Saeid Amini-nik MD, MSc, PhD

Dr. Saeid Amini Nik was an assistant professor in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, and at the Sunnybrook Research Institute. He is a cross-appointment to the Department of Lab Medical Pathobiology ( LMP) at the University of Toronto. During the last 15 years, Dr. Amini Nik's line of research has been focused on the diseases associated with disturbed skin healing and skin regeneration. Dr. Amini Nik is an MD graduate and completed a master’s degree in clinical genetics in Belgium which led to a Ph.D. in cancer genetics and fibrosis associated with sarcoma.

Continuing the studies of the fibrotic response, he moved to Toronto in 2007 and completed five years of post-doctoral training at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. His research there was focused on the process of fibrosis during skin healing, mainly on identifying the cells that contribute to fibrosis during skin healing by using several complex transgenic and reporter animals. He moved to the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (in Toronto) in 2013. By focusing on skin healing and skin regeneration, he was researching the cells/signaling pathways which can change the fibrosis paradigm to a regenerative path for the skin. By isolating and characterizing various stem cells from human specimens as well as using different transgenic animals, his research was focused on diseases associated with abnormal skin healing and skin regeneration. In collaboration with biomaterial scientists and microfluidic scientists, he developed research teams working in the bioengineering of skin.

Dr. Amini Nik has published more than 50 articles in journals such as The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Stem Cells, Stem Cell Trans Med, Stem Cell Res Therapy, Cell Report, Lab on Chip, Tissue Eng, Adv Healthcare Material, Adv Drug Deliv Rev, Cell Mol Life Sci, etc. He is the author of several book chapters and holds a number of patents. Dr. Amini Nik is an active member of organizations like ISSCR, ABA, Shock, SID, and CCTS. He served as a voting member of the Research Ethics Board. He was the organizer and co-chair of the 24th Canadian Connective Tissue Conference 2018 in Toronto. He has been the keynote speaker in a number of national and international meetings as well as the invited speaker at several meetings.