2008 – Dr. John Archibald, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Genomics researcher Dr. Archibald is tracing how eukaryotic micro-organisms evolve. Larger and more complex than bacteria, many of these nucleus-containing microbes cause disease. “We are examining how these organisms trade genetic material to create entirely new organisms,” he says. “Understanding how pathogenic microbes and their genomes evolve is the key to finding ways to fight them.” Click here for full story.
2007 - Dr. Victor Rafuse, Anatomy & Neurobiology
Dr. Victor Rafuse and his colleagues have proven that stem cells can be engineered into motor neurons and, when transplanted, connect to their correct muscles. “Now we are fine-tuning these neurons’ ability to connect brain signals to the right muscles, so a person could properly control movement,” he says. Motor neurons are specialized nerve cells in the spinal cord that allow us to move. Click here for full story.
2006 - Dr. Mark Nachtigal, Pharmacology
Dr. Mark Nachtigal, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology, is on a quest to discover the molecular underpinnings of a particularly devastating disease – ovarian cancer. Because there is no way to screen for ovarian cancer, the disease is often advanced by the time it is detected. By learning how ovarian cancer arises and develops, and what factors lead it to spread to other parts of the body, Dr. Nachtigal aims to discover a disease ‘marker’ that could be used to identify ovarian cancer in a screening test. He also hopes his work will lead to effective treatments and cures for ovarian cancer. Dr. Nachtigal came to Dalhousie’s Faculty of Medicine in 1998, with the support of a Rosetti Scholarship in Cancer Research. He subsequently received a CIHR scholarship, a Canadian Cancer Society Research Scientist Award, and a prestigious six-year award from the National Cancer Institute of Canada, along with operating grants from other agencies including the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
2005 – Dr. Andrew Roger, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Dr. Andrew Roger studies the structure and evolutionary history of genomes – with a focus on microbes (single-celled organisms). Dr. Roger is renowned for his revolutionary work in the evolution of protozoa – work that is shedding light on the mechanisms of disease-causing organisms. A key participant in two Genome Canada initiatives, he has also been a driving force behind a new interdisciplinary program in computational biology at Dalhousie. He is recipient of a prestigious Peter Lougheed/CIHR New Investigator Salary Award (2004-09) and Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in the United States. He is a former scholar in the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR) Program in Evolutionary Biology.
2004 – Dr. Ton-Jun Lin, Pediatrics and Microbiology & Immunology
The 2004 Award of Excellence for Basic Medical Research was presented to Dr. Tong-Jun Lin, a talented young investigator from China who joined Dalhousie’s departments of Pediatrics and Microbiology & Immunology in 2000. A vital player on the inflammation/infection/immunity research team, he focuses on host-pathogen interactions. His work on mast cells and macrophages has been published in five top journals and has earned him a prestigious CIHR New Investigator Award. Best of all, it offers real hope to people suffering from inflammatory diseases like cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma.
2003 – Dr. Sultan Darvesh, Faculty of Medicine Clinical Research Scholar
Dr. Sultan Darvesh’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of neurodegeneration and the development of novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of dementia. A Faculty of Medicine Clinical Research Scholar, he is the director and co-founder of the Maritime Brain Tissue Bank, the only one in Atlantic Canada. A neurologist with a PhD. in synthetic organic chemistry, his basic science research has been recognized internationally. Dr. Darvesh is also an inventor who holds two patents and has one patent pending.
2002 – Dr. Paul Linsdell, Physiology & Biophysics
An assistant professor in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics since 1999, Dr. Paul Linsdell has established a productive and independent research program in the area of ion channel biophysics and cystic fibrosis. He has published more than 17 papers in this short time.
2001 – Dr. Rafael Garduno, Microbiology & Immunology
Dr. Rafael Garduno, an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, received the first Award of Excellence for Basic Medical Research. Since joining Dalhousie, Dr. Garduno has been studying the mechanisms by which the Legionella pneumophila bacterium establishes itself in a host and causes Legionnaire’s Disease. Dr. Garduno’s work has changed scientific perception of the role of a common protein called Hsp60 – which had never before been considered as a disease-causing factor – and furthered the understanding of intracellular infections in general.
« Back