Acceleration Consortium

Health and Wellness

Current Students

Federal Budget

Graduate Students

Subheadline

'An investment in our young researchers is an investment in economic growth and productivity'

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland toured a University of Toronto lab Friday – just days after announcing a transformative investment in the next generation of research leaders who will propel Canada to the forefront of global innovation.

Freeland’s visit to the Acceleration Consortium’s Matter Lab showcased the cutting-edge research and training at the lab, which received a landmark $200-million investment last year from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF).

The 2024 budget, which features substantial investments in Canada’s research ecosystem over the next five years, earmarks $825 million in support for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows – a pivotal investment in strengthening the research talent pipeline that will fuel the growth of Canada’s knowledge and innovation economy.

Freeland characterized the investment in graduate students and postdoctoral fellows as a “virtuous circle,” whereby the young researchers of today become the industry leaders of tomorrow.

"Making an investment in our young researchers is an investment in economic growth and productivity,” she said. “Some of Canada’s leading entrepreneurs and innovators started their journeys in a lab just like this one – many of them are entrepreneurs and researchers at the same time – and that is one of the reasons this investment is so important.”

This federal commitment significantly increases the value and number of scholarships and fellowships, starting in 2024-2025, building up to benefit about 1,720 more graduate students or fellows each year.

Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science, welcomed the federal government's investment in improved supports for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science, welcomed the supports as “reinvesting in Canada’s proud tradition of excellence in the global knowledge economy,” nurturing the young minds who are poised to devise homegrown solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges, from addressing climate change to unlocking the potential of AI.

“The federal government's investment in Canada’s research ecosystem – and the trainees who are the lifeblood of this ecosystem – recognizes the critical role of this sector in the productivity and flourishing of our country.”

Frédéric Bouchard, chair of the Advisory Panel on the Federal Research Support System, commended the federal government for implementing many of the recommendations outlined in the panel’s 2023 report, including the budget’s measures to bring the world’s best and brightest to Canada.

“There is a global race for talent, and we were at risk for brain drain,” said Bouchard, dean of Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “There is a chase for the best ideas, and we need a way to create them here and leverage them here.”

Alán Aspuru-Guzik gives Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland a tour of the Acceleration Consortium's Matter Lab (photo by Johnny Guatto)

The budget also allocates $2.4 billion in previously announced funding to elevate Canada’s AI advantage – an effort where U of T researchers are leading the charge.

Among them is Alán Aspuru-Guzik, director of the Acceleration Consortium, which harnesses artificial intelligence, robotics and advanced computing to fast-track the discovery of new materials.

A professor in the departments of chemistry and computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science at U of T, Aspuru-Guzik said Canada’s latest investments in bolstering its research ecosystem have reaffirmed his decision to move to the country in 2018.

“With a combination of targeted research funding … and now the competitive update to the pay of our most important resource, students and postdocs, Canada has the ability to compete globally at the highest level,” Aspuru-Guzik said.

“We want Canada to be the leader of AI for materials. For that, we need the best people. To get the best people we need to pay them well. This new announcement bridges this gap.”

The Acceleration Consortium harnesses artificial intelligence, robotics and advanced computing to fast-track the discovery of new materials (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Freeland, who met with U of T President Meric Gertler before visiting the lab, was also joined by Chad Gaffield, chief executive officer of the U15 group of universities, Gabriel Miller, president and chief executive officer of Universities Canada, and Kaitlin Kharas, the co-president of Support our Science.

Kharas, a PhD candidate in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology, said the supports for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will not only make Canada’s research ecosystem more inclusive and diverse, but will ease financial pressures so scholars can focus on what’s important.

“This enhanced support will ensure the next generation of Canadian scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs can focus on their research and the essential work of creating solutions to Canada's largest problems,” she said.

“Make no mistake – by ensuring graduate students and postdoctoral scholars are supported, budget 2024 has ushered in a new era of Canadian research excellence.”

Acceleration Consortium funds $1.2 million worth of research projects powered by self-driving labs

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 18:35:37 +0000

Acceleration Consortium funds $1.2 million worth of research projects powered by self-driving labs

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 03/06/2024 - 13:35

Cutline

U of T Engineering researcher Yu Zou’s effort to develop improved materials for hip and knee replacements is among 12 projects receiving funding through the Acceleration Consortium (photo by Neil Ta)

Sean Bettam

Andrea Wiseman

Topic

U of T Scarborough

Subheadline

From joint replacements to sustainable chemical manufacturing, U of T projects aim to develop new materials that could yield scientific breakthroughs

Canada’s aging population is placing a host of new stressors on the health-care system, including an increasing number of hip and knee replacements that, in a best-case scenario, will last a maximum of 25 years using current materials.

With people living longer, that means there will be more subsequent surgeries to fix or replace the replacements — adding even more stress on the system.

New materials are needed to help solve this problem – and self-driving labs, or SDLs, can help. The labs combine artificial intelligence, robotics and advanced computing to discover new materials and molecules for commercial, clinical and industrial use in a fraction of the usual time and cost.

Yu Zou, an assistant professor in the department of materials science and engineering in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, is using an SDL to rapidly test combinations of elements in his quest to develop alloys that can be used in longer-lasting joint replacements.

His work is just one example of the problems being tackled by scientists who have received a total of $1.2 million in Accelerate Grants through the Acceleration Consortium, a U of T institutional strategic initiative that is accelerating the discovery of new materials using SDL technologies.

The Acceleration Consortium is funding a diverse array of research efforts across nine departments in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, the Faculty of Arts & Science, the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and the University of Toronto Scarborough. Zou’s research is one of 12 new research projects that are either developing technologies that will support the development of SDLs or using SDL technologies to accelerate discovery.

Made possible by the $200 million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) awarded to the Acceleration Consortium last April – the largest federal research grant ever awarded to a Canadian university – the projects enabled by the grant promise innovative advances in fields ranging from health care and climate change to sustainable materials design and food waste management.

“Using AI and automation to carry out more laboratory experiments in a smarter way, we’ve supercharged the process of scientific discovery,” said Alán Aspuru-Guzik¸ director of the Acceleration Consortium and professor in the departments of chemistry and computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science. “These 12 Accelerate Grants are not only an investment in science, but are an investment in our future.

“The creativity and the diversity of thought shown by the researchers on these projects tells me that the materially different future that the Acceleration Consortium is striving for is achievable in our lifetime.”

The Acceleration Consortium awarded the 12 grants in three categories: Accelerate Seed, which builds accelerated discovery capacity at U of T by helping faculty members enter the field or collaborate with those already doing accelerated discovery; Accelerate Moonshot, which support high-risk, high-reward grants that will make significant contributions to the development or use of SDLs; and Accelerate Translation, which support accelerated discovery projects with clear commercialization goals and viable market potential, as well as the implementation or scaling of knowledge mobilization activities, training, and community engagement.

“This suite of Acceleration Grants is an excellent example of how the Acceleration Consortium is advancing the globally recognized strategic research mission of the University of Toronto in a way that’s critical for Canada to remain competitive on the international stage,” said Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. “By enabling the next generation of scientists to use self-driving labs and fostering research collaboration and partnerships between departments and institutions, these grants will enable the recipients to conduct high-impact, interdisciplinary accelerated research to discover materials that will improve our world.

“I congratulate the principal investigators and their teams who are leading these varied investigations, and I look forward to seeing their results in the accelerated timeline now made possible in part by CFREF and the remarkable demonstration of support for their work.”

While the CFREF funding will help to further advancements made by several researchers who are recognized as leaders in their fields, most support is going to early-career scientists who are pioneering new discoveries just as SDL technology is emerging as a revolutionary approach to knowledge.

Projects dedicated to the continuous improvement of SDL technology are also being funded. For example, a project by Nandita Vijaykumar, an assistant professor in the department of computer and mathematical sciences at U of T Scarborough, will develop software that can better manage the fast-flowing data streams SDLs create as well as the resources required to run the experiments.

“The work our grant recipients are doing will help us ensure that the Greater Toronto Area and Canada remain world leaders in AI-frontier discovery,” said Aspuru-Guzik. “And we’re doing so with innovative contributions from people at every stage of their career, with an eye to developing the next generation of groundbreaking researchers along the way. No one is resting on their laurels; each grant recipient and member of the AC is pushing the edge of what is possible and is working towards a materially better future.”

The Acceleration Consortium will welcome proposals for its next funding competition in summer 2024.

Read the story and full list of grant recipients at the Acceleration Consortium

Read the story and full list of grant recipients at the Faculty of Arts & Science

The year in pictures: U of T News looks back at 2023

mattimar — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 14:58:42 +0000

The year in pictures: U of T News looks back at 2023

mattimar Tue, 12/19/2023 - 09:58

Cutline

Dancer Deanne Hupfield at the inaugural All-Nations Powwow co-hosted by U of T Mississauga’s Indigenous Centre and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Mariam Matti

Topic

Geoexchange

Joe's Basketball Diaries

��Ƶ

Entrepreneurship

University Health Network

Undergraduate Students

The University of Toronto marked many memorable milestones across the three campuses in 2023.

From co-hosting an inaugural All-Nations Powwow to guiding the future of artificial intelligence and advocating for social justice around the world, members of the U of T community and their partners made an impact well beyond the classroom in 2023.

And photographers at U of T News and elsewhere at the university were often on hand to capture the action.

Here are just a few of the special moments that shaped U of T this year:

(photo by David Lee)

The Landmark Project has transformed the historic core of U of T’s St. George campus around King’s College Circle into a greener, more accessible and pedestrian-friendly space.

Front Campus is also now home to Canada’s largest urban geoexchange system, which will generate renewable energy and store surplus heat in the summer for use in the cold winter months. The system will save the university an estimated 15,000 metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually – a key part of U of T’s climate-positive plans and among the reasons it was recently named the most sustainable university in the world.

(photo by Lisa Lightbourn)

Following Geoffrey Hinton’s departure from Google, U of T News travelled to his home in London, England, for an in-depth conversation with the U of T University Professor Emeritus of computer science about the dangers posed by unchecked advances in AI, the role he and others played in creating the technology and the importance of responsible development.

(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Abby-Gayle Isadora Allen celebrated completing the Support, Engage, Experience University of Toronto Mississauga program this year by dancing beside Juno Award-winning singer Liberty Silver during the graduation ceremony.

The innovative program aims to make university education more accessible to Black youth who are underrepresented at Canada’s post-secondary schools. Students in Grade 11 and 12 earn a university half-credit and two Ontario Secondary School Diploma credits, have a co-op experience and are mentored by a senior U of T undergraduate student while simultaneously completing their high school semester.

Similar programs operate at U of T Scarborough and the St. George campus, which introduced SEE U of T, the inaugural version of this access program, four years ago in collaboration with the Toronto District School Board.

(photo by Luis Mora)

Jaivet Ealom, a U of T student, author, a member of the persecuted Rohingya minority and refugee advocate, shared his harrowing escape to Canada in U of T News and U of T Magazine.

Ealom fled his home country of Myanmar in 2013. Before arriving at U of T, he had travelled through six countries and three continents seeking asylum – surviving a near-drowning and multiple detentions along the way.

(photo by Johnny Guatto)

U of T hosted the 14^th annual Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) conference in May, which brought together global scholars, artists, Elders and independent professionals working in the field of Indigenous Studies. The event covered themes from food sovereignty to contemporary Indigenous cinema and language revitalization.

(photo by Polina Teif)

Brokoslaw Laschowski, a research scientist at the KITE Research Institute, University Health Network, and assistant professor in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and his team are developing AI-powered wearable technology for medical applications.

Known as the “bionic professor,” Laschowski is passionate about developing assistive technology such as bionic prosthetic legs and exoskeletons to help individuals with physical disabilities.

In his spare time, he’s helping students from Ukraine flee the Russian invasion and war to come to U of T to continue their studies.

(photo by Chai Chen)

Charlotte Wargniez graduated from U of T Scarborough at the age of 17 with a major in environmental geoscience and a minor in applied climatology.

She wrapped up her degree with many impressive accolades – including the Rose Sheinin Award, given to the highest-performing woman student in science across U of T’s three campuses and an excellence and leadership award from U of T Scarborough's department of physical and environmental sciences.

(photo by Johnny Guatto)

The Acceleration Consortium at U of T, an institutional strategic initiative, was awarded a $200-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund to revolutionize the speed and impact of materials discovery – all with a focus on building a sustainable future.

The funding – the largest federal research grant ever awarded to a Canadian university – supports the consortium’s work on “self-driving labs” that combine AI, robotics and advanced computing to discover new materials and molecules at a fraction of the usual time and cost.

With a strong plan of equity, diversity and inclusion guiding project implementation and research design, the initiative will commercialize ethically designed technologies and materials to benefit society and train today’s scientists with the skills they need to advance the emerging field of accelerated materials discovery. It will also allow the consortium to examine critical issues regarding the application of the technology, including from environmental and Indigenous perspectives.

(photo by Polina Teif)

Niloofar Ganji, a PhD student in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, is changing the world in more ways than one.

Ganji not only conducts groundbreaking research on a critical condition affecting premature infants – she is deeply committed to activism for social change in her home country of Iran.

As an executive member of U of T Students for a Free Iran (UTSFI), she has organized many events at the university in support of the anti-regime movement in Iran. She hopes to use her knowledge and expertise in pediatrics and healthcare to work for the Iranian people one day.

(photo supplied)

When a catastrophic series of earthquakes hit Türkiye and Syria earlier this year, students from the Turkish Students Association (pictured) at U of T Scarborough rallied together to collect funds and in-kind donations on campus.

They were among the many U of T community members across the three campuses who pitched in to help raise awareness and funds in the wake of the disaster.

(photo by Nithya Thayaal)

U of T celebrated the graduation of more than 21,000 students from the university’s three campuses in 2023 – including the U of T Scarborough student pictured above.

Friends and family looked on as many of those graduates crossed the stage inside Convocation Hall during convocation ceremonies held in spring and fall.

(photo by Johnny Guatto)

Peter Ma, an undergraduate math and physics student in the Faculty of Arts & Science, is dedicated to searching for life beyond our planet by drawing on his passion for science – and artificial intelligence in particular.

He became the youngest member of a team of international researchers at the University of California, Berkeley who are searching the stars for extraterrestrial intelligence and was lead author on a paper published earlier this year in the journal Nature Astronomy.

From left to right: William Lou, Joseph Wong, Sam Ibrahim and Aleer Aleer-Leek (photo by Polina Teif)

In the first episode of the second season of the award-winning series Joe’s Basketball Diaries, host Joseph Wong sits down with Will Lou, writer and co-host of the Raptors Show podcast, Sam Ibrahim, a business leader, philanthropist and major supporter of U of T Scarborough, and Aleer Aleer-Leek, a U of T student and Varsity Blues basketball player, to talk about community and sports.

In future episodes, Wong, U of T’s vice-president, international, and a professor in the department of political science and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy in the Faculty of Arts & Science, and guests take the conversation beyond the court as they discuss topics ranging from sustainability to inclusion.

(photo by Johnny Guatto)

Studying at U of T gave Alicia Corbiere an opportunity to re-engage with her culture when she began learning from Indigenous professors and studying Anishinaabemowin. She also connected with her community by joining First Nations House and the Indigenous Students’ Association.

After graduating with a degree in criminology and Indigenous studies from the Faculty of Arts & Science in the spring, Corbiere went on to study Indigenous law at U of T’s Faculty of Law.

(photo by Polina Teif)

The leafy, green lettuce that many members of the U of T community are eating in their salads, sandwiches and hamburgers is not just locally grown – but grown on the St. George campus by a student-led startup in partnership with U of T Food Services.

Lyrata co-founders Leo Hua (pictured), Carol Lin and Adnan Sharif say they are bringing innovations to the field of sustainability – including 3D-printed soil.

U of T breaks ground on a new home for the Acceleration Consortium

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 14:14:37 +0000

U of T breaks ground on a new home for the Acceleration Consortium

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 11/15/2023 - 09:14

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A rendering of the Lash Miller building expansion (image courtesy of Mikkelsen Arkitekter AS / Cumulus Architects)

Faculty of Arts & Science Staff

Topic

Subheadline

The expansion of the Lash Miller building also includes upgrades to department of chemistry labs, classrooms and other spaces

The University of Toronto recently held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the expansion of the Lash Miller building on the St. George campus – a place that will serve as the new home of the Acceleration Consortium while providing improved facilities for the department of chemistry.

An institutional strategic initiative launched in 2021, the Acceleration Consortium fuses artificial intelligence, robotics, engineering and chemistry to accelerate the design and discovery of new materials.

Using self-driving laboratories powered by AI, the consortium works to discover materials needed to build a more sustainable, prosperous and healthy future.

“The research being done at the Acceleration Consortium is a cutting-edge approach to materials discovery,” said Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science. “Now, more than ever, we need such new technologies to help solve the world's most existential and intractable problems, from climate change to plastics pollution to cancer.

“This expansion is truly about advancing the university’s mission of research and teaching excellence.”

From left to right: Mark Lautens, chair of the department of chemistry, Alán Aspuru-Guzik, director of the Acceleration Consortium, Anna Kennedy, chair of Governing Council, Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science, and Robert Batey, former chair of the department of chemistry (photo by Diana Tyszko)

The university earlier this year received a grant of $200 million from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) – the largest federal research grant ever awarded to a Canadian university – to support the Acceleration Consortium’s research.

“Developing such innovative technologies is made possible by the federal government's visionary investment. This grant allows us to do big science, ensuring Canada remains competitive on the international stage,” said Woodin.

The building expansion will also include renovations to the department of chemistry, with upgrades being made to labs, classrooms and faculty and administrative space to provide students and scientists with enhanced facilities for research, learning and innovation.

“I've watched the plans emerge from both the department and the Faculty side, and it's really an amazing project,” said Mark Lautens, chair of the department of chemistry. “The self-driving labs are the cornerstone of the AC, but there will be new lecture theatres and some amazing meeting spaces for chemistry that will figure very prominently in the design.

“Our students will be prepared for the future, regardless of how that future unfolds.”

Robert Batey, former chair of the department of chemistry, also reflected on the origins of the project, the founding of the Acceleration Consortium and the initial success in enlisting Alán Aspuru-Guzik, director of the consortium, to lead U of T’s efforts in the emerging field of machine learning-guided materials development.

Faculty, staff and members of the design and construction teams gathered for a recent groundbreaking event (photo by Diana Tyszko)

“This project really has been a long time in gestation. In 2017, we saw an opportunity to take advantage of a nascent and emerging field of science and technology, which is AI and machine learning, and how it might be applied to, and enabled by, chemistry and automation,” Batey said.

The revolutionary work being done at the Acceleration Consortium will be key in positioning Canada as a world leader in materials discovery, with a state-of-the-art space that will not only house this important work, but also attract top tier talent.

“The AC building represents a new global era where countries are looking inward while at the same time collaborating with each other,” said Aspuru-Guzik. “We're building a team of people who are going to be able to take advantage of this new space and of the federal grant to move the needle and make Canada the leader in materials discovery.”

A rendering of the interior of the Lash Miller building’s expansion (Image courtesy of Mikkelsen Arkitekter AS / Cumulus Architects)

The Acceleration Consortium considers and includes contributions from several other disciplines of study in its work.

“We are very excited that this project is also integrated with Canadian society in such areas as Indigenous scholarship, social sciences and economics,” said Aspuru-Guzik. “Materials discovery has to do with everything, and impacts society in a very complex way.”

Anna Kennedy, chair of U of T’s Governing Council, acknowledged the impact the consortium has already made at the university.

“Since its launch, and under the expert guidance of Alán and other brilliant scholars, the AC has solidified itself as one of the university’s most impressive institutional strategic initiatives and as the embodiment of the University of Toronto’s capacity to support large-scale, high-impact interdisciplinary research.”

Woodin also noted the importance of philanthropy in leveraging the historic support from the federal government and investment by industry partners.

“Inspired giving by donors will enable us to build a contemporary space that will attract talent that's needed to advance the goals of the Acceleration Consortium, which will have major economic benefits for the Greater Toronto Area and for Canada,” she said.

The Lash Miller building expansion is set to be completed in the spring of 2026. The complex project is being delivered through an integrated design team led by the university’s Planning, Design & Construction (UPDC) portfolio and a collaboration between Canadian firm Cumulus Architects and Danish firm Mikkelsen Architects, among other firms specializing in key areas of the project design and technical specifications.

The construction will be completed by Urbacon.

U of T 'self-driving lab' to focus on next-gen human tissue models

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 15:15:29 +0000

U of T 'self-driving lab' to focus on next-gen human tissue models

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 10/26/2023 - 11:15

Cutline

The Self-Driving Lab for Human Organ Mimicry will use organoids and organs-on-chips – a well plate is pictured here – to allow researchers to move potential therapeutics to human clinical trials more rapidly (photo by Rick Lu)

Anika Hazra

Topic

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research

University Health Network

Robotics

Subheadline

The Self-Driving Laboratory for Human Organ Mimicry is one of six self-driving labs launched by the Acceleration Consortium to drive research across a range of fields

The University of Toronto is home to a new “self-driving lab” that will allow researchers to better understand health and disease – and to more rapidly test the efficacy and toxicity of new drugs and materials.

Based at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, the Self-Driving Laboratory for Human Organ Mimicry is the latest self-driving lab to spring from a historic $200-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund to the Acceleration Consortium – a global effort to speed the discovery of materials and molecules that is one of several U of T institutional strategic initiatives.

The new lab will be led by Milica Radisic, Canada Research Chair in Organ-on-a-Chip Engineering and professor of biomedical engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and Vuk Stambolic, senior scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, and a professor of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

“The lab will innovate new complex cellular models of human tissues, such as from the heart, liver, kidney and brain, through stem-cell-derived organoids and organ-on-a-chip technologies,” said Radisic. “In partnership with the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, the lab will also enable automation of patient-derived tumour organoid cultures to accelerate the discovery of new cancer treatments.”

Tumour organoids stained with fluorescent dyes (image courtesy of Nikolina Radulovich and Laura Tamblyn)

The Self-Driving Laboratory for Human Organ Mimicry is one of six self-driving labs launched by the Acceleration Consortium at U of T to drive research across a range of fields, including materials, drug formulation, drug discovery and sustainable energy.

How does a self-driving lab work? Once set up, it runs with robots and artificial intelligence performing as much as 90 per cent of the work. That, in turn, speeds up the process of discovery by freeing researchers from the tedious process of trial and error so they can focus on higher-level analysis.

“The Self-Driving Lab for Human Organ Mimicry will enable other self-driving labs to develop new materials and drugs by rapidly determining their efficacy, as well as their potential toxic effects and other impacts on human tissues,” said Stambolic. “While animal testing is typically the go-to method to assess the safety of new molecules made for humans, this lab will replace trials involving animals with organoids and organs-on-chips. This will allow us to advance to human clinical trials much more quickly.”

Professors Milica Radisic and Vuk Stambolic (supplied images)

“The goal of our self-driving labs is to use AI to move the discovery process forward at the necessary pace to tackle global issues,” said Alán Aspuru-Guzik, director of the Acceleration Consortium and professor of chemistry and computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science. “The Human Organ Mimicry SDL, as well as other self-driving labs launched through the Acceleration Consortium, will establish U of T and our extended research community as a global leader in AI for science.”

Donnelly Centre Director Stephane Angers says the centre is an ideal environment for the new lab, citing the the international hub for cross-disciplinary health and medical research’s reputation as a hotspot for technological innovation – one that offers resources to the wider research community.

“The Donnelly Centre is a thriving research community because it was founded on the principle of interdisciplinary collaboration,” said Angers, a professor of biochemistry and pharmaceutical sciences. “Our research strengths in computational biology, functional genomics and stem cell biology will catalyze the development and success of the Self-Driving Lab for Human Organ Mimicry.”

The launch of the new lab will also expand the Donnelly Centre’s team of experts with the hiring of five new staff who will work to make the self-driving lab fully automated. The lab is expected to be operational by the end of the year

“The Donnelly Centre is one of the foremost research institutes in the world, with outstanding strength in genomics, model organisms, organoids, computational biology and many other areas,” said Justin Nodwell, vice-dean of research and health science education at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

“I’m delighted to hear about the addition of the Acceleration Consortium’s artificial intelligence-powered self-driving lab to the centre’s existing technical base. It will facilitate new lines of research by some of the best minds in the country.”

Global experts gather at U of T to discuss how ‘self driving labs’ will revolutionize scientific discovery

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 18:44:06 +0000

Global experts gather at U of T to discuss how ‘self driving labs’ will revolutionize scientific discovery

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 08/31/2023 - 14:44

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Linda Hung, manager of Toyota Research Institute, speaks at this year’s Accelerate Conference at U of T (photo by Worker Bee Supply © Acceleration Consortium)

Catrina Kronfli

Topic

Creative Destruction Lab

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

History

Rotman School of Management

Subheadline

The Acceleration Consortium’s second-annual Accelerate conference focused on talent development, collaboration and commercialization

The Acceleration Consortium (AC) at the University of Toronto recently brought together more than 350 representatives from academia, industry and government from 16 countries to discuss how “self-driving labs” are revolutionizing the speed and impact of scientific discovery.

Held over four days in August, the consortium’s second annual Accelerate conference focused on key themes such as talent development, collaboration and commercialization – all with an eye to finding and developing new materials and molecules that can help solve humanity’s most pressing challenges, from climate change to pandemics.

Alán Aspuru-Guzik, director of the AC and a professor in U of T’s departments of chemistry and computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, said the conference has quickly emerged as a major draw in a field that’s rapidly gaining momentum around the world.

“The Acceleration Consortium’s Accelerate Conference attracts the world’s leading academic and industry researchers working to accelerate scientific discovery,” he said. “Given the tremendous growth and excitement we have seen since launching the conference just one year ago, it is clear Accelerate is becoming the flagship event for accelerated discovery.”

A U of T Institutional Strategic Initiative that launched in 2021, the AC earlier this year received a $200-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) to help it achieve its bold vision of realizing the age of materials on demand.

The largest federal research grant ever awarded to a Canadian university, the CFREF grant allows the consortium to bring together researchers and industry to design, develop and implement self-driving lab technologies. These labs combine the power of artificial intelligence (AI) with robotics and advanced computing to create new materials and molecules needed for a sustainable future – at a fraction of the usual time and cost. Applications include everything from life-saving medications to biodegradable plastics.

Alán Aspuru-Guzik speaks at the Accelerate Conference 2023 (photo by Worker Bee Supply © Acceleration Consortium)

Chandra Veer Singh, an associate professor in the department of materials science and engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and Christine Allen, a professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, noted AI will be critical to a variety of careers in the future and that continuous learning is necessary to equip workers with the knowledge and skills needed to fill these roles.

Sterling Baird, the AC’s director of training and programs, spoke about the consortium’s upcoming digital discovery program – the first of its kind in Canada. Thanks to support from the Ontario Micro-credentials Fund, the program will train scientists looking to apply AI to materials discovery. Flora Wan, a technical education specialist with the Vector Institute, shared the programs that the institute developed to help professionals and businesses develop AI knowledge.

As an emerging field, ecosystem development is also important. Anjuli Szawiola, policy analyst with Natural Resources Canada, spoke to the two networks the federal government is co-leading – Materials for Energy and the German-Canadian Materials Acceleration Centre – to promote knowledge sharing and the adoption of advanced materials for clean energy in Canada and abroad.

For its part, the AC has become a magnet for cross-sector collaboration as its partners look to gain access to the wide range of expertise, research and innovation it has assembled.

The consortium includes more than 100 academics from more than 40 research institutes and 30 private and public sector organizations. Together, they are creating a global community to tackle key challenges in the field such as data sharing and reproducibility of self-driving labs.

Michelle Murphy, a professor in the department of history in U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science and a Canada Research Chair in Science & Technology Studies and Environmental Data Justice, spoke about the importance of incorporating social scientists and Indigenous communities in the research process given the ethical implications of speeding up the pace of science.

Murphy will examine critical issues associated with self-driving labs, including ensuring that those impacted most by the technology have a say in its development in order to prevent unintended harms, whether direct or indirect. With this in mind, equity, diversity and inclusion will continue to guide the AC’s project implementation and research design.

On the topic of commercialization, Sonia Sennik, executive director of the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), shared the non-profit’s history of and philosophy towards supporting entrepreneurs.

“New founders have thousands of things on their to-do list. CDL believes the best judgment an early-stage entrepreneur can get is ‘entrepreneurial judgement’ from an experienced entrepreneur,” Sennik explained. CDL’s program allows select entrepreneurs to benefit from the entrepreneurial knowledge of fellows and associates who help guide CDL ventures.

Co-founded by Aspuru-Guzik, CDL’s Matter Stream is working with the AC to help founders seeking to discover, develop or recycle materials.

What comes next? The AC will assemble a steering committee to tackle various issues facing the sector. In addition to building six self-driving labs and a machine learning and automation lab, the consortium is hiring new scientists, chemists, AI experts, roboticists and more, with the goal of making the Greater Toronto Area and Canada a world leader in accelerated materials discovery.

With files from Erin Warner and Tabassum Siddiqui

New autonomous lab at University of Toronto to improve drug formulation

siddiq22 — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 20:09:01 +0000

New autonomous lab at University of Toronto to improve drug formulation

siddiq22 Fri, 07/14/2023 - 16:09

Cutline

From left: PhD trainee Zeqing Bao, Professor Christine Allen, Allen Lab Director of Research and Partnerships Pauric Bannigan (photo by Steve Southon)

Eileen Hoftyzer

Topic

Breaking Research

drug development

self-driving labs

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Entrepreneneurship

machine learning

Subheadline

Facility at Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy is one of six at U of T being funded by $200-million grant to Acceleration Consortium

A new autonomous lab being built in the University of Toronto's Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy will help to design and optimize formulations that will improve bioavailability, stability and efficacy of a variety of drugs.

Christine Allen, a professor in the faculty whose research focuses on drug development and disease diagnostics, is co-leading the lab with Frank Gu, a professor in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

“I see huge potential for artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and automation in pharmaceutical sciences, for formulations and beyond,” says Allen, an expert in drug formulations.

“The world is finally understanding the impact of formulation technology and how powerful it is. Now we can marry that technology with AI and machine learning, so we’re kind of unstoppable.”

The new facility is known as a 'self-driving' lab because it uses AI, automation and advanced computing to test different combinations of materials and iteratively develop the best formulations. This approach will allow researchers to evaluate a much larger number of materials, significantly reducing both the cost and time required to identify a new drug formulation.

Allen explains that formulation scientists are often working under tight time constraints to get a product to market by deadline, and the final formulations are the best that can be done with the time available – but are not necessarily the best possible option.

“We’re providing a solution to that – accelerating development while looking for the best formulation,” says Allen, whose team worked in collaboration with Professor Alán Aspuru-Guzik’s research group to develop a prototype of the self-driving lab last year.

The self-driving lab at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy is one of six being built at U of T through a $200-million Canada First Research Excellence Fund grant to the Acceleration Consortium, a global network of government, industry and academic researchers accelerating the discovery of materials and molecules needed for a sustainable future.

Researchers say the self-driving lab will help the pharmaceutical industry improve efficiency in drug development and production (photo by Steve Southon)

Allen played a key role in launching the Acceleration Consortium during her time as associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives.

As a co-lead on the project, Gu is bringing his expertise in nanotechnology engineering to develop high-quality, precise formulations that use nanotechnology to improve the delivery, bioavailability and efficacy of drugs.

“Nanotechnology engineering has revolutionized the pharmaceutical industry, and its potential applications in a self-driving lab are both imminent and paradigm-shifting,” Gu says.

“By harnessing the power of nanotechnology in a self-driving lab for pharmaceutical formulations, my lab is working with Professor Allen’s team to unlock many advantages that will transform drug development, formulation, modular manufacturing and patient care.”

Allen says that the lab's strong collaboration between pharmaceutical scientists and computer scientists also provides unique educational opportunities for trainees that will provide them with key skills needed for a career in the pharmaceutical industry.

“The trainees are experts in both fields – this is where the future is going, and that to me is the power in all of this. It is true interdisciplinary collaboration,” Allen says. “The trainees are gaining knowledge, expertise and experience, and they are then able to secure exciting positions in industry and be leaders in the field.”

Last year, Allen took a leave of absence from the university to take on a leadership role with adMare Bioinnovations, an organization that helps support Canadian life science companies and researchers. She has now returned to the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy full-time and brings back a wealth of new experience in entrepreneurship that she plans to apply to her research and the work of the Acceleration Consortium.

To that end, Allen is also chairing the Acceleration Consortium's committee on commercialization and partnerships, and is also developing a graduate course in innovation and entrepreneurship.

With the lab's focus on translational research and commercialization, both Allen and Gu are excited about its potential to generate new formulations that will ultimately improve patient outcomes.

“The self-driving lab is the most cutting-edge technology to help the pharmaceutical industry to drive toward digitization, automation and ultimately improve efficiency in product development and production,” Gu says.

“With its unique capability in bridging automation and iterative discovery process, it is also the key to helping us accelerate the development and production of personalized medicines, which is prohibitively expensive and labour-intensive to be done today.”

U of T receives $200-million grant to support Acceleration Consortium's ‘self-driving labs’ research

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 23:17:42 +0000

U of T receives $200-million grant to support Acceleration Consortium's ‘self-driving labs’ research

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 04/28/2023 - 19:17

Cutline

Funding from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund will support the Acceleration Consortium’s work on “self-driving labs,” which combine AI, robotics and advanced computing to discover new materials (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Tabassum Siddiqui

Topic

Breaking Research

Leah Cowen

Equity

Meric Gertler

Sustainability

Vector Institute

The University of Toronto has been awarded a $200-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) to revolutionize the speed and impact of scientific discovery through its Acceleration Consortium.

The funding – the largest federal research grant ever awarded to a Canadian university – will support the consortium’s work on “self-driving labs” that combine artificial intelligence, robotics and advanced computing to discover new materials and molecules in a fraction of the usual time and cost. Applications include everything from life-saving medications and biodegradable plastics to low-carbon cement and renewable energy.

Researchers in the consortium recently revealed that they used the technology to develop a potential cancer drug in just 30 days – a process that typically takes years, or even decades.

“The University of Toronto is grateful for this significant investment in artificial intelligence-driven research and innovation, which promises to improve the lives of Canadians and those of people around the world,” said U of T President Meric Gertler.

“The federal government’s critical support of this initiative builds on years of strategic planning and decisions in this space by the University and the federal government, including the 2017 launch of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy that helped cement Toronto’s status as a global hub for a revolutionary technology.

“This is the next step in achieving that bold vision.”

François-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and industry, announced the U of T funding alongside 10 other large-scale projects across the country.

“The initiatives announced today will lead to breakthrough discoveries that will improve people’s lives, nourish our innovation ecosystems, and shape Canada’s prosperity for years to come,” he said in a statement. “Such is the value of Canadian institutions and researchers who think outside the box to tackle the greatest challenges of our time.”

Launched as an Institutional Strategic Initiative in 2021, the Acceleration Consortium brings together partners from academia, government and industry who are accelerating the discovery of materials and molecules needed for a sustainable future. The consortium aims to reduce the time and cost of bringing advanced materials to market, from an average of 20 years and $100 million to as little as one year and $1 million.

“Our goal is to accelerate science,” said Acceleration Consortium Director Alán Aspuru-Guzik, a professor in the departments of chemistry and computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science who is a Canada CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. “To do that, we realized we need to take a cue from self-driving cars and extended that concept to a self-driving lab, which uses AI and automation to carry out more experiments in a smarter way.

“We’ve essentially supercharged the process of scientific discovery.”

The CFREF funding, along with additional support from U of T – which includes an investment of $130 million to expand facilities to house the Acceleration Consortium’s state-of-the-art labs at the Lash Miller Chemical Laboratories building on the St. George campus – will help secure the researchers, spaces and partnerships needed to build a world-leading centre for accelerated materials discovery and innovation.

The funding will also help the consortium rapidly create high quality datasets to better train AI models and validate the model’s predictions in real time. That, in turn, will dramatically accelerate the discovery and development of molecules and materials for a wide range of industries.

“With this funding – which enabled us to obtain matching commitments of about $300 million from all our partners – we are talking about half a billion dollars of investments, said Aspuru-Guzik, who joined U of T from Harvard University in 2018 as a Canada 150 Research Chair in Theoretical and Quantum Chemistry and is one of a growing number of global experts at the Acceleration Consortium.

“This will help us make the Greater Toronto Area and Canada world leaders in AI-frontier discovery – we have no excuse not to be after this project.”

The Acceleration Consortium comprises nearly 100 researchers – and is hiring many more – across a wide variety of disciplines, including AI, computer science, mathematics, chemistry, economics, engineering, materials science, mechatronics, biology, pharmacology, robotics, technoscience and more. It also includes 30 partners from the private and public sector, including the University of British Columbia, a lead partner on the grant.

“What’s unique about this model is that it’s kind of this idea of a university without borders,” said Jason Hein, a member of the Acceleration Consortium's scientific leadership team and an associate professor in the chemistry department in the Faculty of Science at UBC.

“What happens a lot in Canadian research culture is that we’re good at punching above our weight class, but, in the past, other countries have had bigger budgets. What’s great about this is that through the energy of the people at Acceleration Consortium, we’re saying, ‘We’re doing something huge here.’ And to get the vote of confidence back saying, ‘Yes, we believe in you and let’s go forward’ is really important.”

CFREF aims to boost the strengths of Canadian postsecondary institutions so that they can achieve global success in research areas that create long-term social and economic advantages for Canada. It invests approximately $200 million per year (or approximately $1.4 billion over a competition cycle of seven years) through a highly competitive peer review process.

“We named this a consortium and not an institute for a reason,” Aspuru-Guzik said. “We are a global effort with its homebase in Toronto that involves academia, government and industry.

“A core goal of our efforts is to spin out the next generation of companies that will develop the materials for the 21st century here in Canada. This, in turn, will help make the GTA the economic epicentre for this field.”

Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives, said the impact of the CFREF grant will be felt far beyond Acceleration Consortium itself.

“This level of investment can really transform how universities do innovation,” she said. “It allows us to not only drive forward discovery, but also improve adoption by Canadian companies and foster an ethical approach to technology development that’s guided by principles of equity, diversity and inclusion, benefiting all segments of society.”

With files from Erin Warner

Experts say $200-million grant awarded to U of T will drive ‘big science’ via the Acceleration Consortium

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 20:19:03 +0000

Experts say $200-million grant awarded to U of T will drive ‘big science’ via the Acceleration Consortium

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 04/28/2023 - 16:19

Cutline

A researcher removes a vial of pre-dispensed reagent from an automated solid dispensing robot (photo by James Morley © The Matter Lab / Acceleration Consortium, University of Toronto)

Tabassum Siddiqui

Topic

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Leah Cowen

self-driving labs

Creative Destruction Lab

History