Faculty of Health Sciences

Faculty of Health Sciences

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Recent News

Soumaya Zlitni Receives Vanier CGS Award

Soumaya Zlitni, a doctoral student in the Brown lab, was awarded a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Vanier CGS) by the Government of Canada for her research work on understanding the metabolic pathways of bacteria in order to identify novel targets for antibiotics.

The Vanier CGS program awarded 174 students for 2010. Vanier scholars receive $50,000 annually for up to three years.

Congratulations, Soumaya!

Mary Margaret Strong Retirement

Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences bid a fond farewell to Mary Margaret Strong, Undergraduate Assistant after 41 years of service to McMaster University at an open house in the Great Hall, University Club on Friday, March 26, 2010.

See pictures from the day here.

Gerry Wright Leads Study in Superbug Battle

A new study led by Gerry Wright, director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research and Professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Biochemical Sciences, has uncovered how bacteria recognize and develop resistance to a powerful antibiotic used to treat superbug infections.

Winner of the First Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences Teaching Assistant Excellence Award

Hosam Khalil is the recipient of the first Department of Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences Teaching Assistant Excellence Award. The award is presented to a TA that has performed an amazing job inspiring and teaching in a Biochemistry course in the past year (2009-2010).

"Hosam has been my TA for Biochem 2L06 lab course and has been nothing short of amazing."

"It is difficult to express in writing the impact Hosam has had on my academic career, however I can say that up until recently, I was anxious to finish lab work for good and now I am excited to pursue research I really care about."

"Hosam is knowledgeable and exceedingly friendly and these qualities make up a great TA."

"Hosam generally has a positive and cheerful attitude and has never hesitated in helping us in anything that he could provide aid with."

Departmental Operations Manager Announcement

I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Lorraine Curtis as Operations Manager in the Department of Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences, effective April 5, 2010.

Lorraine is currently an Operations Site Coordinator at St. Joseph's Hospital, Department of Medicine, McMaster University where she carries out supervisory responsibilities with respect to 60 support staff, ensures provision of services by training, providing guidance and advice ensuring that the administrative support needs of the department faculty and staff are competently and efficiently met. She is well-versed in University and Faculty standards, policies, guidelines and directives with a thorough knowledge of CAW and CUPE Collective Agreements, Human Resource procedures, health and safety and other relevant operations experience (space, finance processes, etc.). In her previous role in Financial Services at the University she provided support during the MacVIP payroll system implementation and processed up to 800 bi-weekly and monthly employees for both salary and union payrolls.

Lorraine holds a BA in Law & Sociology from Carleton University and she is currently a Certified Human Resource Professional (CHRP) candidate.

We welcome Lorraine and look forward to her contributions as a member of our Department.

Eric D. Brown, Chair

Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences Graduate Open house

Our graduate open house was held on Saturday, February 6, 2010. Potential graduate students were able to talk to faculty, current graduate students and tour the labs and facilities.

Photos from the day are here!

Snow Ball Photos

Photos from the December 10, 2009 BBS Snow Ball are now available here!

Karl B. Freeman Prizes Awarded

Recipients of the 2008-09 Karl Freeman Prize in Biochemistry for top graduate seminars were announced Monday, December 7, 2009.

The prizes were awarded by Dr. Karl B. Freeman to biochemistry students deemed to have presented the most outstanding graduate seminars during the 2008-09 graduate seminar series.

PhD

1st Place: Yu Seon Chung, Guarne Lab

2nd Place: Clinton Campbell, Bhatia Lab

MSc

1st Place: Ted Sewell, Brown Lab

2nd Place: Peter Spanogiannopoulous ,Wright Lab

Congratulations!

Best Graduate Poster at the Infection and Immunity Research Forum

Ana Tomljenovic, a PhD student in the Coombes laboratory, won a poster award for best graduate poster at the Infection and Immunity Research Forum at the University of Western Ontario. The Infection and Immunity Research Forum is an initiative organized by the graduate students of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Western Ontario and brings together graduate students and post-doctoral fellows with world-renowned investigators in the field of infection and immunity. Ana's award was for her work on regulatory evolution in Salmonella, entitled, " Regulatory network expansion in Salmonella Typhimurium and its implications for pathoadaptation" with co-author David Mulder, also from the Coombes laboratory.

BBSGSA presents...Snow Ball

Thursday, December 10, 2009
CIBC Banquet Hall
Cocktails 6:30 p.m.
Dinner 7:30 p.m.
Tickets on Sale November 19 - 27th
Early Bird - $25
Regular - $30

Community of Distinction

The late Dr. Barbara Ferrier was recognized for her outstanding contributions to McMaster University’s Faculty of Health Sciences when her name was added to the Community of Distinction on Friday, November 6, 2009. Dr. Ferrier joined the Department of Biochemistry in 1972 and remained a dedicated faculty member long after her appointment as a professor emeritus in 1998.

More on the event can be found here.

Halloween in BBS 2009

Ghosts and Ghouls once again populated the labs and halls of Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences on Friday, October 30, 2009. The ever popular pumpkin carving contest hosted by the BBS GSA was won by:

1st. - Burrows Lab - Pumpkin Eating Monster
2nd. - Junop Lab - Scaly Dragon
3rd. - Zhortegepand - Dragon Face

Winners of the best costumes were:

Jesus - Dominic Li
Lord of the Rings - Coombes Lab
Zombies - Melanie Gloyd & Jessica Wong

Pictures from the day can be found here.

Twist and Turns Olympics Event

Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences hosted the Twists and Turns event as part of McMaster University's Engineering and Science Olympics on October 15, 2009.

Winners of the Twists and Turns Olympic Event:

1st place: Centennial CVI, Guelph
2nd place: St. John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute, Scarborough
3rd place: Eden High School, St. Catharines

2009/2010 Graduate Awards

The Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences 2009/2010 Graduate Awards can be viewed here.

Front Cover of Journal of Biological Chemistry Oct 9, 2009

PhD Candidate Makes the Front Cover of Journal of Biological Chemistry

PhD Candidate, Ricky Cheng from the Zhorov Lab has made the front cover of Journal of Biological Chemistry for October 9, 2009.

Welcome BBQ 2009

Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences welcomed new and returning students, staff and faculty at their annual Welcome BBQ on Wednesday, September 16, 2009.

The Department would like to thank the following businesses who have helped support this event through their generous donation: New England Biolabs, Bio-Rad Laboratories Canada, Nelson Education Ltd., Beckman Coulter, Inc.

A slideshow of the BBQ can be found here.

3rd Annual Biochemistry Golf Tournament

The 3rd Annual Golf Tournament was held on August 14th at Chedoke Civic Golf Course. We had a total of 7 teams made up of 27 players from a number of different labs throughout the department (including Li, Burrows, Brown, Wright, Bhatia, Guarne, and also a team made up of professors).

The 1st place goes to 2 teams this year who tied with a low score of -3 (under par). The two winning teams were representatives from the Burrows lab, and the 2nd team was from the Bhatia/Guarne labs. We also had a longest drive competition: Men's longest drive went to Micheal Lunardo, and Women's went to Lindsay Kalan.

Afterwards there was a reception held at the Phoenix, where we were all able to have some drinks & prizes were distributed. Sponsers to be mentioned are IDT, VWR, Bio-Rad, and GE Healthcare.

All in all it was a very enjoyable day, and we hope to see everyone out again next year!

A slideshow of the golfing activities can be found here.

Annual Departmental Picnic Held at Webster's Falls

On Friday, June 26, 2009, under sunshine and blue skies, students, staff and faculty enjoyed a picnic at Webster's Falls. Congratulations to the Nodwell Lab for taking first place in the Biochemistry Olympics!

A slideshow of the afternoon's activities can be found here .

Many thanks to Julie Paul and the BBS GSA for organizing! It was much appreciated.

Graduate Student Makes the Front Cover of Nucleic Acids Research

PhD Candidate, Yu Seon Chung from the Guarne Lab has made the front cover of Nucleic Acids Research.

Chung, YS, Brendler, T, Austin, S, Guarne, A. Structural insights into the cooperative binding of SeqA to a tandem GATC repeat. (2009) 37(10): 3143-3152.

Congratulations, Yu Seon!

Biochemistry Undergraduate Reception

Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences celebrated with Biochemistry graduates of the undergraduate program on June 9, 2009 at a reception in the Ewart Angus Centre. Congratulations, graduates!

3rd Annual BBS GSA Photoscavenger Hunt

The 3rd Annual BBS GSA Photoscavenger Hunt was once again hilariously successful! A record of 8 teams representing 7 labs participated in the event. Congratulations to The Brownies from the Brown Lab for taking 1st. place with the highest point total. Runner-up honours go the Suicidal Cells from the Andrews Lab (2nd place) and Team Nodwell from the Nodwell lab (3rd place). Special thanks to the entire department for good-naturedly agreeing to pose on request!

Dr. Mick Bhatia Receives the CSBMCB Young Scientist Award

Dr. Mick Bhatia, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences and scientific director of the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute (SCCRI) in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine has received the Canadian Society of Biochemistry, Molecular & Cellular Biology’s (CSBMCB) Young Scientist Award. The award was given out on June 1, 2009 at the CSBMCB 52nd Annual Meeting held this year in Niagara-on-the Lake. Dr. Bhatia’s award talk was entitled "Cellular and Molecular characterization of human pluripotent stem cells".

Suzanne Osborne receives Vanier CGS Award

Suzanne Osborne, a doctoral student in the Coombes lab, was awarded a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Vanier CGS) by the Government of Canada for her research work in gene activation during an infection with salmonella.

Felicia Vulcu receives MSU Merit Award

The Department extends its heartfelt congratulations to Felicia Vulcu. At the recent 2009 MSU Teaching Awards Night, Felicia was the recipient of the Merit Award which is awarded to a first or second year instructor.

BBS GSA Spring Cleaning Challenge Results

Once again, the Spring Cleaning Clothing Drive Challenge was a great success!! In total, 834 articles of clothing (~40 large garbage bags full) were donated by people representing 9 different labs. The clothing was donated to the Canadian Diabetes Foundation Clothesline Program.

McMaster University

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