From fetal health to clean energy, the Acceleration Consortium awards over $2 million to projects that accelerate scientific discovery in a wide range of fields
The funding is made possible, in part, by the AC’s historic $200 million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF).
To support the Acceleration Consortium’s (AC) goal of growing the emerging field of accelerated discovery, 10 diverse projects from across the University of Toronto (U of T) community will receive funding for research in fields ranging from healthcare and climate change to sustainable materials and robotics.
While the research will explore a diverse range of topics, they all use or explore the implications (societal, environmental, health, etc.) of using self-driving labs (SDL) to speed up the discovery of new materials and molecules with AI and automation. This year’s projects include technologies to extend human lifespan and longevity, promote maternal and prenatal health, and reduce our exposure to harmful chemicals. The research will also support the AC’s commitment to responsible discovery, which aims to guide new materials and technologies toward the benefit of society and the planet, while mitigating any unintended harms.
The Accelerate grant program is divided into three categories: Seed – to help faculty enter the field or collaborate with those already doing accelerated discovery; Moonshot – to support high-risk, high-reward ideas that drive the development or use of SDLs, and; Translation – to support accelerated discovery projects with clear commercialization goals, as well as knowledge mobilization activities, training, and community engagement. This year’s recipients include researchers who are recognized leaders in their fields and early-career scientists set to make an impact.
One of this year’s AC seed grants will be awarded to Lea Harrington (Biochemistry, U of T), Michael Tyers, Michał Koziarski, and Rob Batey to create organoids or lab-grown 3D tissues on microchips, which will be used to study diseases associated with human aging. The hunt for healthy aging and longevity therapeutics is a widely universal endeavour, and for good reason: Age is the largest risk factor for most human diseases. Aging at the tissue level is highly complex, variable, and difficult to study in the laboratory. In this project, scientists will examine how aging cells disrupt organ function and test drugs with the potential to slow or reverse the aging process and related diseases—faster, more accurately, and without using animal models.
The AC opens our next funding competition in summer 2026 to welcome proposals for projects that promise to accelerate scientific discovery to secure a healthier, safer and more resilient future for everyone.
2026 Seed grant recipients
Alison McGuigan (Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, U of T), Ming-Sound Tsao, Laurie Ailles, Faiyaz Notta
Research goal: To create an automated system that efficiently grows lab models of an individual’s cancer—using samples from the Princess Margaret Living Biobank—so doctors can personalize treatment.
Xiang Li (Physics, Chemistry, Mechanical Systems Engineering, U of T), Sergio de la Barrera, Hang Chi
Research goal: To build a self-driving lab that discovers affordable, earth-abundant materials to turn waste heat into electricity, useful for clean energy technologies and more efficient electronics.
Dwight Seferos (Chemistry, U of T), Ning Yan
Research goal: To develop a library of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for CO2 capture and conversion using non-toxic, sustainable synthesis methods unlike current practices which have limited the potential commercialization and application of MOFs.
Victoria Arrandale (Public Health Sciences, U of T) Reena Shadaan
Research goal: To develop safer, high-performing fingernail products through a community- and Indigenous-led approach to automated lab research that reduces chemical exposures in salons. In collaboration with the Indigenous Science and Ethical Substances Lab.
Cathy Chin (Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, U of T), Weilai Yu, Xiaoman Guo
Research goal: To build a miniature automated lab with 100 microreactors to inform the design of catalysts and conditions that efficiently and sustainably turn plant material and plastic waste into useful products such as biofuels. In collaboration with the AC’s Organic Chemistry self-driving lab.
Lea Harrington (Biochemistry, U of T), Michael Tyers, Michał Koziarski, Rob Batey
Research goal: To develop lab-grown, mini-tissues on microchips that mimic how aging cells disrupt organ function to test drugs that slow or reverse age-related diseases faster, more precisely, and without relying on animal testing. In collaboration with the AC’s Human Organ Mimicry self-driving lab.
Michal Koziarski (Chemistry, U of T) Carla Brown, Michael Tyers
Research goal: To create a self-driving lab to speed up the discovery of new drugs, with a focus on potential inhibitors of the gene WDR5 that has been linked to many types of cancer. In collaboration with the AC’s Medicinal Chemistry self-driving lab.
Hagar Labouta (Pharmaceutical Sciences, U of T), Yimu Zhao, Lidija Malic, Ben Moon
Research goal: To develop a high-throughput “placenta-on-a-disc” technology that tests how medicines and nanoparticles pass from mother to baby to develop safer prenatal treatments without relying on animal or human testing. In collaboration with the AC’s Human Organ Mimicry self-driving lab.
2026 Moonshot grant recipients
Keith Pardee (Biomolecular Sciences, U of T) Joseph Brown, Milica Radisic Research goal: To develop a self-driving lab to design peptide therapies that can repair heart tissue, stimulate blood vessel growth, and reduce scarring. In collaboration with the AC’s Human Organ Mimicry self-driving lab.
2026 Translation grant recipient
Milica Radisic (Biomehcanical Engineering, U of T) Florian Shkurti, Yimu Zhao, Ilya Yakavets
Research goal: To create a self-driving lab that integrates high-fidelity, vascularized human organoids into organ-on-a-chip devices that generate the physiologically accurate effect of drugs across key organs—brain, kidney, lung, heart, and liver. In collaboration with the AC’s Human Organ Mimicry self-driving lab.
