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Faculty Focus - Michael Tymianski

Michael Tymianski, MD, PhD, FRCSC

Having graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in 1987, Dr. Tymianski undertook a comprehensive surgical internship at the Toronto Western Hospital that year before entering the Neurosurgery Training Program at The University of Toronto in 1988. During his residency, he entered the Graduate School of the Institute of Medical Science and worked towards his Ph.D. which he received in 1994. Dr. Tymianski became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1995. He completed clinical fellowship training in cerebrovascular surgery with Dr. Christopher Wallace at Toronto Western Hospital in 1995 and with Dr. Robert Spetzler at the Barrow Neurological Institute in 1996. Dr. Tymianski joined the Neurosurgical Staff at the Toronto Western Hospital in 1997. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Surgery, Head of the Division of Neurosurgery at Toronto Western Hospital, and Director of the Neuroprotection Laboratory at Toronto Western Research Institute. He also holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Translational Stroke Research. Dr. Tymianski’s main clinical interest is in vascular neurosurgery. His main research interest is in the molecular mechanisms underlying stroke and emphasis in cerebral protection.  He is married to Dawn and has four children.

Current Appointments

  • Head, Division of Neurosurgery, University Health Network
  • Medical Director, Neurovascular Therapeutics Program, University Health Network
  • Professor, Departments of Surgery and Physiology, University of Toronto
  • Senior Scientist, Toronto Western Hospital Research Institute
  • Director, Neuroprotection Laboratory, Toronto Western Hospital
  • President and CEO, NoNO Inc.

Selected Distinctions

  • Paul Morley Mentorship Award from the Canadian Stroke Network, 2012
  • Canada Research Chair, Tier 1, in Translational Stroke Research, 2010-present
  • Jean Davignon Distinguished Cardiovascular Metabolic Award, 2010
  • Clinician Scientist Award, Phase II, Medical Research Council of Canada, 2003-06
  • Gold Medal in Surgery, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, 2003
  • George Armstrong-Peters Surgical Scientist Award, University of Toronto, 2002
  • Clinician Scientist Award, Phase I, Medical Research Council of Canada, 2000-03
  • Clinician Scientist Award, Phase I, Medical Research Council of Canada, 1997-2000

Selected Peer-Reviewed Funding

  • Ministry of Research and Innovation, Ontario Research Fund (ORF), 2011-2016.
    TRPM7 Inhibitors for the treatment of stroke and myocardial ischemia.
    PI: Tymianski M
    $1,474,417
  • Canadian Institute for Health Research, 2008-2013.
    Role of TRPM Channels in Ischemic Brain Damage.
    PI: Tymianski M
    $900,000
  • Canadian Stroke Network, 2010-2013.
    Targeting cell death cascades in the neurovascular inflammatory unit.
    PI: Tymianski M
    $99,000

Selected Publications

  • Tymianski M. Novel approaches to neuroprotection trials in acute ischemic stroke. Stroke. 2013 Oct;44(10):2942-50.
  • Lanzino G, Burrows AM, Tymianski M. Advances in stroke: vascular neurosurgery. Stroke. 2013 Feb;44(2):316-7.
  • Hill MD, Martin RH, Mikulis D, Wong JH, Silver FL, Terbrugge KG, Milot G, Clark WM, Macdonald RL, Kelly ME, Boulton M, Fleetwood I, McDougall C, Gunnarsson T, Chow M, Lum C, Dodd R, Poublanc J, Krings T, Demchuk AM, Goyal M, Anderson R, Bishop J, Garman D, Tymianski M. ENACT trial investigators. Safety and efficacy of NA-1 in patients with iatrogenic stroke after endovascular aneurysm repair (ENACT): a phase 2, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet Neurol. 2012 Nov;11(11):942-50.
  • Cook DJ, Teves L,Tymianski M. A translational paradigm for the preclinical evaluation of the stroke neuroprotectant Tat-NR2B9c in gyrencephalic nonhuman primates. Sci Transl Med. 2012 Oct 3;4(154):154ra133.
  • Cook DJ, Teves L, Tymianski M. Treatment of stroke with a PSD-95 inhibitor in the gyrencephalic primate brain. Nature. 2012 Feb 29;483(7388):213-7.
  • Tymianski M. Emerging mechanisms of disrupted cellular signaling in brain ischemia. Nat Neurosci. 2011 Oct 26;14(11):1369-73.
  • Krings T, Mandell DM, Kiehl TR, Geibprasert S, Alvarez H, terBrugge KG, Hans FJ Tymianski M. Intracranial aneurysms: from vessel wall pathology to therapeutic approach. Nat Rev Neurol. 2011 Sep 20;7(10):547-59.
  • Bråtane BT, Cui H, Cook DJ, Bouley J, Fisher M. Tymianski M. Neuroprotection by freezing ischemic penumbra evolution without cerebral blood flow augmentation with a postsynaptic density-95 protein inhibitor. Stroke. 2011 Nov;42(11):3265-70.
  • Monnier PP, D'Onofrio PM, Magharious M, Hollander AC, Tassew N, Szydlowska K, Tymianski M, Koeberle PD. Involvement of caspase-6 and caspase-8 in neuronal apoptosis and the regenerative failure of injured retinal ganglion cells. J Neurosci. 2011 Jul 20;31(29):10494-505.
  • Fierstra J, Maclean DB, Fisher JA, Han JS, Mandell DM, Conklin J, Poublanc J, Crawley AP, Regli L, Mikulis DJ, Tymianski M. Surgical revascularization reverses cerebral cortical thinning in patients with severe cerebrovascular steno-occlusive disease. Stroke. 2011 Jun;42(6):1631-7.
  • Sun HS, Jackson MF, Martin LJ, Jansen K, Teves L, Cui H, Kiyonaka S, Mori Y, Jones M, Forder JP, Golde TE, Orser BA, Macdonald JF, Tymianski M. Suppression of hippocampal TRPM7 protein prevents delayed neuronal death in brain ischemia. Nat Neurosci. 2009 Oct;12(10):1300-7.