Canada’s first female general surgeon of First Nations descent, a cultural visionary, and a co-founder of Vancouver’s Amnesty International chapter are among 10 distinguished individuals to receive honorary degrees in 2019 from Simon Fraser University.
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Published on: 19 Mar 2019
The Principal’s Prize for Public Engagement through Media was created to recognize those who go beyond their studies and research to engage with the media or the public. The department of chemistry was doubly recognized this year, as two of its members received awards.
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Published on: 12 Mar 2019
Methanol—a colourless liquid that can be made from agricultural waste—has long been touted as a green alternative to fossil fuels. But it’s toxic and only has half the energy as the same volume of gasoline. Now, Chao-Jun Li and colleagues report they’ve created a potentially cheap way to use sunlight to convert methanol to ethanol, a more popular alternative fuel that’s less harmful and carries more energy.
Published on: 21 Feb 2019
The John S. Bates Memorial Gold Medal is the highest distinction awarded to a Member of PAPTAC (the Pulp And Paper Technical Association of Canada). The Gold Medal is in recognition of long term scientific and technological contributions to the pulp and paper industry. The last time this medal was awarded to a Member of the Chemistry Department was in 1994, when David Goring received this award. Prof.
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Published on: 18 Feb 2019
Two McGill chemistry professors, Theo van de Ven and Jean-Philip Lumb, have developed a new way to make textiles from cellulose, the basic building block of plants, in a breakthrough that has the potential to revitalize Canada’s forestry industry.
Published on: 11 Feb 2019
Imagine a waterproof computer. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, but it may no longer be a pipedream since a McGill-led international research team has shown for the first time that it is possible to form strong, stable attractions between some of the heavier elements in the periodic table.
Published on: 22 Jan 2019
Thomas Di Nardo (MSc) and Audrey Moores discovered a new method, based on mechanochemistry and aging, allowing to turn chitin into a new, long molecular weight chitosan. This new material has interesting mechanical properties and is envisaged for applications to biomedical, food packaging and high value fibers. This discovery was covered in a number of news outlets:
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Published on: 20 Dec 2018
CRISPR has jumped to the forefront of gene editing, with game-changing applications like gene therapy, GMO-free designer crops, and synthetic organisms. It makes precise engineering and control of nearly any genome possible. But CRISPR is not perfect and its continued development relies on understanding and modifying the naturally occurring enzymes.
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Published on: 19 Dec 2018
Professor Tomislav Friščić is the recipient of the prestigious Steacie Prize for Natural Sciences for his exceptional contributions to Green Chemistry research in Canada. He is the third McGill professor to win the Steacie Prize, and the first ever McGill professor to win it for chemistry. The two previous winners from McGill are Vicky Kaspi, Physics and Astronomy (2006) and Phil Gold, Medicine (1973).
Published on: 14 Dec 2018
Researchers from McGill University’s Department of Chemistry have found a cleaner, easier way to make biaryls, an important ingredient in synthetic chemistry with applications across a wide range of fields including pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, pigments, natural products and polymers. Conventional processes for making biaryls rely on stoichiometric metal reagents, resulting in large amounts of metal waste. In their paper published in Nature Communications in November 2018, the McGill scientists describe a new method for synthesizing biaryls using hydrazine (N2H4) as a metal surrogate.
Published on: 16 Nov 2018
A new type of cellulose nanoparticle, invented by McGill University researchers, is at the heart of a more effective and less environmentally damaging solution to one of the biggest challenges facing water-based industries: preventing the buildup of scale.
Published on: 31 Oct 2018
Aurélie Lacroix (currently PhD student in Dr Hanadi Sleiman lab) and Dr Maryam Habibian (former student from Dr Masad Damha lab and currently postdoc fellow at Stanford in Dr Eric Kool laboratory) were both awarded the Chu Family Foundation Scholarships for Early Career Women in Science.The award by The International Society of Nucleosides, Nucleotides & Nucleic Acids (IS3NA) is given to 3 women bi-annually in the field of nucleoside/tide and/or nucleic acid research a
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Published on: 6 Sep 2018
McGill University chemistry professors Karine Auclair and Tomislav Friščić are following a promising lead on using enzymes to recycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET), one of the world’s most widely used plastics.
Published on: 4 Sep 2018
The runaway popularity of personal electronic devices has led to a huge global demand for compact yet powerful rechargeable batteries. Since hitting the market in the 1990s, lithium-ion technology has taken the lead in meeting this need.
But concerns over the relative scarcity of lithium and the toxicity of other common lithium-ion battery ingredients such as cobalt are driving the search for an alternative. Sodium, around 1000 times more abundant than lithium, could be the answer.
Published on: 27 Aug 2018
A fundamental component of protein, nitrogen is the most common pure element on Earth, making up nearly 80 percent of our atmosphere. Yet despite its abundance, atmospheric nitrogen cannot enter the food chain without first being converted into a form that can be used by plants.
Published on: 20 Aug 2018
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