The Early Researcher Awards help gifted Ontario researchers build their research teams with funding of $140,000. “It will enable us to continue to attract and retain the most passionate graduate students and post-doctoral fellows from around the world,” Tom says.

One of those is University of Toronto PhD student Stefanie Blain. We profile her work in Tom’s lab, below.

Who: Stefanie Blain, third year PhD biomedical engineering student.

What: Finding a way to unlock the world of communication and control for children and adults who have no speech or movement. “They can’t talk to people or control their environment — essentially they’re locked in to their own bodies,” Stefanie says.

Where: The Bloorview Research Institute. “It allows me to combine cutting-edge technologies and engineering skills to make a difference in the lives of children,” Stefanie says. “With Bloorview’s research institute and hospital under one roof, there’s a unique concentration of great minds in rehabilitation.”

When: Stefanie came to Bloorview as an undergraduate in 2003. “A PhD is a marathon,” she says. “If you don’t have a reason to keep going, you can get burnt out. The children at Bloorview are my reason.”

Why: “Children who are ‘locked in’ don’t have any way to express their identity,” Stefanie says. “They can’t make the most basic choices. If we can find a way for these children to convey their thoughts and intentions, what’s possible will only be limited by their imaginations.”

How: Stefanie is training a computer program to decipher subtle body signals — such as breathing pattern, heart rate and skin temperature — then translate them into electronic speech or computer commands. “It’s a rich, unmined environment. If we can give children the ability to say ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ to scan letters, to select buttons that control a computer or television, it will open a new world for them.”