Dr. Lisa A. Robinson

Canada Research Chair in Leukocyte Migration in Inflammation and Injury

Research Involves: Investigating the reasons for excessive influx and activation of white blood cells.

Research Relevance: The research aims to lead to novel therapies for transplant rejection, heart attack and stroke, arthritis, asthma, diabetes, and cancer.

Not Always a Good Thing: When Leukocyte Activation Becomes Excessive What do asthma, arthritis, heart attacks, diabetes, and the rejection of transplanted organs have in common? The answer: inflammation.

When a person suffers from any one of these ailments, white blood cells (leukocytes) are drawn from the blood stream to the injured organ or tissue, ready to combat the invading disease. Occasionally, however, something goes wrong and too many leukocytes are activated, resulting in inflammation.

Dr. Lisa Robinson, the Canada Research Chair in Leukocyte Migration in Inflammation and Injury, is looking at the signals that "master regulate" leukocyte trafficking. She is studying how specific types of leukocytes "know" when and where to go to specific inflamed areas.

When leukocytes enter an inflamed site, they can cause tissue swelling, cell destruction, and clotting. Left unchecked, the affected tissue or organ can become scarred. The scarring results in a critical narrowing of blood vessels supplying the heart in heart attacks and the brain in stroke. It also plays a role in the destruction of joints in arthritis and the rejection of transplanted organs.

By researching different strategies that will arrest the influx of leuckocytes into specifically targeted organs, Dr. Robinson is opening the way for the development of new therapies to treat inappropriate inflammation.

For further information, please contact Dr. Lisa A. Robinson using the Email contact form or by phone at 416 813 7654 ext 4017