New expertise added to McGill

The most recent announcement by the federal government’s Canada Research Chairs program has added four talented and dynamic researchers to McGill University’s pool of new faculty drawn from around the world. Their fields include psychology, biochemistry, physics, and mechanical engineering. Journalists interested in exploring any of the topics associated with the nine Canada Research Chair holders now at McGill should consult the attached mini-profiles. Three more of these Chairs are scheduled to arrive at McGill in 2002, and several others are already in the approval pipeline.

While other Canadian universities are using the Canada Research Chairs to reward successful current faculty members, McGill has hired its Chairs exclusively from outside the University, part of its commitment to recruit 100 new faculty each year for the next ten years. The University has designed a parallel program of James McGill and William Dawson chairs to help retain top researchers who are already on staff.

"Because it is more complicated and time-consuming to award Canada Research Chairs to researchers from outside of McGill than to current faculty, McGill is taking longer than other universities to fill its allotment. We are determined to sustain the highest international standards," said associate vice-principal Stuart Price who is responsible for coordinating McGill’s faculty recruitment efforts. McGill is entitled to 162 such Chairs, a number surpassed only by the University of Toronto and Université de Montréal, because of their size.

The $900 million Canada Research Chairs program, established in 2000, was created by the federal government to help Canadian universities attract and retain the best researchers in natural sciences and engineering, health sciences and social sciences and humanities. For senior researchers hired as Tier 1 chairs, universities are provided with $200,000 per year for seven years to cover salary and research-related costs, while $100,000 per year for five years is granted for more junior Tier 2 chairs.

Canada Research Chairs at McGill University as of December 2001

• gary.c.bennett [at] mcgill.ca (Gary Jack Bennett), Canada Research Chair in Pain Control, Associate Professor of Dentistry: 514-398-3432

Understanding and relieving chronic pain: Dr Gary Bennett, who previously taught at MCP Hahnemann University, Philadelphia, conducts research to understand the neural mechanisms that cause chronic pain in people whose nerves are damaged by trauma, disease, metabolic problems, as well as certain drugs and toxins. Up to 33 percent of the population suffers from chronic pain, a condition that particularly affects seniors. Dr Bennett’s work aims to further advance the treatment and management of chronic pain.

• eric.fombonne [at] mcgill.ca (Eric Fombonne), Canada Research Chair in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Professor of Psychiatry: 514-412-4449

Understanding autism and depression in the young: Dr Eric Fombonne, who comes to McGill from the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, United Kingdom, has garnered international recognition for his expertise in epidemiological child psychiatry, particularly in the field of autism. His research sits at the interface of psychiatry, social and developmental sciences, and human genetics. It relies on epidemiological approaches to investigate childhood psychopathology in general, with a strong focus on autism and pervasive developmental disorders, and emotional disorders (in particular, childhood and adolescent onset depression).

• vkaspi [at] physics.mcgill.ca (Victoria Kaspi), Canada Research Chair in Observational Astrophysics, Associate Professor of Physics: 514-398-6412

Watching nature experiment in deep space: Before accepting a Canada Research Chair at McGill, native Montrealer Dr Victoria Kaspi divided her time between McGill and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The primary subject of her research is the neutron star, which represents the final stages of the life of a star that has exploded. Neutron stars can tell us a great deal about how matter behaves under conditions of radiation and gravity that are more extreme than anything we could duplicate in a laboratory. What we learn opens up new avenues for understanding the very nature of matter, and how we might deal with it under less extreme settings here on earth.

• jeffrey.mogil [at] mcgill.ca (Jeffrey S. Mogil), Canada Research Chair in Genetics of Pain, Associate Professor of Psychology: 514-398-6085

Designer Pain Relief: Dr Jeffrey Mogil, a repatriated Canadian who comes to McGill from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was part of a team that, less than a decade ago, identified sex-specific genetic circuitry that governs the way males and females respond to pain. Following his initial breakthrough, Dr Mogil has been examining the genetic bases and environmental influences that combine to govern reactions to pain. At a minimum, pinpointing relevant genes can help doctors tailor dosages of drugs to each patient’s needs. At best, Dr Mogil’s work may lead to new drugs providing life-saving pain relief.

• laura.nilson [at] mcgill.ca (Laura Nilson), Canada Research Chair in Developmental Genetics, Assistant Professor of Biology: 514-398-6448

Using insect allies to understand genetic basis of disease: Dr Laura Nilson has come to McGill from Princeton University to continue her research in developmental genetics. She has focused on the role of genes with respect to the biochemical signals that cells send to one another. Those signals are vital exchanges that can activate or prevent disease processes. Because almost two-thirds of the genes involved in human diseases are also found in the humble fruit fly, that insect is the genetic researcher’s best friend. And because the fly’s generation time is less than two weeks, it only takes a few months to study mutations of those genes over many generations. Dr Nilson has used fruit flies to yield entirely new information about how such genes operate.

• martin.ostojastarzewski [at] mcgill.ca (Martin Ostoja-Starzewski), Canada Research Chair in Mechanics of Materials, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering: 514-398-7394

A Frontier for Materials Engineering: Dr Martin Ostoja-Starzewski recognizes that, increasingly, engineers are working on progressively smaller scales. His research will help meet two great challenges posed by the need to manufacture and design engineering materials for improved performance: (i) mechanics and physics bridging different scales, from meters down to nanometers; (ii) random aspects of manifold microscale- and nanoscale-controlled phenomena such as diffusion, plasticity, fracture, fatigue, and damage. His field of study has an impact on industries ranging form aerospace/automotive materials, bio-technology, civil and biomedical engineering, and electronic packaging.

• bruce.reed [at] mcgill.ca (Bruce A. Reed), Canada Research Chair in Graph Theory, Professor of Computer Science: 514-398-5913

Network Analysis and Design: Dr Bruce Reed’s last stop before McGill was the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique in France. His research involves the development of algorithms to solve complex problems from the theory of graphs and networks. Networks are essential to communications, whether the network is the structure of a telecommunications system, the World Wide Web or the series of wires on a microchip. Graphs provide an abstract model of network connectivity, and can be used to analyze and predict network performance Dr Reed’s work will lead to increased understanding of the structure of large, complex networks and analysis of the connections within them.

• james.ron [at] mcgill.ca (James Ron), Canada Research Chair in Conflict and Human Rights, Assistant Professor of Sociology 514-398-8978

The relationship of large international institutional and small violent conflicts: Previously at Johns Hopkins University, Dr James Ron is at McGill to continue his research on the increasing connection between international dynamics and local conflicts and the ways that large global organizations often inadvertently exacerbate regional violence. Dr Ron’s research uses an interdisciplinary approach combining sociology, political science, and international law. The results of Dr Ron’s research will lead to a better understanding of the precursors to violence and how to mitigate or prevent such conflicts in future. His work has already taken him to some of the world’s most troubled areas including the Balkans and the Middle East and. most recently, the Republic of Congo.

• dthomas [at] med.mcgill.ca (David Thomas), Canada Research Chair in Molecular Biology, Professor and Chair of Biochemistry: 514-398-2973

Signals and Chaperones: Learning to Speak Protein: Dr David Thomas will explore the operation of what he calls molecular machines, the physically and functionally interacting components of cells. The work of Dr Thomas and his colleagues builds on pioneering research into a molecular chaperone called calnexin, which acts as a quality control mechanism for mutant proteins found within cells. When this mechanism fails to function, the improper folding of molecules can result in degenerative diseases. The biochemical pathways employed by cells could become targets for new disease therapies.