University of Toronto homepage
Photo of James Till

James Till

Professor Emeritus/Emerita

Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Biophysics

Orcid identifier0000-0002-6532-6023
  • Professor Emeritus/Emerita
    Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Biophysics
  • (416) 946-2948 (Work)
  • (416) 481-0982 (Mobile)
  • Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, 610 University Avenue, Room 9-416, Toronto, ON, M5G 2M9

BIO

Dr. James Till is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto's Department of Medical Biophysics. He attended the University of Saskatchewan, later graduating with a BSc in 1952 and a MSc in physics in 1954. Till proceeded to Yale University, where he received a Ph.D. in biophysics in 1957. He then became a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto.

Soon after Till finished his work at Yale, Harold E. Johns asked him to join the Ontario Cancer Institute at Princess Margaret Hospital. Till ultimately made the decision to collaborate with Ernest McCulloch at the University of Toronto. Early in the 1960s, McCulloch and Till began a series of studies involving the injection of bone marrow cells into radio-treated mice. According to the number of bone marrow cells injected, they noticed that the mice's spleens developed tiny raised lumps in a proportional manner. The lumps were referred to as "spleen colonies" by Till and McCulloch, who hypothesized that each lump originated from a single marrow cell, possibly a stem cell.

In later work, graduate student Andy Becker collaborated with Till & McCulloch. They solidified their stem cell theory and reported their findings in Nature in 1963. They discovered evidence of these same marrow cells' capacity for self-renewal in the same year, working with Lou Siminovitch, a pioneer in Canadian molecular biology and a key component of the functional definition of stem cells they had developed.

In the 1980s Till's focus shifted, moving gradually into evaluation of cancer therapies, quality of life issues, and Internet research, including Internet research ethics and the ethics of List mining.

Media availability: TV, Radio, Print/Online

MEDIA

Showing media thumbnails 1 to 3 out of 3.

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Professor Emeritus
    University of Toronto, Department of Medical Biophysics, Toronto, Canada1997 - present
  • Chair
    Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Advisory Committee on Access to Research Outputs (ACARO), Ottawa, Canada2006 - 2007
  • Member
    University of Toronto, Project Open Source | Open Access Executive Committee, Toronto, Canada2005 - 2008
  • Associate Dean
    University of Toronto, School of Graduate Studies, Life Sciences, Toronto, Canada1981 - 1984
  • Member
    University of Toronto, Graduate Faculty, Toronto, Canada1958 - 1997

NON-ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Senior Scientist Emeritus
    University Health Network, Ontario Cancer Institute, Toronto, Canada1996 - present
  • Member
    Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, National Board, Toronto, Canada2005 - 2006
  • Member
    Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control, Research Action Group2002 - 2005
  • Member
    Cancer Care Ontario, Joint Preventive Oncology and Research Board Committee, Toronto, Canada2002 - 2005
  • Member
    Ontario Cancer Research Network, Clinical Trials Network Advisory Committee2002 - 2003
  • Chair
    Stem Cell Network, Knowledge Management Committee, Ottawa, Canada2001 - 2004
  • Member
    Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance, Research Advisory Committee2001 - 2005
  • Division Head
    Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Division of Biological Research, Toronto, Canada1969 - 1982
  • Senior Scientist
    Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, Canada1957 - 1996

DEGREES

  • PhD
    Yale University, New Haven, United States
  • MSc
    University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
  • BSc
    University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

LANGUAGES

  • English
  • French
    Can read

AVAILABILITY

  • Media enquiries

TAGS