Warning: This story includes references to sexual assault and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
Professors Michael Thompson and Aaron Wheeler of the Department of Chemistry are among eighteen faculty members across the three U of T campuses who have been recognized with 2024-25 Connaught Innovation Awards in support of their impactful research.
According to an article in U of T Celebrates, the Connaught Innovation Awards provide one-time seed funding to help accelerate the development and commercialization of technologies with high potential to have a positive impact on society. They are backed by the Connaught Fund. The university’s largest internal university research funding program, it is named for U of T’s internationally renowned Connaught Laboratories, which played an instrumental role in insulin production and diphtheria control in the 1920s, early breakthroughs in an illustrious series of medical achievements.
The two lab groups and the projects receiving the funding are:
Wheeler Microfluidics Laboratory
The Project: Method and system for detection of sperm using virtual-staining.
“We developed a method to take a photo of a biological sample from a crime scene and then use AI to determine whether sperm are present or not,” Prof. Aaron Wheeler explained, describing his group's Connaught-winning project. “We think this may eventually be a way for crime scene investigators to quickly determine how to proceed with sexual assault investigations.”
Mohamed Elsayed, a postdoctoral fellow in the Wheeler lab, said the award would push the Wheeler team to continue innovating in an overlooked field, allowing them to build empowering solutions that meet critical societal needs.
“In today’s justice system, sexual assault evidence is analyzed by a forensic lab, which typically takes weeks or months. Additional logistics create more delays as evidence is physically transferred between various entities including the hospital, police, and forensic lab. Our target is to dramatically shorten forensic labs’ turnaround times to hours instead of weeks,” said Elsayed.
"Our vision is to enable point of care forensic analysis, analyzing evidence immediately after collection,” he explained. “Instead of physically transferring evidence, data is digitally transferred, enabling fast and efficient investigations.”
Elsayed said the team has previously automated DNA analysis of sexual assault evidence using a method that requires ~5 minutes hands-on time and a total processing time of ~4 hours. (M. Elsayed et al. Adv. Sci. 2024, 2405712).
“In addition to DNA analysis, forensic sexual assault evidence is typically analyzed microscopically after manual, time-consuming staining procedures. We automated microscopic analysis using a method that requires less than a minute of hands-on time and a total processing time of under 5 minutes. The key innovation that enabled this is virtual staining, which takes a microscopic image of unstained cells and generates a multi-channel image resembling stained cells. These images are then automatically analyzed to identify cell types, quantify them, and map their locations.”
“Confirming the presence or absence of sperm cells in minutes can greatly expedite investigations and guide treatment decisions,” said Elsayed.
The goal of these efforts, Elsayed has said in previous interviews, is always victim empowerment. Diminished victim autonomy can often result when victims have no information about the samples taken nor what will happen after an assault is reported.
“The Connaught Innovation Award is pushing us to continue innovating in an overlooked field, building empowering solutions that meet critical societal needs,” he said.
Our vision is to enable point of care forensic analysis, analyzing evidence immediately after collection. --Dr. Mohamed Elsayed
The Thompson Research Lab
The Project: Development of a rapid and cost-effective point-of-care testing device prototype for ovarian cancer screening
“The Connaught Innovation Award has been instrumental in transforming our vision into reality, and we are deeply honored by this recognition,” said Dr. Soha Ahmadi, a postdoctoral fellow with the Thompson Lab Group. “It signifies a major milestone in our journey towards making a tangible difference in the fight against ovarian cancer and saving lives.”
Ovarian cancer is known as “the silent killer” because it hides without symptoms until it is too late for effective treatment, said Ahmadi. Over 80% of patients are diagnosed at advanced stages, when survival rates drop below 20%. Early detection can lead to survival rates of over 90%, but there is currently no effective early detection method.
Among several identified biomarkers for this cancer, Ahmadi explained, lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) shows the most promise. However, existing LPA detection methods are unsuitable for widespread screening due to their high costs and the need for sample preparation and lab instruments.
“Our research group has been developing various biosensors for LPA detection. Among these, our electrochemical biosensor stands out as the most promising. It is sensitive, cost-effective, and requires no sample preparation.”
Supported by a CIHR project grant, the proof-of-concept for this biosensor has been established. Now the Connaught Innovation Award has further supported the development of the prototype, paving the way for additional funding for clinical trials and potential commercialization.
Ahmadi is excited to be moving forward. “Our goal is to create a low-cost, point-of-care testing device that can be used anywhere, bringing early, accurate screening to remote regions where the burden of late-stage diagnosis is highest.”
“This prestigious award is a testament to the groundbreaking nature of our work and its potential impact on public health.”
The Connaught Fund supports U of T scholars through programs such as the New Researcher Award, Community Partnership Research Program, Major Research Challenge for Black Researchers, McLean Award and international doctoral scholarships. It was established in 1972.
It signifies a major milestone in our journey towards making a tangible difference in the fight against ovarian cancer and saving lives. --Dr. Soha Ahmadi