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Two of our Professors
are among Canada’s
Top 40 Under 40!
By Christel Binnie
The Report on Business magazine
recently published its seventh annual Top 40 Under 40
profiling the ‘best and brightest’ young Canadians on
the rise. Among these forty individuals are Steffany Bennett and
May Griffith, two University of Ottawa research scientists breaking
new ground in stem cell research and tissue engineering.
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Steffany
Bennett is making
important progress in the fight
against Alzheimer Disease.
Photo by: David Barbour
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May
Griffith has engineered the
first functional tissue equivalent
to a human cornea.
Photo
by: David Barbour
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THE REPORT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
recently published its seventh annual Top 40 Under 40
report profiling the ‘best and brightest’ young Canadians
on the rise (May 2001). Out of these 40 amazing individuals,
seven are research scientists, and two of these, Steffany Bennett
and May Griffith, are at the University of Ottawa.
The annual competition, conducted by Toronto-based
executive search firm Caldwell Partners International, received
over 700 nominations. Nominees were evaluated by a panel of
business and community leaders using several criteria, including:
vision, innovation, community involvement, and strategy for growth.
STEFFANY
BENNETT joined the University of Ottawa in 1999 as an assistant
professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology.
That same year, Bennett was named a Lefler Scholar at Harvard Medical
School. Her research collaboration with David Paul at Harvard (Neurobiology)
takes her to Boston every 6 to 8 weeks to perform experiments.
Bennett and Paul are developing a mouse model of neural stem cell
enrichment — stem cells represent the latest great scientific
discovery, and have the potential to cure an array of degenerative
diseases.
Fascinated by how the brain works and sensitive to individuals facing
the tragedy of losing cognitive function, Bennett’s research
group is striving to reduce the rate of cell death in patients with
Alzheimer Disease and other degenerative cognitive disorders by
using experimental models. “Patients suffering from Alzheimer
increasingly retreat into their own world of memory loss, frustration
and loneliness,” says Bennett. “In the later stages of
the disease, they are unable to sustain an independent existence
and are dependent upon family and, ultimately, health care institutions
for basic care...we have to do something!”
Bennett feels honoured to be recognized as one of Canada’s
Top 40 Under 40. “It’s humbling to be
recognized, but I have to say that it’s not all about me,”
she says. She is grateful for the support from her colleagues in
the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology as
well as the administrative support from the Faculty. “I have
been given two years of teaching relief and the supportive, intellectually
stimulating environment of this department has enabled me to rapidly
establish a productive research program,” explains Bennett.
Research in Bennett’s lab focuses on two complementary programs.
The first program is designed to reduce progressive neural loss,
which is the main research focus and includes collaborations with
Bruce Pappas at Carleton University’s Institute of Neuroscience
and Mary-Ellen Harper at the University of Ottawa’s Department
of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology. The second program
is designed to regenerate damaged cerebral tissue, which is done
in collaboration with David Paul at Harvard Medical School.
Bennett has received a Premier’s Research Award of Excellence
to recruit up-and-coming young scientists into her lab. This recruitment
has generated something reminiscent of an “all-women-band,”
with a total of eight female research assistants. The chemistry
between these researchers is impressive and Bennett is seen as the
“North Star... the one that shines the most and is there to
guide us,” says Fanny Morin, an MSc candidate. Lysanne Melanson-Drapeau,
an NSERC summer student, describes Bennett as “being full of
energy and optimism,” Sophie Imbeault, another NSERC summer
student says, “it is inspiring to see someone as young as Stef
in charge of her own lab, and it drives me to work hard in the hopes
that I can achieve my goals and be successful like her.” Sandy
Bekyo, who is submitting her MSc thesis this summer, found her first
lab experience to be great and enjoys the company of her “intelligent
and hard-working” colleagues.
Bennett’s accomplishments reflect her drive, passion and commitment
to excellence in research, but her passion doesn’t stop there.
She is the drummer in a band called Black Boot Trio. The band reaches
down into the roots of country, with a contemporary twist and they
have often been compared to early Johnny Cash. The band began in
1990 and has played in small and medium sized venues in Ottawa,
Toronto, Halifax, Montréal, Fredericton and Moncton, among
other locations. Steffany Bennett certainly rocks!
MAY GRIFFITH arrived at the University
of Ottawa in 1993 and is an associate professor at the Departments
of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, and Ophthalmology. She is also
a scientist at the Ottawa Health Research Institute (OHRI). Griffith
is a cell biologist whose expertise is in tissue engineering. She
developed the first functional tissue equivalent to a human cornea,
which is currently undergoing industry laboratory testing as a possible
alternative to using animals for product testing. A large part of
Griffith’s success results from her ability to establish and
coordinate scientific collaborations with other scientists, creating
a network of specialists in diverse backgrounds working together
to solve challenging problems. Not only has Griffith established
strong university-industry based partnerships with companies in
the US and Japan, she has also received a Premier’s Research
Excellence Award, an NSERC Women’s Faculty Award as well as
the University of Ottawa’s Young Researcher Award.
Griffith’s interdisciplinary approach to research extends to
the type of students that work with her. “The people in my
lab come from different academic backgrounds; they learn to get
along and learn from each other,” says Griffith. “This
environment allows them to get trained in an interdisciplinary area,
which I think will be good for their future.” Griffith also
admits, “I generally share students, supplies, even across
country borders, with my colleagues...it’s just a lot more
fun for everyone.”
One of her on-going collaborations is with Shigeto Shimmura at the
Department of Ophthalmology at the Tokyo Dental College in Japan.
Shimmura is an experimental surgeon who has pioneered several cornea
techniques. Further to developing a transplantable artificial cornea,
Shimmura is also helping surgeons at the University of Ottawa Eye
Institute with new surgical techniques. Griffith is also collaborating
with Masatsugu Nakamura at the Santen Pharmaceutical Company, Nara,
Japan. This collaboration is geared at developing an innervated
cornea for drug testing. Travelling to Japan has its perks, admits
Griffith. “I get to eat lots of sushi, which I really love.
I have also learned to travel with long lasting batteries for my
laptop.”
Although Griffith has received several awards over the years, she
feels that being a Top 40 Under 40 is a great honour.
“What it really means is that I am blessed with — and
maybe also smart enough to find — many great collaborators,
friends and students who have helped me along the way. So, I think
the award really goes to them.”
Griffith also believes that her research and having fun go hand-in-hand.
“I always enjoyed sculpting, building things, and in general,
playing. So playing with matrix molecules (natural polymers) and
cells, and seeing what they do, which is the foundation of tissue
engineering, came fairly naturally... I enjoy working here, and
I will keep doing research as long as it’s fun!”
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