University of Toronto professor and researcher Molly Shoichet has won Canada’s most prestigious science prize for her work designing hydrogels that mimic human tissues.
The $1 million Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal is presented by the The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), which made the announcement on Tuesday as it awarded prizes to 26 Canadian scientists and engineers and 13 of their industry partners.
Likely, it couldn’t come soon enough for Shoichet and her team.
The CBC’s Emily Chung reports that Shoichet, who is a professor of chemical engineering and applied chemistry and the Canada Research Chair in Tissue Engineering at the University of Toronto, first got the news she had won by phone in May but was forced to stay mum when the NSERC was set back by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shoichet, right, and members of her research lab, including Katarina Vulic, left, are developing new materials that mimic human tissues. Her collaborations with biologists have led to applications to treat cancer, stroke and degenerative blindness. (Roberta Baker/University of Toronto)
Shoichet, Chung reports, previously served as Ontario’s first chief scientist and has won dozens of accolades for her work, including the Killam Prize for engineering, awarded by the Canada Council and has been named a L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Laureate and an officer of the Order of Canada.
“But, she said, “I think this is the pinnacle.”
Shoichet’s hydrogels are used for drug development and delivery and regenerative medicine to heal injuries and treat diseases.
NSERC noted that her work has led to the development of several “game-changing” applications of such materials that “delivered a crucial breakthrough” by allowing cells to be grown in three dimensions as they do in the body, rather than the two dimensions they typically do in a petri dish.
The $1 million prize will fund continued research for Shoichet and her team.
“We make our biggest discoveries and advance knowledge the greatest when we just have that opportunity to think and be creative,” Shoichet said.
“It’s wonderful just to have that opportunity to explore.”
With files from CBC (Emily Chung), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
(Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story listed the Killam Prize for engineering as a NSERC award. It is not. Killam Prizes are awarded by the Canada Council. We apologize for the error.)
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