Dr. Robert Roberts Award for Research Excellence
University of Ottawa Heart Institute
Principal Investigator · Director, BEaTS Research
Dr. Erik J. Suuronen
Regenerative-medicine scientist uncovering how methylglyoxal damages the heart and blood vessels, and building biomaterials that help the heart repair itself.
- Full Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Ottawa
- Director, BEaTS Research
- Director, Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering Laboratory
- PI at the Heart Institute since 2005
126Publications
78Trainees supervised
42Invited talks
17Grants as PI or co-PI
5Patents filed or granted
3×Dr. Robert Roberts Award
Recognition
Awards and honours
Repeated recognition for research excellence at the Heart Institute, and for service to Canada's research funding system.
Outstanding Reviewer
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Basic Science Investigator of the Year
University of Ottawa Heart Institute
- 2026Top Viewed Article recognitionAdvanced Functional Materials
- 2020Nominee, Researcher of the Year (Biomedical)Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa
- 2018Best Research Team AwardUniversity of Ottawa Heart Institute
- 2013“Best of Basic Science” top-rated abstractAmerican Heart Association Scientific Sessions. Also top-rated in 2011
- 2007Young Investigator Award, first runner-upCanadian Cardiovascular Society
Research excellence
From a damaging molecule to new therapies
Materials are designed, then tested in clinically relevant models of heart attack, diabetes and limb ischemia, with imaging and functional studies done in-house.
Methylglyoxal drives heart and vessel damage
Showed that methylglyoxal impairs vascular repair and drives heart failure after a heart attack, even without diabetes, making it a new therapeutic target.
A hydrogel that soaks up methylglyoxal
A collagen hydrogel acts as a sponge for methylglyoxal in the injured heart, a new biomaterial mechanism based on chemical scavenging, not mechanical support alone.
Linking heart attack to brain inflammation
The first study to implicate methylglyoxal in heart-brain effects after a heart attack, with sex- and region-specific differences, opening a new research direction.
Biomaterials that recruit the body's own repair
Injectable collagen hydrogels that improve blood-vessel growth and preserve heart function, evolving into a recombinant human collagen therapy.
Collagen-like peptides that assemble in place
Self-assembling peptide hydrogels repair skin, cornea and heart without toxic crosslinkers. He leads their cellular and in vivo evaluation.
Five patents, built for approval
Patents cover hydrogel compositions, light-activated peptide precursors and anti-methylglyoxal peptides. The collagen therapy is animal-free by design, ready for future regulatory review.
Track record
Funding, leadership and mentorship
Selected funding
17 grants as principal or co-principal investigator.
- NSERC & CIHR CHRPInjectable collagen matrices · PI · 2018–2023
- CIHR Operating GrantGlyoxalase-1 nanoparticles after heart attack · PI · 2022–2027
- NSERC CREATE: INTBIOTECHCo-applicant · 2022–2028
- CIHR Operating GrantMatrix-based cardiac regeneration · Co-PI · 2013–2018
- Heart & Stroke Grant-in-AidElectroconductive materials for heart repair · Co-PI · 2021–2024
Leadership
At the Heart Institute and across Canada's funding agencies.
- Director, BEaTS Research, Division of Cardiac Surgery2013–present
- Elected Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, Heart Institute2019–present
- Deputy Chair, Scientific Review Committee II, and SRC Executive, Heart & Stroke2025–2026
- Editor, Biomaterials for Cardiac Regeneration (Springer)2014
Mentorship
78 trainees across 20 years of independent research.
- 78Trainees supervised
- 3PhD theses nominated for the uOttawa Thesis Prize
- 15Invited book chapters
- 42Invited talks
Alumni include faculty at Masaryk University and Soochow University, and a researcher at the National University of Córdoba.
Community engagement
Sharing heart research widely
Research featured on CBC's Ottawa Morning, CTV News Channel, the Globe and Mail, Maclean's, New Scientist and Heart & Stroke's On the Pulse.
Talking to the public
Presenter at the Pint of Science Festival and the Ottawa Heart Support Group seminar series, and speaker at CIHR's 2018 CHRP funding announcement.
Young scientists
Co-author of two articles for young readers in Frontiers for Young Minds.
Service to research funding
CIHR College of Reviewers since 2017, with panels in cardiovascular science, biomedical engineering and the New Frontiers in Research Fund.
Open-access tools
Co-developed the open-source BEaTS-α and BEaTS-β bioreactors and a low-cost nanoparticle synthesis system that other labs can rebuild.
Reference resources
Editor of a textbook on biomaterials for cardiac regeneration and author of the cell therapy chapters in Sabiston and Spencer Surgery of the Chest.
Ottawa Cardiovascular Research Day
Co-Chair in 2018 and Chair in 2019 of the city's annual meeting for cardiovascular researchers.
Selected publications
Recent highlights
- 2026Methylglyoxal accumulation is associated with brain inflammation after myocardial infarction with sex and regional differencesAdvanced Science
- 2026Being a target for glycation by methylglyoxal contributes to therapeutic efficacy of an injectable collagen hydrogel post-myocardial infarctionGels · Editor's Choice
- 2022Recombinant human collagen hydrogel rapidly reduces methylglyoxal adducts within cardiomyocytes and improves borderzone contractility after myocardial infarction in miceAdvanced Functional Materials
- 2019Injectable human recombinant collagen matrices limit adverse remodeling and improve cardiac function after myocardial infarctionNature Communications
- 2017Methylglyoxal-derived advanced glycation end products contribute to negative cardiac remodeling and dysfunction post- myocardial infarctionBasic Research in Cardiology
Interested in joining the lab or collaborating?
We welcome graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and research partners.