News

09/2017

  • Ben has been elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

    07/2017

  • Blencowe Lab publication "Regulatory Expansion in Mammals of Multivalent hnRNP Assemblies that Globally Control Alternative Splicing" is published in Cell and highlighted in a preview article “Splicing: Phasing alternative exons” by E. Zlotorynski - Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 2017.
  • Blencowe and Cordes' labs publication: Misregulation of an activity-dependent splicing network as a common mechanism underlying autism spectrum disorders is published in Mol Cell and featured in articles in The Globe and Mail, The Independent, Huffington Post, The Scientist, Global News, and other media outlets.

    05/2016

  • Hong Han is awarded the Donnelly Centre Thesis Prize.
  • Blencowe Lab publication "Global Mapping of Human RNA-RNA Interactions" is published in Molecular Cell and is highlighted in a Molecular Cell Preview article entitled "RNA Matchmaking: Finding Cellular Pairing Partners" by Brenton R. Graveley and in a TIBS Preview article entitled "Direct Duplex Detection: An Emerging Tool in the RNA Structure Analysis Toolbox" by Chase A. Weidmann, Anthony M. Mustoe and Kevin M. Weeks.
  • Mathieu Quesnel-Vallieres has been awarded Ontario Graduate Scholarships.
  • Mathieu Quesnel-Vallieres has been awarded University of Toronto Jennifer Dorrington Award (for excellence in graduate research).

    12/2015

  • Mathieu Quesnel Vallieres has been awarded an OSOTF award.

    08/2015

  • Blencowe Lab publication "An alternative splicing event amplifies evolutionary differences between vertebrates" is published in Science and has been recommended by the Faculty of 1000.
  • Jonathan Roth has been awarded Cecil Yip Doctoral Research Award.

    07/2015

  • Kevin Ha and Serge Gueroussov are recipients of Ontario Graduate Scholarships.
  • Jonathan Roth has been awarded an OSOTF award.

    05/2015

  • Hong Han is the recipient of an OGS visa award.
  • Tim Sterne Weiler has been awarded a CIHR Fellowship.

    02/2015

  • Blencowe Lab publication "A highly conserved program of neuronal microexons is misregulated in autistic brains" has been recommended by the Faculty of 1000.

    12/2014

  • Latest Blencowe Lab publication "A highly conserved program of neuronal microexons is misregulated in autistic brains" is published in Cell and is highlighted in a Cell Preview article entitled "Microexons go big" by Li Yang and Ling-Ling Chen and in an EMBO Journal Preview article entitled "Microexons-Tiny but mighty" by Claudia Scheckel and Robert Darnell. It is also featured in Toronto Star and London Free Press newspaper articles.
  • Recent Blencowe Lab Alumnus Manuel Irimia is the recipient of a highly competitive European Research Council Starting Grant.
  • Recent Blencowe Lab Alumnus Nuno Barbosa-Morais has been awarded a highly competitive EMBO Installation Grant.
  • Mathieu Quesnel Vallieres was awarded 2nd prize, Poster at the Department of Molecular Genetics Annual Retreat (Sept 2014).
  • Mathieu Quesnel Vallieres was awarded the Hannah Farkas-Himsley and Alexander Himsley Memorial Prize- Department of Molecular Genetics (Sept 2014).

    10/2014

  • Latest Blencowe lab publication "Widespread intron retention in mammals functionally tunes transcriptomes" Genome Research, September 2014 is highlighted in an Nature Reviews Genetics article entitled "Alternative Splicing: Retaining introns to sculpt gene expression" by Darren J. Burgess.

    06/2014

  • Kevin Ha, Mathieu Quesnel-Vallieres and Emil Nachman are recipients of Ontario Graduate Scholarships.

    05/2014

  • Tim Sterne Weiler was awarded the highly competitive Joint Postdoctoral Fellowship for the Dr. Charles H. Best and the Banting Research Foundation.

    03/2014

  • Hong Han was awarded the Society of Chinese Bio-scientists in North America (SCBA) Toronto Chapter Best Paper Prize.
  • Robert Weatherit is the recipient of Postdoctoral Fellowships from the Marie Curie IOF and from the CIHR.

    09/2013

  • Hong Han was awarded a University of Toronto Open Fellowship for 2013-2014.

    08/2013

  • Thomas Gonatopoulos Pourtnazis was awarded the EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship as well as the Ontario Stem Cell Initiative Fellowship.

    06/2013

  • Latest Blencowe lab publication "MBNL proteins repress ES-cell-specific alternative splicing and reprogramming" Nature, June 2013 is highlighted in an accompanying News and Views article entitled "Stem Cells: Regulation by Alternative Splicing" by Yair Aaronson and Eran Meshorer. This article is also recommended by the Faculty of 1000

    01/2013

  • Emil Nachman is the recipient of the prestigious Alexander Graham Bell Graduate Scholarship.
  • Eesha Sharma has been awarded an Ontario Graduate Scholarship.

    01/2013

  • Mathieu Gabut has been selected to receive the CIHR Institute of Genetics Lap-Chee Tsui Publication Award (2012), in recognition of his outstanding contributions to our Cell paper (published in September 2011), entitled An Alternative Splicing Switch Regulates Embryonic Stem Cell Pluripotency and Reprogramming.
  • Hong Han is the recipient of the 2012-2013 Jennifer Dorrington Award for Research Excellence.

    12/2012

  • Latest Blencowe lab publication "The evolutionary landscape of alternative splicing in vertebrate species" is published in the December 21, 2012 issue of Science and is summarized in an accompanying Perspective article entitled "Splicing in 4d" by Panagiotis Papasaikas and Juan Valcárcel.

    09/2012

  • John Calarco, recent Blencowe Lab Alumnus, is the recipient of the Barbara Vivash Award in Molecular Genetics for the most outstanding Ph.D thesis defended in 2011/2012.

    06/2012

  • Latest Blencowe Lab publication "Tissue-specific alternative splicing remodels protein-protein interaction networks." makes the cover of Molecular Cell June 29, 2012 issue.

    05/2012

  • Hong Han is the recipient of a University of Toronto SGS Conference Grant for Winter 2012.
  • Blencowe lab publication: "An Alternative Splicing Switch Regulates Embryonic Stem Cell Pluripotency and Reprogramming". Cell, 147:132-46. 2011. Is among the top 10 most highly downloaded research articles in the fields of biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology in 2011.
  • Recent Blencowe Lab alumnus John Calarco is the recipient of the 2011 Donnelly Centre Thesis Prize .

    04/2012

  • Bushra Raj and Serge Gueroussov receive the prestigious Alexander Graham Bell Graduate Scholarship.
  • Ulrich Braunschweig has been awarded a Long Term Fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program.

    03/2012

  • Ben Blencowe and Brendan Frey are recipients of the 2011 NSERC John C. Polanyi Award.

    02/2012

  • Bushra Raj is the recipient of the 2012 University of Toronto Dorrington Award for excellence in graduate research.
  • Ulrich Braunschweig is the recipient of an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship.
  • Recent Blencowe Lab alumnus John Calarco has been recognized in the Forbes Top 30 Under 30 for Achievement in Science and Innovation.
  • Hong Han has been granted a University of Toronto Open Studentship.

    09/2011

  • Ben is the recipient of the 2011 Canadian Society of Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology Senior Investigator Award.
  • Latest Blencowe Lab publication An Alternative Splicing Switch Regulates Embryonic Stem Cell Pluripotency and Reprogramming is published in Cell and cited as a "Must Read" by the Faculty of 1000.
  • Mathieu Quesnel-Vallières receives the Department of Molecular Genetics Norman Bethune Award.
  • Bushra Raj has been awarded a University of Toronto Open Studentship.

    04/2011

  • Mathieu Quesnel-Vallières has been awarded a CIHR Banting and Best CGS.

    03/2011

  • Serge Gueroussov has been awarded an NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Graduate Scholarship.
  • Manuel Irimia has been awarded a Long Term Fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program.

    02/2011

  • John Calarco has been awarded the highly prestigious Harvard Bauer Fellowship and will be relocating to Harvard to start his own research group in Spring 2011. John was one of two students selected from an international pool of applicants to receive this fellowship in 2010.
  • Yoseph Barash and John Calarco have both been selected to receive the CIHR Institute of Genetics Lap-Chee Tsui Publication Award this year, in recognition of their outstanding contributions to our Nature paper (published in May 2010) on the splicing code (see news below).
  • John Calarco has also been awarded the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award in recognition of his outstanding achievements in his graduate studies.

    01/2011

  • Hong Han has been awarded a University of Toronto Open Studentship.
  • Nuno Barbosa-Morais has been awarded CIHR and Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships.
  • John Calarco has been awarded the University of Toronto Jennifer Dorrington Award.
  • John Calarco has been awarded the Scaringe Graduate Student Award from the international RNA Society in recognition of his outstanding research contributions
  • Joanna Ip has been awarded a competitive RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology Travel Fellowship.

    05/2010

  • Latest publication Deciphering the splicing code featured on the cover of Nature.

    09/2009

  • Latest Blencowe Lab publication Regulation of Vertebrate Nervous System-Specific Alternative Splicing and Development by an SR-Related Protein is published in Cell and cited as a "Must Read" by the Faculty of 1000.

    11/2008

  • Arneet Saltzman is one of three winners of the 2008 Jennifer Dorrington Award.

    09/2008

  • John Calarco wins 1st prize in the Department of Molecular Genetics Retreat 2008 poster competition for his posters entitled: "Identification and characterization of nSR100, a novel neuronal splicing regulator" and "Understanding the role of alternative splicing in C. elegans nervous system development".

    12/2007

  • The first book dedicated to the topic of alternative splicing is now available.

    Selected Press Coverage

  • 12/2012: U of T researchers uncover major source of evolutionary differences among species University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine News
  • 02/2012: Ben Blencowe and Brendan Frey win John C. Polanyi Award, University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine News
  • 02/2012: UofT Takes Home Slate of NSERC Awards, University of Toronto News
  • 02/2012: Governor General of Canada Honours Top Science and Engineering Achievements
  • 09/2011: Researchers discover a switch that controls stem cell pluripotency, University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine News.
  • 07/2010: Benjamin Blencowe interviewed by Toronto Star (together with Tom Hudson, Michael Haydon and Paul Lasko) for article “Human Genome: boon or bust?”
  • 06/2010: Benjamin Blencowe named Canadian Cancer Society Researcher of the month
  • 06/2010: Benjamin Blencowe interviewed by BBC Focus Magazine for their issue celebrating the 10th anniversary of the completion of the human genome sequencing project.
  • 05/2010: Gene regulation: Breaking the second genetic code. Nature, 465(7294):45-6.
  • 05/2010: The code within the code. Nature, 465(7294):16-7
  • 05/2010: Canadian scientists crack hidden DNA code. CBC webnews.
  • 05/2010: U of T researchers crack 'splicing code'. University of Toronto News.
  • 09/2009: U of T researchers identify protein controlling brain formation. University of Toronto News.
  • 12/2008: Multitudes of messages. Editorial in Nature Genetics 40, 1385
  • 12/2008: RNA splicing: Counting, coordinating and controlling the alternatives. Nature Reviews Genetics 9, 894-895
  • 11/2008: U of T Researchers Gain New Insights into Human Genetic Complexity Linked to Many Diseases, University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine News
  • 11/2008: Human genes are multitaskers. Nature News.
  • 01/2008: Splicing Creates a Species Distinction. Leading Edge: Genetics Select. Cell. 132 (download pdf)
  • 11/2007: Gene splicing separates man from chimp: researchers. CBC News.
  • 11/2007: Humans And Chimps Differ At Level Of Gene Splicing. ScienceDaily
  • 08/2007: “Unraveling New Complexity in the Genome”. University of Toronto Media Relations.
  • 09/2005: “Ontario genomics researchers receive $132.3 million for projects in health and health and basic life sciences: London led Human Genome Project for Disease Study awarded $15.4 million”. News release from the Ontario Genomics Institute.
  • 07/2005: “Transcript jumble adds splice to life”. Focus on alternative splicing microarray technology by Alan Dove. Genomics and Proteomics.
  • 12/2004: "New Technique Provides Insights Into Gene Regulation”, Life Science News

    Members of the Blencowe lab have been highly successful in competing for studentships, postdoctoral awards and research prizes.

    Past Awardees are:

    Brock Harpur: NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2017

    Kevin Ha: Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2017

    Eesha Sharma: Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2017

    Jon Roth: Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2017

    Juli Wang: Canadian Graduate Scholarship (NSERC studentship), 2017

    Hong Han: Donnelly Centre Thesis Prize, 2017

    Andrew Best: CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2016

    Mathieu Quesnel Vallieres: Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2016

    Mathieu Quesnel Vallieres: University of Toronto Jennifer Dorrington Award (for excellence in graduate research), 2016

    Mathieu Quesnel Vallieres: Mary Gertrude l'Anson Scholarship, 2015

    Jonathan Roth: Cecil Yip Doctoral Research Award, 2015

    Jonathan Roth: OSOTF award, 2015

    Kevin Ha: Ontario Graduate Studentship, 2015

    Serge Gueroussov: Ontario Graduate Studentship, 2015

    Serge Gueroussov: SGS Conference Grant, 2015

    Eesha Sharma： SGS Conference Grant, 2015

    Andrew Best: CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2015

    Andrew Best: EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2015

    Hong Han: Ontario Graduate Scholarship Visa Award, 2015

    Tim Sterne-Weiler: CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2015

    Bushra Raj: CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2015

    Hong Han: University of Toronto Jennifer Dorrington Award (for excellence in graduate research), 2015

    Serge Gueroussov: University of Toronto Jennifer Dorrington Award (for excellence in graduate research), 2015

    Mathieu Quesnel Vallieres: Hannah Farkas-Himsley and Alexander Himsley Memorial Prize, Department of Molecular Genetics, 2014

    Mathieu Quesnel Vallieres: Poster Prize, Department of Molecular Geneics Annual Retreat, 2014

    Emil Nachman: Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), 2014-present

    Kevin Ha: Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), 2014-present

    Mathieu Quesnel-Vallieres: Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), 2014-present

    Tim Sterne-Weiler: Joint Postdoctoral Fellowship for the Dr. Charles . Best and the Banting Research Foundation, 2014-2015

    Hong Han: Society of Chinese Bio-Scientists in North America Toronto Chapter Best Paper Prize, 2014

    Robert Weatheritt: Human Frontiers Science Program Organization Long-Term Fellowship, 2014

    Robert Weatheritt: Marie-Curie International Outgoing Fellowship, 2014

    Robert Weatherit: CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2014

    Thomas Gonatopoulos-Pourtnazis: Ontario Stem Cell Initiative Fellowship, 2013

    Thomas Gonatopoulos-Pourtnazis: EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2013

    Hong Han: Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), 2013

    Emil Nachman: Alexander Graham Bell NSERC Graduate Scholarship, 2013-2014

    Eesha Sharma: Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), 2013

    Hong Han: Jennifer Dorrington Award for Research Excellence, 2012-2013

    Bushra Raj: Alexander Graham Bell NSERC Graduate Scholarship, 2012-2014

    Serge Gueroussov: Alexander Graham Bell NSERC Graduate Scholarship, 2012-present

    Ulrich Braunschweig: Long Term Fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program, 2012-present

    Bushra Raj: University of Toronto Dorrington Award (for excellence in graduate student research), 2012

    Ulrich Braunschweig: EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2012

    Hong Han: University of Toronto Open Studentship, 2011

    Bushra Raj: University of Toronto Open Studentship, 2011

    Mathieu Quesnel-Vallières: Department of Molecular Genetics Norman Bethune Award, 2011

    Manuel Irimia: Human Frontiers Science Program Organization Long-Term Fellowship, 2011

    John Calarco: Harold M. Weintraub Award (for excellence in graduate student research), 2011

    Serge Gueroussov: Alexander Graham Bell NSERC Studentship, 2011

    Yoseph Barash and John Calarco: CIHR Lap-Chee Tsui Publication Award, 2011

    Manuel Irimia: C.H. Best Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2011

    Nuno Barbosa-Morais: Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship, 2011

    Hong Han: University of Toronto Open Studentship, 2011

    Nuno Barbosa-Morais: CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2010

    John Calarco: Harvard Bauer Fellowship, 2010

    John Calarco: RNA Society Scaringe Award (for excellence in graduate student research), 2009

    Arneet Saltzman: Jennifer Dorrington Award, 2008

    John Calarco: 1st prize in the Department of Molecular Genetics Retreat 2008 poster competition

    Sidrah Ahmad: Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), 2008-09

    Mathieu Gabut: CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2008-2011

    John Calarco: NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship 2007-2010

    Christine Misquitta: CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2006-2008

    Mathieu Gabut C.H. Best Foundation - Banting and Best Department of Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2006-2007

    John Calarco: Roman Pakula award, 2006

    John Calarco: Poster Prize at the Sherbrooke RiboClub Meeting, 2005

    Arneet Saltzman: MSc Student Poster Prize, MedGen Departmental Retreat, 2005

    Arneet Saltzman: NSERC Studentship, 2004

    Joanna Ip: U of T Open Fellowships, 2003-2005

    John Calarco: Best Institute Summer Student Poster Competition, First Place, 2003

    Henry Siu: U of T Open Fellowship, 2003-2004

    Christine Misquitta: C.H. Best Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2002-2004

    Emanuel Rosonina: Martin Breitman Prize for the best graduate student poster, MedGen Departmental Retreat, 2002

    Emanuel Rosonina: NCIC Terry Fox Research Studentship, 2001-2003

    Donations from Individuals

    We are grateful to the following individuals for donations in support of our research:

    • Jane and Rick Aronovitz
    • Selma Coblenz
    • Mary Brosnihan
    • Glenna Duff

    • Contact Us

    Please don't hesitate to contact us to learn more about the work in our lab.



    Blencowe Lab
    The Donnelly Centre
    University of Toronto
    160 College St, Rm 1030
    Toronto, ON M5S 3E1
    Canada

    Ben: b -dot- blencowe -at- utoronto -dot- ca
    Lab Manager: jonathan -dot- ellis -at- utoronto -dot- ca

    Office: 416-978-3016
    Lab: 416-978-7150
    Fax: 416-946-5545

    @Blencowe_Lab