R & D NEWS

Prestigious U.S. Award to Robarts Researcher

Endocrinologist and geneticist Dr. Robert Hegele adds to his string of accolades with the recent receipt of a prestigious U.S. heart research award. A scientist with the Robarts Research Institute (London, ON), Hegele has been named the first Canadian-based recipient of the Jeffrey M. Hoeg Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Award for Basic Science and Clinical Research given by the American Heart Association (Dallas, TX). The award honours the late Dr. Jeffrey M. Hoeg, a cardiovascular researcher and key official at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD). Hegele’s lab at Robarts has discovered the molecular genetic basis of eight human diseases and has identified more than 80 human mutations contributing to premature cardiovascular disease and diabetes. His past awards include the University of Western Ontario’s (London, ON) Hellmuth Prize for Achievement in Research, and the Young Scientist Award, granted by the Canadian Diabetes Association (Toronto, ON), the Great-West Life Assurance Co. (Winnipeg, MB) and London Life Insurance Co. (London, ON). Hegele holds the Edith Schulich Vinet Canada Research Chair in Human Genetics. NMR Lab a First in Canada for Environmental ScienceEnvironmental science in Canada has a unique, new resource at hand: the Environmental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Centre, which opened last month at the University of Toronto at Scarborough (UTSC) (Toronto, ON). The $2.47-million centre is the first of its kind in Canada dedicated to research in environmental science. Bruker BioSpin Ltd. (Milton, ON) donated the facility’s instrumentation, a gift-in-kind worth $1.57 million. Other funding came from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (Ottawa, ON), Ontario Innovation Trust (Toronto, ON) and University of Toronto (U of T) (Toronto, ON), each of which provided $300,000. The lab’s NMR spectrometer and innovative technology permit molecular-level analysis of organic matter in sources such as soil, water, leaves and air. Upon sample analysis, the instrument produces a computerized “molecular map” of the compounds present in the substance. To facilitate future sample characterizations, researchers are currently compiling a database of compounds that have already been analysed. Husband-and-wife researchers Myrna Simpson, PhD, an assistant professor of environmental chemistry at U of T, and Andre Simpson, PhD — an assistant professor of chemistry at UTSC and the new centre’s director of NMR research — will supervise the facility’s activities. Using Spice to Extend Life It gives the spice turmeric its bright colour and strong flavour, and now, curcumin may hold promise to treat cystic fibrosis (CF), a fatal genetic disease. CF is caused by mutations in the gene encoding a protein called cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). In the most common form of CF, the CFTR protein becomes trapped within the cell, prohibiting it from carrying out proper function at the cell surface. Consequently, normal cell secretion is impeded, resulting in a thick accumulation of mucous in the lungs and digestive system. The ensuing lung infections and pulmonary damage are often fatal. A team of Canadian and U.S. researchers has found that curcumin treatment increased the longevity of mice with the defect for cystic fibrosis (CF) to a survival rate that rivalled that of normal mice. The laboratories of Drs. Marie E. Egan and Michael Caplan, PhD, both at Yale University School of Medicine (New Haven, CT), and that of Dr. Gergely Lukacs, PhD, with the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, ON), showed that an oral curcumin treatment was able to release the mutant CFTR protein from its location within the cell. The protein could therefore reach its final destination, where it could function. Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Inc. (Bethesda, MD) is funding Seer Pharmaceuticals LLC (Southport, CT) to conduct a Phase I clinical trial to assess the safety and dosage parameters of curcumin. The research was published in Science. Killam Prizes Honour Outstanding CareersScientists James G. Arthur, PhD, Janet Rossant, PhD and R. Kerry Rowe, PhD are among the five scholars to receive this year’s Killam Prizes, which honour outstanding career achievement in engineering, natural sciences, health sciences, social sciences and humanities. The Killam program is administered by the Canada Council for the Arts (Ottawa, ON), which presented the Killam Prizes on June 2. Funds donated to the Canada Council by Mrs. Dorothy J. Killam in memory of her husband Izaak Walton Killam finance the Killam Prizes, which award $100,000 to each recipient. One of the world’s leading mathematicians in the fields of representation theory and automorphic forms, Arthur has made numerous fundamental discoveries over the past 30 years that have significantly influenced mathematical research. He is a professor at the University of Toronto (U of T) (Toronto, ON) and received his Killam Prize in the category of natural sciences. Rossant, the recipient of a Killam Prize for eminence in health sciences, is a senior investigator at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto, ON) and a professor at U of T. Her research focuses on understanding the genetic control of normal and abnormal development in the early mouse embryo. Rowe, a professor at Queen’s University (Kingston, ON), received the Killam Prize in engineering. Rowe has extensive research and consulting experience in the geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering fields. His expertise touches several areas, including hydrogeology, geosynthetics and waste management and containment.