Assistant Professor Penney Gilbert has received an Early Researcher Award (ERA) from the Government of Ontario. The ERAs provide critical support that helps promising scientists and engineers in the first five years of their academic careers build their research teams. She is among six professors from the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering to receive this support.
Muscle wasting, whether through aging or disease, is a major health concern. Professor Gilbert and her team decipher the cues that “wake up” muscle stem cells and direct them to repair skeletal muscle damage. These studies not only provide insight how the body generates muscle, they can also inform the development of new drugs, therapies or treatments that prevent or repair the damage caused by muscle wasting.
“Our stellar early-career professors are already making outstanding contributions to their fields, from sustainability to biomedical engineering,” said Cristina Amon, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “These awards recognize that excellence, and enable them to grow their research programs to address some the world’s most relevant challenges. On behalf of the Faculty, my warmest congratulations to all of them on this well-deserved honour and my thanks to the Government of Ontario for its commitment to nurturing the next generation of engineering research leaders.”
—With files from Tyler Irving, Engineering Strategic Communications