Issue 18 - June 5th, 2018
|
| | |
Amelia Guo Named This Year's Michael Kiley Scholarship in Antibiotic Resistance Recipient
The IIDR is pleased to announce fourth year undergraduate student Amelia Guo of Dr. Eric Brown's lab as the first-ever recipient of the Michael Kiley Scholarship in Antibiotic Resistance.
As the inaugural recipient of this scholarship, Amelia will receive an award amount of $1,000, offered through the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research on behalf of the family and friends of the late Michael Kiley – an Ontario man who lost his battle to a drug-resistant superbug in 2011.
Read more about this scholarship and Amelia's research here. |
| Announcing Our 2018 IIDR Summer Student Fellowship Recipients!
This prestigious award – now in its sixth year – is worth $1,000 and designed to support students working in the labs of IIDR members during their summer practicum. Eleven undergraduate students were selected this year based on their personal leadership, extracurricular involvement, and academic achievement, and their project’s potential impact and contribution to the field of infectious disease research. Check out this year’s recipients and their diverse research projects.
|
| IIDR Faculty & Trainees Recognized with 2018 FHS Research Plenary Awards
Congratulations to our 30+ past and present IIDR trainees who received awards for their excellence in health science research at this year's 9th Annual FHS Research Plenary Awards Reception. The multi-day, open forum plenary included over 160 poster and oral presentations from across McMaster's Health Sciences and FHS affiliated programs, giving faculty, staff, and students the opportunity to present, learn, and celebrate McMaster's latest research initiatives. During the awards reception, Dr. Andrew McArthur was recognized with a prestigious Health Sciences Graduate Student Federation Excellence in Graduate Supervision Award, and Dr. Brian Coombes received a special award for his extraordinary contributions to McMaster's Health Sciences Graduate Studies. View the 2018 FHS Research Plenary Awards Reception program to learn more about this year's event.
|
| Dr. Jianping Xu’s Paper Selected as a 2018 “Editor’s Choice” by the Canadian Journal of Microbiology
Dr. Jianping Xu‘s manuscript “Limited evidence of fungicide-driven triazole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus in Hamilton, Canada” was selected as an “Editor’s choice” paper by Canadian Science Publishing and the Canadian Journal of Microbiology for it's particularly high caliber and topical importance. In this study, Dr. Xu's team investigated the relationship between agricultural fungicide use and clinically relevant triazole resistance by looking at whether agricultural triazole fungicide use complicates the treatment of aspergillosis in Hamilton, Ontario. His research showed limited evidence supporting this link; however, his findings highly recommend the continued monitoring of this pathogen in Hamilton and similar jurisdictions.
|
| The Therapeutic Pipeline for Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infections
Due to its high levels of intrinsic and acquired antibiotic resistance, the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been designated by the World Health Organization as a bacteria of critical priority for the development of new therapeutic strategies. In a recent review in ACS Infectious Diseases, Dr. Lori Burrows summarizes the novel ways in which researchers and companies are trying to kill this bacteria, given its incredible versatility, robust efflux mechanisms that limit drug penetration, and ability to form antimicrobial-tolerant biofilms, amongst other factors. Burrow’s goes further to highlight that although these strategies show great potential for the prevention and treatment of P. aeruginosa infections, successful mitigation requires improved drug-resistant strain surveillance and stewardship programs, and continued investments in early-stage drug discovery efforts.
|
| | Wright Lab Raises $530 to Support Hamilton’s Ronald McDonald House Charity
Through the generous support of IIDR members and trainees, the Wright lab raised an incredible $530 in support of Hamilton’s Ronald McDonald House Charity (RMHC). With the funds, the team was able to “Adopt-A-Meal” - an initiative within the RMHC’s Meals that Heal program that provides families of children being treated at McMaster Children’s Hospital with the nourishment they need to be strong for their child. Members of the Wright lab were given the unique opportunity to pair up with an in-house culinary chef to help prepare the meal they sponsored, allowing them to see first-hand the result of their contributions. With the support of communities like the IIDR, RMHC's Meals that Heal program is able to provide families with home-cooked meals 365 days a year. Learn more here. |
| Miller Lab Raises Funds & Awareness for This Year's WALK for ALS
Trainees within Dr. Matthew Miller's lab raised over $250 at their Bake Sale this week, with proceeds going directly to this year's WALK for ALS event - the largest volunteer led fundraiser for ALS across the country. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder that causes the death of neurons controlling voluntary muscles. The Miller lab is actively investigating the relationship between infection, inflammation and neurodegeneration in people with ALS. 40% of the proceeds raised at WALK for ALS goes towards supporting ongoing ALS research across the country. The remaining 60% goes directly towards services for people with ALS and their families. Visit the Walk for ALS website here to find out more about the fundraiser and how you can participate; Hamilton's walk will take place on Saturday, June 16th from 8:30am to 10:00am at the Hamilton Bay Front Park. |
| | Upcoming Events & Seminars |
| | ! ID / IIDR Combined Rounds - “C. Difficile: the role of colonization and phages”
Wednesday, June 6th from 8:00am - 9:00am, MUMC - HSC 4E20
Dr. Dominik Mertz, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine and Dr. David Speicher, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, St Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton will be presenting this month's ID / IIDR Combined Rounds. If you are unable to attend the seminar, you can tune in to the live video recording here. Please note that this will be the last Rounds seminar of the season, resuming again in September 2018. |
| McMaster Software Carpentry Workshop
June 7th - 8th, Hamilton Hall 104
The Farncombe Metagenomics Facility is offering a 2-day Data & Software Carpentry Workshop, aimed at teaching biology and biomedical researchers the computational basics they need to make their data curation and analysis skills more efficient and reproducible. The workshop will cover the Unix (Linux) shell, spreadsheet best practices, version control with Git, and data analysis in R. Enrolment in advance is required. Visit here for more information.
|
| SCC-RI Seminar - "Investigation into the molecular mechanism of LSD1 inhibition: A promising target in AML?"
Tuesday, June 12th at 2:15pm - 3:15pm, MDCL 3020
Dr. Bhatia of the Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute will be hosting Dr. Tobias Berg, from Goethe University, Frankfurt Germany. Dr. Berg is a Physician in the Department of Medicine II, Hematology/Oncology, with a research focus on stem cell and bone marrow transplantation, and early clinical trials. In addition, he is a Junior Group Leader focusing on epigenetics in lymphoma and AML, and is a Principal Investigator on Clinical Trials.
|
| Structural Biology Journal Club
Wednesday, June 13th at 1:00pm - 2:00pm, MDCL 2218
The Structural Biology Journal Club is hosted by IIDR principal investigator Dr. Sara Andres and is open to all IIDR faculty and trainees. Journal Club meetings are held on the second Wednesday of every month in MDCL 2218.
|
| The Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences Annual Picnic
June 15th at 12:00pm, Dundas Driving Park (Pavilion 4)
Bring a lawn chair, blanket, and sun block and join in on a day of games, food, and relaxation! Or, get competitive at the BBSGSA "Biochemistry Olympics"! Just like last year, each team member will have to compete in one of five different lab-related tasks. The lab that successfully completes all 5 stations with the fastest time WINS! Sign-up a team of 5 by Friday, June 5th here. The cost to attend is $8.00 for Adults, 3.00 for Children (5 years old and under are free). OR, bring a salad and the fee is waived (please sign up in the BBS office, HSC 4N59 by Tuesday, June 12th 2018).
|
| | Science Journalism Summer School - Projected Futures 2 July 9th - 13th, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Want to experiment with science journalism? Join Concordia's 2nd intensive graduate summer school on evidence-based science journalism, Projected Futures 2. Projected Futures is an intensive and experiential summer school that will challenge participants to rethink how science is communicated with society. Graduate students will be exposed to the foundations of evidence-based science journalism and then asked to experiment to create new forms of scientific storytelling. Apply here. |
|
|
|
Have Something Exciting to Share?
|
| | Send your story to grovec3@mcmaster.ca.
|
| |
|
|
