In 2005, the Stem Cell Network inaugurated the Till & McCulloch Award in honour of Canadian scientists James Till and Ernest McCulloch (pictured), whose pioneering work established the field of stem cell research. The Till & McCulloch Award is presented annually to one researcher in Canada in recognition of his or her exceptional contributions to global stem cell research in that year.

Researchers are nominated through a public process, and the Selection Committee chooses the awardee based on what is determined to be the year’s most influential peer-reviewed article by a stem cell researcher working in Canada.

The award is presented at the annual Till & McCulloch Meetings and is accompanied by the delivery of the Till & McCulloch Lecture.

Dr. Freda Miller has been named winner of the 2019 Till & McCulloch Award for a new research discovery in tissue repair and regeneration that holds potential for future therapies. The Award is presented annually to one researcher in Canada who has made an exceptional contribution to global stem cell research in that year. Dr. Miller will present the Award lecture on November 5 at the Till & McCulloch Meetings (TMM) taking place in Montréal, Québec, based on her Cell Stem Cell paper entitled, “Mesenchymal Precursor Cells in Adult Nerves Contribute to Mammalian Tissue Repair and Regeneration.”

In this paper, Dr. Miller and her team at The Hospital for Sick Children provide important new insights into the role peripheral nerves play in the repair of injured tissues. Peripheral nerves are perhaps best known as communication lines for controlling tissues and organs, and for gathering sensory information. Dr. Miller’s work demonstrates that peripheral nerves are also a reservoir of mesenchymal precursor cells, which participate in tissue repair, revealing a previously unappreciated regeneration mechanism. (Mesenchymal precursor cells are a type of stem cell.) This exciting new knowledge is a gateway to harnessing the body’s own resident cells to regenerate injured tissues, and may eventually open new therapeutic avenues. 

“For a stem cell researcher in Canada, there are few awards that hold as much prestige as the Till & McCulloch Award, especially since the very bedrock of our science originated in this country,” said Dr. Miller, a Senior Scientist at the SickKids Research Institute and Professor at the University of Toronto. “This award has been given to some very influential and inspirational scientists in the past and I am extremely honoured to join their ranks.”