Molly Shoichet

Molly Shoichet
Education University of Massachusetts Amherst 1992, Ph.D. in polymer science and engineering
Alma mater Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Awards Order of Canada 2018, Killam Prize, Engineering 2017, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Award 2013, L'Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Laureate for North America 2015, Order of Ontario 2011
Scientific career
Fields Biomedical Engineering, drug delivery, tissue regeneration
Institutions University of Toronto, Cytotherapeutics, Inc., Brown University
Website shoichetlab.utoronto.ca

Molly Shoichet, is a Canadian science professor, specializing in chemistry and biomedical engineering. She was Ontario's first Chief Scientist.[1][2] Shoichet is an award-winning Canadian biomedical engineer known for her work in tissue engineering, and is the only person to be a fellow of the three National Academies in Canada. She was appointed Chief Scientist for Ontario in November 2017 but was fired eight months later when the government changed from Liberal to Conservative.

Education

Shoichet studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received her bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1987. She attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst for her doctoral studies and earned her PhD in polymer science and engineering in 1992.[3]

Career

After receiving her doctorate, Shoichet joined the faculty of Brown University as an adjunct professor, while simultaneously working in industry. Shoichet joined the University of Toronto in 1995, where she remains as of 2018. Her work includes tissue and polymer engineering, focusing on drug delivery and tissue regeneration. Early in her career, she studied the blood–brain barrier.[3] Her lab's methods involve using a gel to deliver \drugs to a specific location in the central nervous system and to bypass the blood-brain barrier. The drugs delivered in this way include chemotherapy drugs and agents to slow or reverse damage from a stroke. This delivery method is also being tested with stem cells,[4] and include studies on the use of hydrogels that deliver stem cells to nonfunctioning retinas.[5] These hydrogels are designed to be easily injectable into the tissue and they then form a scaffold for cells to grow in the appropriate three-dimensional shape.[6]

In November 2017, Shoichet was named as Ontario’s first Chief Scientist by then Premier Kathleen Wynne.[1]

On 3rd July 2018, Shoichet was let go from her position by the newly appointed Conservative government.[2]

Honors and awards

In 2010 Shoichet was one of 30 people to be awarded the Order of Ontario.[7] Shoichet was the North American recipient of the L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science in 2015 for her work on regeneration of nerve tissue, and in developing direct drug delivery methods for the spinal cord and brain using novel materials. She has advocated for women in science and women professors.[8][9] The University of Toronto designated her a "University Professor" in 2014. She is the only person to be a fellow of the three National Academies in Canada.[3] The University of Toronto also honored her in 2013 as an "Inventor of the Year".[10] She is the 2017 winner of the Kalev Pugi Award of the Chemical Institute of Canada.[11] In 2017 she was also awarded the Killam Prize for engineering.[12] Awarded Officer of the Order of Canada (OC) as per Government House of 29 December 2017.

Other honours

Selected publications

Pakulska M.M.; Miersch, S.; Shoichet, M.S. 2016 “Designer protein delivery: from natural occurring to engineered affinity controlled release systems”, Science, 351(6279):aac4750; doi: 10.1126/science.aac4750

Pakulska, M.M.; Elliott Donaghue, I.; Obermeyer, J.; Tuladhar, A.; McLaughlin, C.K.; Shoichet, M.S. 2016 “Encapsulation-free controlled release: electrostatic interactions eliminate the need for protein encapsulation in PLGA nanoparticles”, Science Advances, 2, e1600519 doi:10.1126/sciadv.1600519

Ganesh, A.N.; McLaughlin, C.K.; Duan, D.; Shoichet, B.K.; Shoichet, M.S. 2017 “A new spin on antibody-drug conjugates: trastuzumab-fulvestrant colloidal drug aggregates target HER2-positive cells”, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 9: 12195-202; doi: 10.1021/acsami.6b15987

Fisher, S.A.; Tam, R.Y.; Fokina, A.; Mahmoodi, M.M.; Distefano, M.D.; Shoichet, M.S. 2018 “Photo-immobilized EGF chemical gradients differentially impact breast cancer cell invasion and drug response in defined 3D hydrogels” Biomaterials, in press xx1-x16; doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.01.032

Arnold, A.E.; Malek-Adamian, E.; Lee, P.U.; Meng, A.; Martinez-Montero, S.; Petrecca, K.; Damha, M.J.; Shoichet, M.S. “Antibody-antisense oligonucleotide conjugate downregulates a key gene in glioblastoma stem cells”, Molecular Therapy – Nucleic Acids, 11: 518-27; doi: 10.1016/j.omtn.2018.04.004

Ballios, B.G.; Cooke, M.J.; Clarke, L.; Cole, B.; Morshead, C.M.; van der Kooy, D.; Shoichet, M.S. 2015 “A hyaluronan based injectable hydrogel improves the survival and integration of stem cell progeny following transplantation” Stem Cell Reports, 4: 1031-45; doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2015.04.008

See also

References

  1. 1 2 https://www.utoronto.ca/news/molly-shoichet-named-ontario-s-first-chief-science-officer
  2. 1 2 https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-doug-ford-fires-ontarios-chief-scientist/
  3. 1 2 3 "The Shoichet Lab | Molly's Bio". www.ecf.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  4. ↑ "Canadian researcher Molly Shoichet wins L'Oreal/UNESCO For Women in Science Award". CBC. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  5. ↑ "Injectable gel makes inroads against blindness and stroke". Globe & Mail. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  6. ↑ "Molly Shoichet Receives TERMIS Senior Scientist Award". chem-eng.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  7. ↑ "30 Appointees Named To Ontario's Highest Honour". 21 January 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
  8. ↑ "2015 L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "U of T biomedical engineer wins women in science prize". Globe & Mail. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  10. ↑ "Meet U of T's Inventors of the Year | U of T News". www.news.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  11. ↑ Kalev Pugi Award Chemical Institute of Canada. Retrieved 2016-12-18.
  12. ↑ Prestigious Killam Prize for engineering awarded to female scientist second year in a row By Nicole Mortillaro, CBC News, 2 May 2017
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