TORONTO, ON – February 5th, 2025 — Life Sciences Ontario (LSO) proudly pronounces the recipients of the 2025 LSO Awards, celebrating excellence and innovation in life sciences. Now in its twenty second 12 months, the LSO Awards continues its longstanding custom of recognizing excellent people and corporations whose contributions have considerably superior Ontario’s life sciences sector.
From analysis leaders who’ve superior scientific understanding by their pioneering work, to ecosystem builders who’ve fostered environments that nurture innovation and collaboration. The awards additionally acknowledge organizations which have made substantial contributions to the province’s financial development, alongside rising innovators who’re creating transformative options for diabetes care. Including to this distinguished group is a century-old household enterprise that has demonstrated excellence in medical gadget manufacturing.
This 12 months’s award recipients signify various aspects of excellence throughout Ontario’s life sciences, spanning a number of key areas of feat:
- Lifetime Achievement Award – Dr. Janet Rossant, President and Scientific Director of the Gairdner Basis, Senior Scientist Emeritus at SickKids, and College Professor Emeritus on the College of Toronto
- Group Affect Award – Alex Muggah, Director of the Synapse Life Science Consortium
- Management Award – OBIO®
- Life Science Firm of the Yr Award – Trudell Medical Restricted
- Rising Firm of the Yr Award– Zucara Therapeutics Inc.
- Volunteer Awards – Marko Perovic, Affiliate Director of Public Affairs, Novo Nordisk and Simonne Rauch, pursuing Physician of Pharmacy on the College of Toronto (previous LSO scholarship recipient)
“By way of their distinctive contributions, this 12 months’s recipients are advancing Ontario’s place as a world-class hub for all times sciences excellence,” says Dr. Jason Area, President & CEO of Life Sciences Ontario. “We look ahead to celebrating these distinctive innovators on the 2025 LSO Awards Presentation ceremony.”
This 12 months’s ceremony will happen at an thrilling new venue, the Automotive Constructing at Exhibition Place in Toronto, on Wednesday, Might 14, 2025.
Registration for the occasion is now open. Safe your tickets at the moment and be a part of us in honoring these unbelievable leaders.
Biographies
Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr. Janet Rossant, President and Scientific Director of the Gairdner Basis, Senior Scientist Emeritus at SickKids, and College Professor Emeritus on the College of Toronto
Dr. Janet Rossant is a worldwide innovator in developmental biology and a frontrunner in stem cell science. She is President and Scientific Director of the Gairdner Basis, Senior Scientist Emeritus at SickKids, and College Professor Emeritus on the College of Toronto.
Dr. Rossant has led ground-breaking analysis on the genes that regulate embryonic growth in mice, lots of that are conserved in human growth. She found a number of the key genes that drive the primary cell variations in early growth and has derived stem cell strains from these embryos. Her findings helped result in the invention of a brand new placental stem cell sort – the trophoblast stem cell. This essential work has far-reaching implications for larger understanding of early being pregnant loss in people and for the development of regenerative medication. Dr. Rossant led the Analysis Institute at The Hospital for Sick Youngsters for Ten years and was a key supporter of commercialization initiatives in regenerative medication in Ontario.
Dr. Rossant has additionally formed coverage on the moral use of human embryonic stem cells in Canada and served as President of the Worldwide Society for Stem Cell Analysis, influencing world debates on stem cell analysis and gene enhancing.
A vocal advocate for ladies in science, she has obtained quite a few awards, together with the CIHR Michael Smith Prize, the Killam Prize, North American Laureate for the 2018 L’Oréal-UNESCO award for Girls in Science and the Gairdner Wightman Award.
Group Affect Award
Alex Muggah, Director of the Synapse Life Science Consortium
Since 2016, Alex Muggah has served as concierge to Hamilton’s innovation ecosystem. He’s founding Director of the Synapse Life Science Consortium, a partnership of anchor group representing 34,000 workers, and serves as VP Life Sciences at Innovation Manufacturing unit.
In these roles, Alex has helped form and propel Hamilton’s engagement with life science corporations from throughout Ontario, facilitating collaborations that catalyze healthcare innovation and enhance affected person outcomes.
Beneath his management, Synapse has helped construct a extra related and collaborative neighborhood in Hamilton, linking networks from throughout Canada. Leveraging Hamilton’s world-class educational and medical establishments, Alex has created applications which have funded over 150 corporations (and counting) to undertake collaborative initiatives. These applications present entry to the infrastructure, experience and services needed for corporations to scale and develop.
With over 20 years of management expertise in each personal and public sectors, Alex beforehand held roles on the Massachusetts Well being Connector, Deloitte, the Harvard Institute for Technique and Competitiveness, and the Canadian Division of Overseas Affairs.
Management Award
OBIO®
Based in 2009, OBIO® is a not-for-profit, membership-based group providing programming and infrastructure to help early-stage and venture-backed corporations throughout the therapeutics, medtech, diagnostics, digital well being and shopper well being sectors. OBIO® permits organizations to boost capital, rent and practice industry-ready expertise, facilitate the commercialization and adoption of their applied sciences in well being methods, and entry infrastructure throughout numerous areas of focus: Capital Entry & Adoption, Abilities Improvement & Coaching, Girls in Well being and Important Applied sciences.
OBIO® membership presents corporations and their staff entry to mentorship & professional assets, grants, experiential studying alternatives and extra. Since its inception, OBIO® has labored tirelessly to develop applications for the life sciences & well being tech sector, construct resilience, assist small-medium enterprises have their applied sciences procured in Canadian healthcare methods, and appeal to funding to develop the sector and help the province’s financial growth.
Life Science Firm of the Yr
Trudell Medical Restricted
Trudell Medical Restricted, situated in London, Ontario, has a historical past that began in 1922 and has operated for over 100 years as a non-public, family-owned firm. Trudell’s company workplace, together with 4 of seven working corporations are in, and function out of Ontario. Trudell has grown by specializing in innovating, manufacturing, and offering medical gadgets and value-added service to assist enhance the well being of the sufferers they serve.
In the present day, Trudell serve sufferers in over 110 nations world wide with medical gadgets and providers that make their lives higher. Their focus is on bringing revolutionary respiratory, and different medical gadgets and providers to sufferers globally.
Rising Firm of the Yr
Zucara Therapeutics Inc.
Zucara Therapeutics Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology firm centered on creating revolutionary medicine for Sort 1 (T1D) and Sort 2 diabetes (T2D). Zucara is creating ZT-01, a first-in-class, once-daily therapeutic to forestall hypoglycemia (low blood glucose ranges) in folks with T1D and insulin-dependent Sort 2 diabetes. ZT-01, presently in Part 2 growth, is designed to revive glucagon secretion to forestall hypoglycemia, which might dramatically change diabetes illness administration and enhance each affected person well being and high quality of life. The continued Part 2a “ZONE” trial is evaluating the impact of ZT-01 on stopping nighttime hypoglycemia in folks with T1D.
Zucara builds on Ontario’s historic legacy in diabetes analysis and has raised over US$50M in funding, most lately by its Collection B financing that included strategic investor Sanofi, and the Perceptive Xontogeny Enterprise Fund, which additionally participated within the Firm’s Collection A financing. Zucara Therapeutics Inc. has beforehand been supported by The Helmsley Charitable Belief, Breakthrough T1D, GlycoNet, Mitacs, NRC-IRAP and its founding establishments TIAP and adMare BioInnovations.
Volunteer Awards
Marko Perovic, Affiliate Director of Public Affairs, Novo Nordisk
Marko Perovic is an Affiliate Director of Public Affairs at Novo Nordisk, chargeable for advancing insurance policies and partnerships that create more healthy populations and resilient well being methods. This contains working with companions to safe a dedication from the Ontario authorities to develop a provincial continual illness technique to enhance affected person outcomes and scale back the burden of continual illness.
Marko was additionally instrumental in establishing the Novo Nordisk Community for Wholesome Populations on the College of Toronto in 2021, which unites researchers and college students with sufferers, clinicians, neighborhood members, policymakers, and metropolis planners in Peel Area to co-create options that can make populations more healthy in an efficient, possible, sustainable, and equitable approach.
He additionally represents Novo Nordisk Canada in its work with Life Sciences Ontario and the Danish Life Sciences Discussion board to assist make sure that the life sciences {industry} continues to be an essential supply of jobs, financial development, and improved well being outcomes for Canadians.
Simonne Rauch, pursuing Physician of Pharmacy on the College of Toronto
Simonne was awarded the Life Sciences Ontario (LSO) Scholarship in 2022 and has since remained an lively volunteer with LSO’s mentorship program. She earned her diploma in Life Sciences from Queen’s College and is presently pursuing a Physician of Pharmacy (PharmD) on the College of Toronto.
Simonne has gained useful well being analysis expertise as a analysis scholar at The Hospital for Sick Youngsters. Moreover, she has collaborated with a world-renowned dermatologist and co-authored a analysis article printed within the Journal of Dermatologic Surgical procedure.
Simonne’s skilled expertise contains working within the pharmaceutical {industry}, the place she supported gross sales and advertising groups within the launch and administration of ophthalmology and optometry therapeutics. Now, as a mentor for the subsequent cohort of LSO scholarship recipients, Simonne is happy to share her insights and experiences to encourage and information the subsequent technology of leaders in life sciences.
About Life Sciences Ontario
Life Sciences Ontario (LSO) is a member-funded, not-for-profit group with a legacy of greater than 35 years advancing the success of Ontario’s life sciences sector. LSO collaborates with authorities, academia, {industry}, and different life sciences organizations in Ontario and throughout Canada to advertise and encourage industrial success all through the sector. LSO is an efficient conduit for delivering coverage choices to governments and is devoted to selling Ontario’s life sciences sector internationally. For extra info, please go to our web site.
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Media Contact
Sharanya Rajesh
Advertising & Communications Supervisor
Life Sciences Ontario
sharanya@lifesciencesontario.ca
162 Cumberland Avenue, Suite 310, Toronto, ON M5R 1A8
www.lifesciencesontario.ca
