The CSMB is pleased to announce the winners of our 2016 Research Awards. All of these outstanding researchers will be giving plenary talks at the 59th Annual CSMB Scientific Conference, July 17 – 21 in Vancouver that is being held in collaboration with IUBMB and PABMB: Signaling Pathways in Development, Disease and Aging. Please join us in Vancouver to celebrate our Award winners and participate in our Annual General Meeting of the CSMB. Register now to attend IUBMB2016.
CSMB New Investigator Award:
Dr. Filip Van Petegem
Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
University of British Columbia
Dr. Van Petegem’s cutting-edge structural studies have provided fundamental insights into our understanding of integral membrane proteins, including ryanodine receptors and voltage-gated sodium channels. His structure function studies comparing wildtype and disease mutant forms of membrane proteins have provided valuable insight into a large number of genetic diseases as well as fundamental, mechanistic understandings of ion channel functions.
NRC Research Press Senior Investigator Award:
Dr. Gerry Wright
Director, MG DeGroote Institute for Infectious
Disease Research
Professor, Department of Biochemistry and
Biomedical Sciences
McMaster University
Dr. Wright is internationally renowned for his ground-breaking studies of bacterial and fungal antimicrobial resistance mechanisms. His identification and characterization of the “antibiotic resistome”, a vast number of pre-exisiting antibiotic resistance elements, has not only lead to a greater understanding of the broad range of mechanisms that microbes deploy to confer resistance, but has led to major advances towards solving the global threat of antibiotic resistance.
CSMB Arthur Wynne Gold Medal:
Dr. Morag Park
Director Goodman Cancer Research Centre
Professor, Departments of Medicine, Oncology and
Biochemistry
McGill University
Dr. Park is a leading cancer researcher in Canada with an internationally recognized program on identifying and characterizing the role signal transduction pathways play during the development of human cancers. In addition to her over 180 publications, Dr. Park has played major leadership roles within the academic community, including as Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Cancer Research and the Director of the Goodman Cancer Research Centre at McGill University.
Grant and Moens Award of Excellence in Genetics:
Dr. Esther Verheyen
Professor, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Simon Fraser University
Dr. Verheyen exploits both classical forward and more recently reverse genetics screens in Drosophila coupled with biochemical analysis to understand the function and regulation of protein kinases during development. In addition to her seminal contributions to our understanding of the regulation of Wnt, Notch, BMP and Hippo pathways, Dr. Verheyen is internationally recognized as a leader in the field of Drosophila genetics and is a deeply committed and talented teacher of genetics to both the next generation of scientists and the public.
Robert H. Haynes Young Scientist Award in Genetics:
Dr. Laurence Pelletier
Senior Investigator Lunnenfeld-Tanenbaum
Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics
University of Toronto
Dr. Pelletier’s outstanding research program combines both large scale proteomics and functional genomics with state of the art superresolution imaging to decipher the role of the fundamental biology of organelles, particularly the centrosome. His pioneering approaches have revealed how defects in the complex centrosome protein networks contribute to disease states.
We hope to see you in Vancouver, and please encourage your students and colleagues to attend as well.
Regards,
Kristin Baetz Ph.D
President of the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences
Do not forget to renew your membership!
