Full professor
Affiliation
Université de Montréal
Research Axes
Team
- Marc Groleau
- Mona Moradi
- Mostafa Zamani-Roudbaraki
- Mozhgan Aghajanzadeh-Kiyaseh
- Neethi Thathapudi
- Solange Muhayimana
- Janet Laganiere
- Hamid Goodarzi, Co-supervised
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With a PhD in Anatomy and Cell Biology, May Griffith is Director of the Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine research unit. A full professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the Université de Montréal, she holds the Caroline Durand Foundation Chair in Cellular Therapy for Eye Diseases at the Université de Montréal and the Canada Research Chair in Biomaterials and Stem Cells in Ophthalmology (Tier 1).
May Griffith's multinational, interdisciplinary team has taken a major step forward in regenerative medicine by successfully regenerating the human cornea using cell-free biosynthetic implants in a clinical trial - a world first. These implants, made from recombinant human collagen, stimulated endogenous cells to initiate regeneration of corneal tissues and nerves. This pioneering work has opened up new possibilities in the field of regenerative medicine.
Research Unit
Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine
Dr. Griffith does research in tissue engineering. In December 1999, she and her team produced the first functional prototype human corneal organoid, published in Science. Since then, she has turned her attention to regenerative medicine, having published two successful bench-to-bedside clinical trials in corneal regeneration in Science Translational Medicine and NPJ Regenerative Medicine. She is now working on an injectable LiQD Cornea that will allow the repair of corneal ulcers, cuts, and perforations that can potentially circumvent the need for corneal transplantation to address the severe shortfall in donor corneal transplantation that had left millions of corneal blind patients on waiting lists and many more who have no access to transplantation. The Griffith team also collaborates with researchers working to regenerate compromised corneas due to infection and inflammation, and more complex organs.
Dr. Griffith's success comes from her ability to develop and coordinate multidisciplinary global team of researchers from diverse backgrounds to work together to solve complex problems. Her corneal research has led to several significant partnerships between academia and industry, invitations to participate in and speak at international ophthalmology conferences and meetings, and numerous awards. Her biomimetic materials are also being tested in other organ systems.
Publications
Voir toutes les publications-
Simoliunas E, Ruedas-Torres I, Jiménez-Gómez Y, Edin E, Aghajanzadeh-Kiyaseh M, Zamani-Roudbaraki M, Asoklis R, Alksne M, Thathapudi NC, Poudel BK, Rinkunaite I, Asoklis K, Iesmantaite M, Ortega-Llamas L, Makselis A, Munoz M, Baltriukiene D, Bukelskiene V, Gómez-Laguna J, González-Andrades M, Griffith M. Inflammation-suppressing cornea-in-a-syringe with anti-viral GF19 peptide promotes regeneration in HSV-1 infected rabbit corneas. NPJ Regen Med. 2024; 9(1):11.
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Thathapudi NC, Callai-Silva N, Malhotra K, Basu S, Aghajanzadeh-Kiyaseh M, Zamani-Roudbaraki M, Groleau M, Lombard-Vadnais F, Lesage S, Griffith M. Modified host defence peptide GF19 slows TNT-mediated spread of corneal herpes simplex virus serotype I infection. Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):4096.
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Ross A, Guo X, Salazar GAM, Schejtman SDG, El-Hage J, Comtois-Bona M, Macadam A, Guzman-Soto I, Takaya H, Hu K, Liu B, Tu R, Siddiqi B, Anderson E, Muñoz M, Briones-Rebolledo P, Ning T, Griffith M, Rotsein B, Poblete H, Li J, Ruel M, Suuronen EJ, Alarcon EI. Multipurpose On-the-Spot Peptide-Based Hydrogels for Skin, Cornea, and Heart Repair. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2024, 2402564.
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Thathapudi NC, Groleau M, Degué DS, Aghajanzadeh-Kiyaseh M, Kujawa P, Soulhi F, Akla N, Griffith M,* Robert MC.* Novel micellar CB2 receptor agonist with anti-inflammatory action for treating corneal alkali burns in a mouse model. Frontiers Pharmacol 2023; 4: 1270699 (*Co-corresponding authors)
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MacAdam AJ, Munoz M, El Hage J, Hu K, Ross A, Chandra A, Edwards JD, Shahid Z, Mourcos S, Comtois‐Bona ME, Juarez A, Groleau G, Dégué DS, Djallali M, Piché M, Thériault M, Grenier M, Griffith M,* Brunette I,* Alarcon EI.* (2023) Low energy blue pulsed light‐activated injectable materials for restoring thinning corneas. Adv Funct Mater 2023; 33(45) : 2302721 (*Co-corresponding authors)
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Simpson FC, Islam MM, Buznyk O, Edin E, Groleau M, Kozak-Ljunggren M, Magrelli FM, AbuSamra DB, Argüeso P, Chodosh J, Liszka A, Fagerholm P, Griffith M. Electron-beam irradiated recombinant human collagen-phosphorylcholine corneal implants retain pro-regeneration capacity. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2022; 10:883977. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.883977
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Juarez A, Djallali M, Piché M, Thériault M, Groleau M, Beroual S, McTiernan CD, Lin G, Hélie P, Carrier M, Griffith M,* Brunette I*. A liquid hydrogel to restore long term corneal integrity after perforating and non-perforating trauma in feline eyes. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2021; 9:773294. (*Co-corresponding authors)
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Simpson FC, McTiernan CD, Islam MM, Buznyk O, Lewis PN, Meek KM, Haagdorens M, Audiger C, Lesage S, Gueriot F-X, Brunette I, Robert M-C, Olsen D, Koivusalo L, Liszka A, Fagerholm P*, Gonzalez-Andrades M*, Griffith M* (2021) Collagen analogs with phosphorylcholine are inflammation-suppressing scaffolds for corneal regeneration from alkali burns in mini-pigs. Commun Biol. 2021; 4(1):608. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02108-y. (*Co-corresponding authors)
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McTiernan CD, Simpson FC, Haagdorens M, Samarawickrama C, Hunter D, Buznyk O, Fagerholm P, Ljunggren MK, Lewis P, Pintelon I, Olsen D, Edin E, Groleau M, Allan BD,* Griffith M.* LiQD Cornea: Pro-regeneration collagen mimetics as patches and alternatives to corneal transplantation. Sci Adv. 2020; 6(25): eaba2187. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aba2187 (*Co-corresponding authors
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Jangamreddy JR, Haagdorens MKC, Islam MM, Lewis P, Samanta A, Fagerholm P, Liszka A, Ljunggren MK, Buznyk O, Alarcon EI, Zakaria N,* Meek KM,* Griffith M.* Short peptide analogs as alternatives to collagen in pro-regenerative corneal implants. Acta Biomater 2018; 69: 120-30. doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2018.01.011 (*Auteurs correspondants)
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Islam MM, Buznyk O, Reddy JC, Pasyechnikova N, Alarcon EI, Hayes S, Lewis P, Fagerholm P, He C, Iakymenko S, Liu W, Meek KM, Sangwan VS,* Griffith M.* Biomaterials-enabled cornea regeneration in patients at high risk for rejection of donor tissue transplantation. NPJ Regen Med. 2018; 3:2. doi: 10.1038/s41536-017-0038-8. (*Co-corresponding authors)
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Fagerholm P, Lagali NS, Merrett K, Jackson WB, Munger R, Liu Y, Polarek JW, Söderqvist M, Griffith M. A biosynthetic alternative to human donor tissue for inducing corneal regeneration: 24-month follow-up of a phase 1 clinical study. Sci Transl Med. 2010; 2(46):46ra61. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3001022.
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Education
MBA
University of Ottawa
Postdoctoral fellowship in anatomy and cell biology
Harvard Medical School
Postdoctoral fellowship in physiology
University of Alberta
PhD in anatomy
University of Toronto
MSc in zoology
University of Toronto
BSc in zoology and human biology
University of Toronto
Awards
- 2019 Canada Research Chair (Biomaterials and Stem Cells in Ophthalmology, Tier 1)
- 2011 Medal of the year for contributions to nanomaterial integration and regenerative medicine (International Association of Advanced Materials – IAAM Nanomedical Technology)
- 2007 Life Sciences Achievement Award (Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation – OCRI)
- 2001 Canada's Top 40 Under 40 Award
- 2000 Premier's Research Excellence Award
- 2000 Young Researcher of the Year Award (University of Ottawa)
- 1993 Faculty of Medicine Award (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, NSERC)