discovered physics — and later its very real applications in curing inflammatory pulmonary diseases such as cystic fibrosis (CF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Last y...

As a pediatric neurologist, Dr. Richard Huntsman sees the children with the most medically complex epilepsy "It completely disrupts the life of a family," said Huntsman. "Limitations on what the child can do, limitations on what the family can do." "When the kids have really severe and difficult-to-control epilepsy, It's a huge burden on their parents." Eight years ago, parents started asking Hunt...