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SickKids

Benjamin Steinberg

Title: Staff Anesthesiologist, Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
Designations: MD, PhD, FRCPC
Phone: 416-813-1500 ext. 309044
Email: benjamin.steinberg@sickkids.ca
External Email: benjamin.steinberg@mail.utoronto.ca
Alternate Contact Name: Diana Arthurs
Alternate Phone: 416-813-7654 ext.
Alternate Email: diana.arthurs@sickkids.ca
U of T Positions: Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology Full member, Institute of Medical Science

Hospital Positions

Staff Anesthesiolgist, Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine

Research Positions

Scientist - Neurosciences and Mental Health

Biography

Dr. Steinberg is a paediatric Anesthesiologist and Scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). His research aims to understand how cell stress and injury control inflammation and pain responses. This work forms the basis for developing therapeutic tools that target cell injury to treat inflammatory diseases and preserve tissue health. His clinical research interests include advanced patient monitoring, perioperative outcomes, and pain.

Research

The Steinberg Lab investigates fundamental interactions between the nervous system and immune system. This work aims to better understand how the body’s nervous system monitors and controls inflammation. Direct cellular communication between neurons and immune cells allows the nervous system to modify how the immune system behaves in diseases such as sepsis, pain, and heart failure.

A better understanding of the interaction between the nervous and immune systems can help start to build therapeutics that target the nervous system to diagnose and treat inflammation-driven illnesses. This bioelectronic approach has the potential to impact on a variety of clinically important diseases in both adult and pediatric populations.  

Education and experience

  • 2018–Present: Physician, Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
  • 2023–Present: Scientist, Neuroscience and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
  • 2018–2023: Scientist-track Investigator, Neuroscience and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
  • 2017–2018: Clinical fellow, Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
  • 2013–2015: Post-doctoral research fellow, Clinician Investigator Program, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
  • 2013–2014: Visiting scientist, Department of Biomedical Research, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA
  • 2005–2009: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
  • 2003–2011: Medical Doctor (MD), Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON

Publications

1. NINJ1 mediates plasma membrane rupture by cutting and releasing membrane disks.
David L, Borges JP, Hollingsworth LR, Volchuk A, Jansen I, Garlick E, Steinberg BE, Wu H.
Cell. 2024 Apr 25;187(9):2224-2235.e16. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.03.008. Epub 2024 Apr 12. PMID: 38614101

2. Inhibiting membrane rupture with NINJ1 antibodies limits tissue injury.
Kayagaki N, Stowe IB, Alegre K, Deshpande I, Wu S, Lin Z, Kornfeld OS, Lee BL, Zhang J, Liu J, Suto E, Lee WP, Schneider K, Lin W, Seshasayee D, Bhangale T, Chalouni C, Johnson MC, Joshi P, Mossemann J, Zhao S, Ali D, Goldenberg NM, Sayed BA, Steinberg BE, Newton K, Webster JD, Kelly RL, Dixit VM.
Nature. 2023 Jun;618(7967):1072-1077. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06191-5. Epub 2023 May 17. PMID: 37196676

3. Glycine inhibits NINJ1 membrane clustering to suppress plasma membrane rupture in cell death.
Borges JP, Sætra RSR, Volchuk A, Bugge M, Devant P, Sporsheim B, Kilburn BR, Evavold CL, Kagan JC, Goldenberg NM, Flo TH, Steinberg BE.
Elife. 2022 Dec 5;11:e78609. doi: 10.7554/eLife.78609. PMID: 36468682

4. Indirect regulation of HMGB1 release by gasdermin D.
Volchuk A, Ye A, Chi L, Steinberg BE, Goldenberg NM. Nat Commun. 2020 Sep 11;11(1):4561. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18443-3. PMID: 32917873

5. Therapeutic Targeting of High-Mobility Group Box-1 in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.
Goldenberg NM, Hu Y, Hu X, Volchuk A, Zhao YD, Kucherenko MM, Knosalla C, de Perrot M, Tracey KJ, Al-Abed Y, Steinberg BE, Kuebler WM.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2019 Jun 15;199(12):1566-1569. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201808-1597LE. PMID: 30939030

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