Annual Report 2006

INSTITUTE OF PARASITOLOGY
ANNUAL REPORT
2005-2006

Prepared by Prof Terry Spithill
Director

I – Mission & Objectives

• To train students and highly qualified personnel at an advanced level in all of the life science disciplines relevant to the host-parasite relationship
• To advance knowledge in the life science disciplines relevant to the host-parasite relationship
• To undertake basic research aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality caused by parasite infections in animals and humans
• To communicate our findings to the scientific community and the general public
• To contribute our expertise to the broader mission of McGill University through our teaching, research and service in the life sciences in the Faculties of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Medicine, and Science, particularly in relation to Biotechnology and the Environment

II – Highlights of Past Year’s Activities

• Mr Gordon Bingham, the Institute’s Senior Technician, won the Principal’s Award for Distinguished and Exemplary Service. Gordy has served the Institute and McGill for 46 years.
• Prof Armando Jardim continues his CIHR New Investigator salary award (2003-2008).
• Prof Jardim was awarded tenure.
• Prof Roger Prichard continues as a James McGill Chair (2003-2010).
• Prof Terry Spithill continues as a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Immunoparasitology (2002-2009).
• Dr Timothy G. Geary filled the Molecular Scientist tenure-track position and took up his position as a Full Professor with tenure at the Institute of Parasitology on 6 September 2005. He was awarded a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Parasite Biotechnology, with an associated CFI grant of $375,000. Tim is developing a new Functional Genomics course with an anticipated launch date of September 2007.
• Dr Reza Salavati was hired to fill the tenure-track position in Bioinformatics. Dr Salavati comes to McGill from the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute and commenced work at the Institute on the 1st of December 2005. Dr Salavati recently won an NIH grant to develop a high throughput screen for editosome inhibitors in trypanosomatids. He is developing a new course in Structural Bioinformatics for launch in January 2007.
• Prof Kris Chadee departed McGill in July 2005 for the University of Calgary, having been awarded a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Gastrointestinal Inflammation.
• Dr Georges continued as Director of the Institute’s Biotechnology Program.
• At the 45th Meeting of the Canadian Society of Zoologists held in Alberta in May 2006, Prof Marilyn Scott was awarded the Wardle medal in recognition of her contributions to the field of Parasitology in Canada. As well, Prof Armando Jardim was awarded the Bob Boutillier New Investigator Award for significant contributions in the field of Zoology in Canada.
• Prof Roger Prichard continues his work on a vaccine for African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), a serious parasitic disease that is endemic in many parts of Africa. This research is funded by a Gates Foundation grant. He is co-principal investigator with Dr George Lubega (an Institute alumnus, Ph.D., 1991) at Makerere University, Uganda, and Dr Vidadi Yusibov (Fraunhofer Centre for Molecular Biotechnology, USA).
• Prof Roger Prichard continued to serve as Leader of the Product Development Team for Diagnosis of Ivermectin Resistance in Onchocerca volvulus for the World Health Organization.
• Prof Roger Prichard was elected Honorary Fellow, European Veterinary Parasitology College, in recognition of his service in the advancement of Veterinary Parasitology.
• Prof Roger Prichard was selected by Dean Madramootoo to Chair the Academic Planning Committee for the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. This is a 3-year appointment.
• In September 2006, the number of M.Sc. (Applied) Biotechnology students will increase to 29. Since the launch in 2005 of this new M.Sc. (Applied) degree, demand for this program has been strong and continues to grow. There is a waiting list for the Biotech program.
• The Institute of Parasitology completed its third year as the Leader for the FQRNT Centre for Host-Parasite Interactions. A Board of Governors was established in October 2005. We are honored that Prof Raymond Roy (U. de Montréal) and Dr George Conder (Pfizer Animal Health, USA) have agreed to serve as external Board members. An International Scientific Advisory Committee has also been established and we are delighted that Prof Jim McKerrow (University of California at San Francisco, USA), Geneviève Milon (Institut Pasteur, Paris), and Prof Murray Selkirk (Imperial College, UK) have agreed to serve. The six institutions involved in the Centre are: McGill University, Université Laval, Université de Montréal (Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at St-Hyacinthe), Université de Québec à Montréal, Institut Armand Frappier, and the Laboratoire de Santé Publique du Québec. Research projects involving member institutions across the Province are ongoing. At our crucial formal mid-point review in January 2006, the Centre received an excellent report from the Review Panel (see Appendix VI). The Quebec government will continue to fund the Centre for another 3 years in the current round.
• The Institute considered its first candidates for the Robert P. Harpur fellowship. The endowment was set up in 2005 from the estate of the late Prof Robert Harpur (former Institute Professor, retired 1981), to permit the Institute to offer a PhD fellowship to an international student. The first successful applicant is Ms Smriti Kala from India, who will commence her doctoral studies here at the Institute in September 2006, under the supervision of Prof Reza Salavati.
• The Institute published volume 2 of its “Friends of Parasitology” Newsletter. A Friends of Parasitology Homecoming is planned for August 2007.
• Dr Rita Schildknecht joined Dr Spithill’s group as a postdoctoral fellow funded by a fellowship from the Swiss National Foundation. She brings expertise in protein expression/purification to McGill. Her project involves the identification of biomarkers in malaria infections.
• Dr Maria de Lourdes Mottier from Argentina joined Dr Prichard’s laboratory funded by an FRQNT International Postdoctoral Fellowship and a Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Sustainable Agriculture Postdoctoral Fellowship. This fellowship is awarded to support innovative research in sustainable agricultural development based on academic merit and research potential. Dr Mottier will be investigating mechanisms of resistance to macrocyclic lactone drugs in parasitic nematodes.
• Postdoctoral fellow Dr Stephanie Yanow continued as a prestigious Tomlinson Fellow and a CIHR Fellowship awardee in Dr Spithill’s laboratory. Dr Yanow is conducting research to discover new chemotherapy for malaria.
• Ms Lisa Purcell continues her work in Dr Spithill’s lab as a PhD student funded by a prestigious NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship. Lisa is currently doing a stage at New York University to develop a transgenic form of malaria and to study the molecular mechanisms of the sexual stages of Plasmodium spp. parasites in the laboratory of Dr Karen Day.
• The Institute offered a Flow Cytometry Core Facility as well as Molecular Biology Service Facility to the entire McGill community, the FQRNT Centre, and the biotechnology industry.
• A search for a tenure-track professor in Immunology was approved and is currently underway. Excellent CVs have been received and interviews are being conducted.
• Dr Robin Beech is currently on a sabbatical leave in the UK until December 2006 at Glasgow University, Scotland, in the Division of Veterinary Infection and Immunity, where he is collaborating with Dr John Gilleard. During this period Robin’s research will focus on annotation and analysis of the ligand gated ion channel family of genes in the Haemonchus contortus genome.

Teaching and Learning (undergraduate and graduate):

Student Success

1. Undergraduate – Although the Institute has no undergraduate program of its own, Institute professors taught basic life sciences to students in several required courses on the Macdonald Campus and in the Faculty of Medicine. As per Senate policy, numerical data from course evaluations are available to McGill students and staff via University postings by the Office of the Provost on the web each term. See course evaluations (see Activity Reports for individual scores).
2. Graduate – The Institute graduated 3 Ph.D. students (Drs Moncada, Karwatsky and Madrid) and 4 Master’s students (K. Grubb, L. Payne, D. Galazzo and C. Sanatamaria) in our thesis research degree programs in 2005/06. Two Ph.D. graduates (D. Moncada and J. Karwatsky) were accorded Honors for their doctoral dissertations. Joel Karwatsky accepted a postdoctoral position, funded by a CIHR postdoctoral fellowship, working on drug resistance at the Ottawa Health Research Institute. Darcy Moncada was awarded the T.W.M. Cameron Prize for Excellence in Parasitology, and is planning a postdoc in mucin research (gastroenterology) at McGill. Pat Madrid accepted a postdoctoral position at the University of Toronto to work on cancer, funded by an internal University of Toronto fellowship. Our four M.Sc. graduates all found employment in university research labs, in the teaching profession, or with pharmaceutical firms. In the non-thesis Biotechnology program, 7 students graduated with a Certificate in Biotechnology, and the new M.Sc. Applied in Biotechnology program graduated its first cohort of 9 students. The biotech industry is an eager employer for these well trained graduates.
   Aws Abul-Wahid (Ph.D. candidate in the laboratory of Prof Faubert), Michael Nyisztor (M.Sc. student in the laboratory of Prof Jardim) and Lisa Purcell (PhD student in the laboratory of Prof Spithill) won prizes for best oral presentations at the 6th Annual Quebec Parasitology Symposium held at the Macdonald Campus in June 2006. At the same meeting, Ana Pilar, doctoral student in the laboratory of Prof Jardim, also won a prize for the best poster presentation.
3. Visiting students – Ms Manussabhorn Sethadavit, Ph.D. candidate from Mahidol University, Thailand, returned to the Institute for a second stage in the laboratory of Prof Spithill. Manussabhorn continued her work in the field of proteomics, expressing a cathepsin B sequence of Fasciola gigantica. Mr Umasankar Perunthottathu Kalyanakrishnan, Ph.D. candidate from the National Centre for Cell Science in Pune, India, is visiting in the laboratory of Prof Armando Jardim for a six-month training stage. Uma is working on the hexokinase gene in Leishmania major.
4. Summer students- Four undergraduate students were employed at the Institute during the summer of 2005 and all received advanced research training in the labs of Profs Faubert, Jardim and Spithill. Two of these students had won an NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Award and one other received funding from the Government of Canada’s Summer Careers Placement Program. The Institute exposes these trainees to cutting edge research in molecular biology, immunology, proteomics and population studies in the life sciences.
5. Visiting Scientists – Dr Kate Mounsey from Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Australia, spent 4 months in the laboratory of Prof Roger Prichard working on ivermectin resistance in scabies, which has become a serious problem among the aboriginal population in Australia.
6. Training - Ph.D. candidate Marie-Claire Rioux and Research Assistant N. Clairoux went to Guildford, England, to study the purification and identification of proteins using SELDI time-of-flight mass spectrometry-derived techniques in June of 2005. As well, Ph.D. candidate Lisa Purcell went to India in October of 2005 for a malaria transfection workshop.
7. Guest Lecturers - During the 2005-2006 reporting year, the following distinguished scientists have given invited seminar presentations at the Institute:

   Dr Robert McMaster
   Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia
   Topic: “Leishmania: Macrophage interactions analyzed by genomic and quantitative proteomic expression profiles”

   Dr Oumar Gaye
   Head of the Parasitology Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Dakar, Senegal
   Topic: “Malaria in Senegal”

   Dr Jim McKerrow
   University of California Topic: “Parasite proteases: Lessons in evolution, biochemistry and drug design”

   Dr Don Bundy
   Lead Scientist, School of Health and Nutrition, The World Bank, Washington
   Topic: “Parasites, policies and programs: How research translates into development programs”

   Dr Joanne Cable
   University of Cardiff, Wales
   Topic: “Parasites as a driving force in the life history evolution of guppies”

   Dr Marcel Behr
   Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University
   Topic: “Comparative genomics of pathogenic mycobacteria”

   Dr Jacqueline Bede
   Plant Science Department, McGill University
   Topic: “Plant-insect interactions”

   Dr Don Sheppard
   Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University
   Topic: “Aspergillus fumigatus: development, drugs and deception”

   Dr Nathalie Tufenkji
   Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University
   Topic: “Migration of Cryptosporidium and E. coli 0157:H7 in the subsurface: measurements and mechanisms”

   Dr James W. Coulton
   Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University
   Topic: “Protein interactions at the bacterial cell surface”

   Dr Albert Berghuis
   Department of Biochemistry, McGill University
   Topic: “Exploiting unique pathways for antifungal drug development: structural studies of essential amino acid biosynthesis enzymes”

   Dr Philippe Gros
   Department of Biochemistry, McGill University
   Topic: “Simple and complex genetic control of susceptibility to infectious diseases in the mouse”

   Dr Robert Lodge
   Institut Armand Frappier
   Topic: “Leishmania life in the phagosome: building barriers and baffling bursts”

   Dr Bakela Nare
   Merck Frosst, New Jersey, USA
   Topic: “Protein kinase as drug targets in protozoan parasites”

   Dr Élida Campos
   Universidade de Brasilia
   Topic : “Response to oxidative stress in the human parasite Paracoccidioides brasiliensis ”

   Dr Todd Capson
   Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama
   Topic: “The search for new anti-parasite compounds in tropical forests and marine environments in Panama”

   Dr Marcelo Gottschalk
   Faculté de médicin vétérinaire, Université de Montréal
   Topic : “The pathogenesis of the meningitis caused by Streptococcus suis”

   Dr Charles MacKenzie
   Department of Pathology, Michigan State University, USA
   Topic: “Perspectives on the pathogenesis of lymphatic filariasis”

   Dr Paulo Pimenta
   Laboratory of Medical Entomology
   Topic: “The journey of malaria parasites in the mosquito vectors”

   Dr Jolyne Drummelsmith
   Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie, Université de Québec
   Topic: “Proteomics and Leishmania: global analysis of drug resistance mechanisms and state-specific regulation”

   Dr Artem Cherkasov
   Division of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
   Topic: “Bio and cheminformatics research for emerging and major human infections”

   Dr Joel Dacks
   Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary
   Topic: “Development of organelles in Trichuris muris”

   Dr Reza Salavati
   Seattle Biomedical Research Institute
   Topic: “Functional domains of the editosomes in trypanosomatids”.

Our students and trainees benefited enormously from contact with these leaders in their fields.

Research:

Discoveries and innovations

The Institute’s research was published in 18 papers in peer reviewed Journals and was presented at 40 conference presentations. Professors gave 13 invited presentations during the year.

1. Dr Spithill was co-inventor on a US patent application "Biomarker Discovery for Human Babesiosis" with Drs Ward and Ndao. Submitted Mar 2006.
2. Dr Georges filed a US patent application on Dec 29, 2005: “Subcellular Fractions from Eukaryotic Cells; Kits for Rapid Subcellular Localisation of a Protein; and Methods of Use Thereof”.
3. Dr Jardim was a co-inventor on a US patent application: “Method for detecting flavor compounds in fermented products using enzymes”; Jardim, A., Sheppard, J., and van Bergen, B. (2006).

Collaborations

The Institute is active in multiple international and national collaborations.

1. Dr Prichard received a US$1.16m grant from the Gates Foundation for the study “Development of a vaccine against trypanosomiasis”. This is in collaboration with Dr Yusibov (Centre for Molecular Biotechnology, Fraunhofer Inc., USA) and Dr Lubega (Makerere University, Uganda). The WHO is also supporting this research.
2. Dr Prichard is collaborating with Dr Michel Boussinesq, Institut de recherche en développement, Paris, France, to study “The effects of ivermectin on genetic selection and reproduction in Onchocerca volvulus”.
3. Dr Prichard is collaborating with Professor A. Tait (Glasgow University, Scotland) on the WHO funded project “Development of a diagnostic tool for ivermectin resistance in Onchocerca volvulus”.
4. Dr Prichard is collaborating with Dr Mark Bradley (GlaxoSmithKline, UK) on the project “Monitoring for drug resistance in the Global Alliance for the Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis”.
5. Dr Scott is collaborating with Dr Koski (McGill) and Drs Ortega and Romero (University of Panama) on a health initiative “Establishment of long-term research program in nutrition-infection interactions”.
6. Dr Jardim is collaborating with Dr M. Patole, University of Pune, India, to study glycosome biology.
7. Dr Faubert is an active member of a CIDA team grant “Agro-ecosystem management for human health in the UDA Walawe Irrigation Scheme, Sri Lanka”, with the International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka, and McGill’s Brace Centre for Water Management.
8. Dr Spithill has ongoing collaborations in several areas of research. In the area of biomarkers for disease, he is working with Dr D. Artis (U. Pennsylvania, USA), Dr S. Magez (Free Univ. Brussels, Belgium), Dr C. Carmona (UDELAR, Uruguay), Dr H. Raadsma (Univ. Sydney, Australia) and Dr D. Piedrafita (Univ. Melbourne, Australia). He is also involved in a graduate training program in fasciolosis with Prof P. Sobhon (Mahidol University, Thailand).
9. Dr Salavati collaborates with I. Saira Mian for protein sequence analysis and modeling protein function, Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California.

Equipment grant

NSERC Research Tools and Instruments (Scott), “Environmental Chambers”, $19,677, (2005-2006).

New research initiatives

Dr Beech received an FQRNT Centre New Initiatives grant with Drs Prichard, Dent and Geary to study “C. elegans as a model for parasitic nematodes”.

Dr Geary received an FQRNT Centre New Initiatives grant with Drs Spithill, Villeneuve, Fecteau and Mansfield to study “Serum biomarkers of disease following infection with protozoan (Apicomplexia) parasites of veterinary importance”.

Dr Georges is collaborating with Drs Just and Spithill studying “Development and characterization of novel ozonides as effective antimalarial drugs”.

Dr Scott received an FQRNT Centre New Initiatives grant with Drs Koski, Ortega, Ward, Ndao and Urban, to study “Multiple infections and multiple nutritional deficiencies: A challenge for innovative approaches to parasite control”.

Dr N. Tufenkji at McGill’s Department of Chemical Engineering received an FQRNT Centre New Initiatives grant with Drs Faubert and Madramootoo for the project “Evaluating parasite and pathogen filtration in the soil profile and potential public health risks”.

Dr Spithill, with Drs Ward, Geary, Ndao, Troye-Blomberg, Dolo, Doumbo and Mackenzie, received an FQRNT Centre New Initiatives grant for a project entitled “Identification of serum biomarkers associated with resistance/susceptibility to malaria infection in humans”.

The Centre for Host-Parasite Interactions is maturing and expanding its research programs. It is a vehicle for driving new initiatives across Quebec where several Centre members will come together to start new collaborative research, often with international linkages. This process is ongoing.

Other international activities

• Dr Elias Georges has met with a delegation of governmental officials from Dubai, with the aim of establishing a McGill Biotech graduate program in that country.
• Prof Tim Geary has submitted a grant application to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, under its program North American Mobility in Higher Education. If funded, this will support an International Biotech Education Consortium Initiative with Mexico, involving six universities (McGill-lead university, Carleton, 2 American universities and two Mexican universities).
• Our Centre for Host-Parasite Interactions held its 5th and 6th Annual Quebec Parasitology Symposia during the time span of this report (see FQRNT section, pg. 14). Several international visitors attended.

Academic Staff:

The list of academic staff as of June 1, 2005, is shown in Appendix V. Prof Robin Beech commenced a 1-year sabbatical leave as of January 2006.

Departures – Prof Kris Chadee took up a position at the University of Calgary, having been awarded a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Gastrointestinal Inflammation. Kris serves as our ambassador in Western Canada.

New Hires – Dr Timothy Geary was hired as a tenure-track full professor in Molecular Sciences. Dr Geary was formerly at Pfizer Animal Health, USA, where he led a strong team developing new chemotherapies for parasitic diseases. He brings to McGill substantial expertise in the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries and a strong international profile. He will greatly strengthen our Biotechnology non-thesis program.

Dr Reza Salavati was hired as a tenure-track assistant professor in Bioinformatics. His enthusiasm and expertise will expand the bioinformatics offerings on the Macdonald Campus and across McGill through his cross appointment in the Centre for Bioinformatics.

Chairs - Dr Prichard continues to hold a James McGill Chair which supports his extensive international research program in molecular helminthology, as outlined above.

Dr Spithill’s Canada Research Chair is supporting studies in the area of multivalent malaria DNA vaccines (T. Scorza, K. Grubb), mining the malaria genome for merozoite surface proteins (C. Santamaria), malaria chemotherapy (S. Yanow), understanding malaria gametocytogenesis (L. Purcell) and discovery of biomarkers for Fasciola infection in sheep (M-C. Rioux, N. Clairoux). This Chair is underpinning significant novel initiatives in the Institute, across McGill (with Drs Ward, Ndao, Matlashewski, Kirk) and internationally, as outlined above. Dr Geary took up his Canada Research Chair in Parasite Biotechnology in September 2005.

Assoc Prof Robin Beech – Dr Beech served as the Chair of the Macdonald Campus Safety Committee, as well as the Institute’s Safety Committee, until his departure on sabbatical leave. He is currently in the UK collaborating with Dr John Gilleard at Glasgow University regarding the gated ion channel family of genes in the Haemonchus contortus genome.

Prof Faubert – Dr Faubert served on the University Tenure Committee for the Faculty of Music. He also served as a member of the Selection Committee for Les Prix Scientifiques du Québec, and became President of the Parasitology Section of the Canadian Society of Zoologists.

Prof Geary – Dr Geary serves on McGill’s Technology Transfer Committee and on the Macdonald Campus Library Committee. He was a member of the Centennial Symposium/Food for Thought Committee, and is the Interim Chair of the Industrial Liaison Committee for the American Society of Parasitologists. Dr Geary holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Parasite Biotechnology and won his first NSERC grant in April 2006.

Assoc Prof Elias Georges – Dr Georges served on the Board of the McGill spin-off biopharmaceutical company, Aurelium Biopharma Inc. He also served as a member of the Macdonald Campus Development Committee. He is Director of the Biotechnology Program at the Institute.

Assoc Prof Jardim – Dr Jardim received tenure in May 2006, having received Superior in all three categories that were evaluated by the reviewers.

Prof Prichard – Dr Prichard served as the Principal Coordinator of the International Consortium for Anthelmintic Resistance SNPs Workshop in Glasgow, 2006. He was also elected an Honorary Fellow of the European Veterinary Parasitology College, for his extraordinary contributions to the advancement of Veterinary Parasitology. Dr Prichard chairs the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Academic Planning Committee, and serves on the Faculty Nominating Committee.

Assoc Prof Ribeiro – Dr Ribeiro has served as the Chair of the Macdonald Campus Safety Committee as well as the Institute of Parasitology Safety Committee since January 2006. She also was on the University Tenure Committee for the Faculty of Medicine.

Assistant Professor Salavati – Since his arrival in December 2005, Dr Salavati has focused his efforts on the development of a Structural Bioinformatics course and the setting up of his research laboratory. He was the recipient of an NSERC Discovery Grant, and an NIH Grant. He serves on the Faculty IT Committee.

Assoc Prof Marilyn Scott –Dr Scott continued to serve as an elected Senate Representative for the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. She developed a liaison to the McGill-Panama Cluster, and she also served as Acting Director for the McGill School of Environment, as well as chairing various committees within the School, from June to December 2005.

Dr Jim Smith – Dr Smith served as a member of the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Standing Committee on Fellowships and Awards. Dr Smith received funding for recruitment for the Institute from the Faculty of Graduate Studies. His application was one of the eight applications funded, from a pool of 28 applications in total. Dr Smith plans to use the funding to set up recruitment booths at the XI International Congress for Parasitology meeting in Scotland in August, 2006.

Prof Terry Spithill – Dr Spithill continued as Director of the FQRNT Centre for Host-Parasite Interactions and Director of the Institute of Parasitology. He chaired the following Committees: Search Committees for the Molecular Scientist, Bioinformatics and Immunology positions; Faculty Promotions Committee. He served as elected FAES member on the McGill Senate. He was member of the following committees: Board of Centre for Host Parasite Interactions; FAES Chairs Committee; Beatty Committee; University Tenure Committee for Recruitment; Advisory Committee to select Dean of Medicine.

Involvement in the Community:

Institute faculty served the academic and wider community in multiple ways. All staff serve on a variety of Faculty and McGill Committees, review journal articles and PhD/MSc theses, and organize conferences, as detailed in the Activity Reports. Some particular involvement is highlighted here.

Public Lecture - Dr Faubert, along with Dr Alain Villeneuve from the Faculté de médicine vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, gave a public lecture entitled: “Parasites, People and Pets” on September 20th, 2005, at the Redpath Auditorium on the McGill Downtown Campus. This lecture was supported by the FQRNT Centre for Host-Parasite Interactions.

III – FQRNT Centre for Host-Parasite Interactions
Centre de recherche sur les interactions hôte-parasite

In 2005-2006, our Provincially-funded Regroupement Stratégique Centre completed its third busy year of operation. The Centre was active in 2005-2006 providing high quality training to over 100 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Please visit the website for details of our scientific activities, our What’s New page, and services offered throughout the Centre.

The 5th Annual Québec Parasitology Symposium of our FQRNT Centre for Host-Parasite Interactions was held on June 13-14, 2005, at the Montreal General Hospital, in the Osler Amphitheatre, hosted by Dr Mary Stevenson. Keynote speakers were Drs Malcolm J. Gardner (The Institute of Genomic Research), Alan Sher (NIH) and Marshall Lightowlers (U. of Melbourne). Dr Erwin Schurr (Centre for Host Resistance, McGill) chaired a session on Global Health. This session was sponsored by the McGill Centre for Host Resistance. The 6th Annual Québec Parasitology Symposium of our FQRNT Centre, hosted by the Institute of Parasitology, was held on May 17-18th, 2006, on the Macdonald Campus, as an integral part of the 74th Congrès de l’ACFAS. Keynote speakers were Drs Murray Selkirk (Imperial College, London), Christiane Vivares (Université Blaise Pascal, France) and Dr Philippe Gros (McGill). These were very successful meetings attended each time by over 100 Centre members and students. Young scientists throughout the Province of Québec were gathered together with world-class researchers in the domains of molecular parasitology, proteomics, immunology, veterinary medicine and genomics research.

On Jan 12th and May 19th, 2006, the Board of the Centre met on the Macdonald Campus. Budgetary and strategic planning issues for the Centre were discussed. Dean Madramootoo chaired the meeting, and Assistant VP of Research Janusz Koziński was in attendance. Drs George Conder (Pfizer, USA) and Prof Raymond Roy (Université de Montréal) attended as external members. Two associate directors were elected: Prof Roger Prichard and Dr Albert Descoteaux. It was decided to integrate next year’s 2007 Parasitology Symposium with the Canadian Society for Zoology meeting already scheduled to be held at McGill in May 2007.

The research of this Centre, and the training it offers to produce highly skilled professionals, will bear fruit long into the future of Quebec and Canada.

IV – Challenges

The Institute of Parasitology faces many challenges in the next triennium, major amongst which are:

• fellowships to support our graduate students
• technical support for our hard-won CFI instruments
• indirect cost funds to support maintenance and service contracts for our CFI instruments
• clerical support for the increased administrative duties placed on us by McGill and resulting from our recruitments
• space constraints and improved graduate office space for our students
• improvements to our animal facilities and increased technical support therein
• sufficient funds to allow the expansion of the Biotech program and allow the program to accept and train more students

The future of the Institute of Parasitology is incredibly bright, but lack of resources to support our successes is a serious concern. This especially applies in our newest areas of undertaking, namely high technology CFI-purchased instrumentation (which require staff and service contracts) and in the Biotechnology arena, where our expanded teaching commitments require more lab space, a technician and more teaching assistants. We have initiated a campaign of fund raising through our alumni in an attempt to assist our future development. We look forward to continuing our 74 years of research excellence and making significant contributions to the study of Parasitology worldwide, and to fulfill our mandate to graduate highly skilled professionals in our domain.