重口味SM

Dentistry professor Celine Levesque is one of three U of T faculty members to be named a new Canada Research Chair. (Dentistry photo)

U of T awarded three new Canada Research Chairs

Sixteen researchers receive renewals, promotions

What happens to an airplane engine before it gets built? You probably don鈥檛 think much about it, but Prasanth Nair, the new Canada Research Chair in Computational Modeling and Design does.

Before that engine is built, it鈥檚 modelled extensively on computers and those models are used to build prototypes that are tested. Computer modelling reduces both the time and the cost involved in carrying out a project by making sure that a design will work in theory before anything actually gets built. The challenge, though, is that models don鈥檛 always behave the same way the real world does.

Nair, of the 重口味SM Institute for Aerospace Studies, is tackling the problem of uncertainty in modelling, thanks to funding announced today under the Canada Research Chair (CRC) program. He joins two other U of T researchers who were awarded new CRCs, two who were promoted within the ranks of the CRC program and 14 whose existing chairs were renewed.

The Canada Research Chairs program, administered by the federal government, invests $300 million per year to attract and retain the world鈥檚 most accomplished and promising researchers. The CRC designation is a prestigious mark of excellence for a researcher.

U of T鈥檚 other new CRCs are Professor Celine Levesque of Dentistry and Professor Antonio Strafella of Medicine and the University Health Network. Levesque, the CRC in Oral Microbial Genetics, is investigating how biofilms鈥攃ollections of organisms such as bacteria鈥攔esist antibiotics. Strafella, the CRC in Movement Disorders and Neuroimaging, will use neuroimaging to look at the brains of Parkinson鈥檚 patients in order to identify abnormalities that underlie behavioural and cognitive problems arising from the disease.

Professor Daniel Durocher of molecular genetics and Mount Sinai Hospital, (CRC in Molecular Genetics of the DNA Damage Response) and Igor Jurisica, (CRC in Integrative Cancer Informatics) of medical biophysics and the University Health Network were promoted to Tier 1 CRCs. The Tier 1 designation indicates that they鈥檙e world leaders in their fields.

The following professors saw their existing chairs renewed:

鈥&苍产蝉辫;Liliana Attisano  of biochemistry (CRC in Signalling Networks in Cancer);
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Mohammad Fadel of law (CRC in Law and Economics of Islamic Law);
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Guri Giaever of the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (CRC in Chemical Biology);
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Anne-Claude Gingras of molecular genetics and Mount Sinai Hospital (CRC in Functional Proteomics);
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Stephen Girardin of laboratory medicine & pathobiology (CRC in Innate Immunity and Microbial Pathogenesis);
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Anthony Hanley of nutritional sciences (CRC in The Epidemiology of Type 2 Diabetes);
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Stephen Julian of physics (CRC in Experimental Condensed Matter Physics);
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Andrea Kassner of medical imaging (CRC in Neuroimaging);
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Amira Klip of biochemistry and the Hospital for Sick Children (CRC in Cell Biology of Insulin Action);
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Andreas Lozano of surgery and the University Health Network (CRC in Neuroscience);
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Avery Nathens of surgery and St. Michael鈥檚 Hospital (CRC in Systems of Trauma Care);
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Daniella Rotin of biochemistry and the Hospital for Sick Children (CRC in Biochemistry and Signal Transduction);
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Gilbert Walker of chemistry (CRC in Biointerfaces) and
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Joseph Wong of political Science (CRC in Democratization, Health and Development).

鈥淥n behalf of the 重口味SM, I extend my congratulations to this stellar group of researchers,鈥 said Professor Paul Young, U of T鈥檚 vice-president (research). 鈥淭he CRC designation is a sign of true research leadership and excellence.鈥 Young also offered his thanks to the Government of Canada for providing funding through the CRC program. 鈥淭he CRC Program allows us to attract and retain the world鈥檚 best researchers鈥攖hose who are thinking deeply about some of our most pressing problems. We are extremely grateful for this investment in our researchers.鈥

The CRC funding was announced at the University of Guelph by  Minister of State Gary Goodyear and at Concordia University by Senator Larry Smith.

 

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