Ryerson Alumni - Summer 2010 - (Page 12)

cover story Science revolution With cutting-edge research and strong graduate studies, science is on a roll at ryerson. students, researchers and alumni are making a difference as they tackle some of the World’s biggest challenges By Dan Falk, Journalism ’92 ichael Kolios peers at a black-and-white image on a monitor. An adjacent microscope generates the picture on the screen, and the object, which at first glance looks like a translucent soccer ball, is actually a cluster of human cancer cells less than a millimetre wide. On closer inspection, the spheroid displays a rich structure: it’s denser in the middle and more transparent toward the outer edges. With this one-of-a-kind machine – a scanning acoustic microscope – Kolios is leading a groundbreaking research program that could change the way we fight one of the nation’s deadliest diseases. The microscope uses a high-frequency transducer to blast its target with sound waves at a rate of up to a billion cycles per second, using ultrasound, rather than light, to create an image. Cells that are dead or dying, Kolios explains, have different acoustic properties from living cells, and can be distinguished on the resulting image. The implications are profound: adapted for clinical use, it could allow doctors to monitor the effectiveness of cancer treatments – typically chemotherapy or radiation therapy – in individual patients. If the ultrasound scan shows cancer cells are dying, treatment can continue; if not, an alternative approach can be sought out, minimizing harsh side effects and cost of ineffective treatments. “With this technology, you could have almost immediate feedback,” says Kolios, who holds a Tier II Canada Research Chair at Ryerson and teaches in the Department of Physics. “Normally, it can take weeks or even months before doctors can tell if a particular cancer treatment has been effective.” With this method, “24 hours after the treatment, you could see how much they’re responding.” The innovative research in Kolios’s lab is just one of many signs that Ryerson is making a name for itself as a science-oriented university and contributing muchneeded science graduates to Canadian industry and research. In fact, Ryerson is now home to four flourishing science departments – Chemistry and Biology, Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics. The university offers unique programs to both undergraduate and graduate students in those fields, and engages in cutting-edge research, like the work being done in Kolios’s lab. m ▲ 

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ryerson Alumni - Summer 2010

Ryerson Alumni - Summer 2010
Contents
President's Message
What's New
Ryerson People in the News
Science Revolution
High Fliers
Board Profiles
Serious Games
A Report Card for Early Learning Plan
VP Viewpoint/Alumni Diary
AlumNews
Remember When?

Ryerson Alumni - Summer 2010

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