Category: PSI Spotlights

“The PSI funding was essential in allowing us to initiate our work on semen proteomics: this understanding of semen proteins was subsequently used as the basis for the work we have done to identify novel semen biomarkers for different types of infertility, prostate cancer and chronic pelvic pain in men. This resulting work has now been supported by CIHR, CCSRI, The Canadian Urology Association, bioMerieux Laboratory, LabCorp USA and MaRS Innovation. None of this would have been possible without that initial support from PSI.”

PSI Foundation funded Dr. Keith Jarvi of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto for his study Use of Seminal Fluid Protein Patterns as Biomarkers for Diseases in the Male Reproductive Tract: Prediction of Spermatogenesis in Men with Azoospermia. In 2007, PSI approved $158,000 for his 2 year study.

Dr. Jarvi is a Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto. He is also the Director of the Murray Koffler Urologic Wellness Centre and Head of Urology at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Dr. Jarvi has had several papers resulting from this research, with the most recent being published in Science Translational Medicine. This study has also been featured in media including the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, and BBC Health News.

Papers Published on Foundation Funded Projects:

Seminal plasma as a diagnostic fluid for male reproductive system disorders

• Nat Rev Urol. 2014 May;11(5):278-88

Differential diagnosis of azoospermia with proteomic biomarkers ECM1 and TEX101 quantified in seminal plasma

• Sci Transl Med. 2013 Nov 20; 5(212):212ra160

Analysis of seminal plasma from patients with non-obstructive azoospermia and identification of candidate biomarkers of male infertility

• J Proteome Res, 2012 Mar 2;11(3):1503-11

Characterization of the seminal plasma proteome in men with prostatitis by mass spectrometry

• Clin Proteomics, 2012 Feb 6;9(1):2

Verification of male infertility biomarkers in seminal plasma by multiplex selected reaction monitoring assay

• Mol Cell Proteomics, 2011 Dec; 10(12):M110.004127

Proteomic analysis of seminal plasma from normal volunteers and post-vasectomy patients identifies over 2000 proteins and candidate biomarkers of the urogenital system

• J Proteome Res, 2011 Mar 4;10(3):941-53

PSI Foundation funded Dr. Kathy Boutis of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto for her study Salter-Harris I Fracture of the Distal Fibula: Clinical Suspicion Versus Reality. In 2012, PSI approved $170,000 for her 2-year study.

Dr. Kathy Boutis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto and Staff Physician in Paediatric Emergency Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Dr. Boutis published the results of her PSI funded study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal; moreover, the CBC featured the research.