Contact
Email: leila.azimian@utoronto.ca
Training
2021-present
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering
Project:
Cinnamon has been used around the world for many centuries in food, cosmetics, and for its medicinal properties. There have been several in vitro and in vivo studies suggesting that cinnamon improve insulin resistance and glucose metabolism. However, Ceylon cinnamon is lower in the anticoagulant molecule coumarin and therefore may be safer than other species cinnamon as medicinal agent. Type 2 diabetes T2DM is a complex metabolic disorder characterized by impaired insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle, adipose tissue, and liver. There are million people living with diabetes worldwide, and a further millions of people having undiagnosed diabetes. Metformin is currently the first-line drug used to treat T2DM. Due to adverse effects in current treatment regimes such as increasing liver and peripheral insulin sensitivity, the number of Canadians are using traditional, or alternative therapies to manage T2DM are increasing. I am investigating the biological effects of Water Extract Cinnamon (Ceylon) in different dilution on human cell line and compare the treatment results to the first-line drug therapy data in Canada, metformin using gene expression.