memorial for dr. ali-khan
TRANSCRIPT
News of what's happening around MIMM June 2017
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CHAIR'S CORNER
A word from the MIMM Chair
Dear MIMMers, This is the last MIMM Newsletter beforethe well-deserved Summer vacationperiod. The 2016-2017 academic yearwas again a very successful one for theMIMM Department. I would like tosincerely thank everybody in the MIMMCommunity for your contribution to such awonderful academic year. As for the 2016 calendar year, weincreased our overall peer-reviewed
EVENTS
MEMORIAL FOR DR. ALI-KHAN
Dear friends and colleagues ofDr. Zafer Ali-Khan,
It is with our deepest sorrowthat we inform you of thedeath of Dr. Zafer Ali-Khan's, Professor Emeritus atMcGill University, passing onApril 5, 2017.
We invite you to attend an informalmemorial gathering to celebrate thelife and career of Zafer. It will be held
at 2pm on Friday June 9th at theSheldon Conference Room D4,
5th floor, in the Department ofMicrobiology and Immunology (Duff
funding by 23% compared to the previousyear. During that period, we also enrolleda total record of 30 new students in ourGraduate program. These are excellentnews unveiling the overall vitality andstrength of our Department. More detailsabout our collective success can be foundin the recently published 2016 AnnualReport. Now, let's look forward to anotherfruitful and productive year in 2017. It was with great sadness that weinformed you last month that one of ourColleagues Dr. Zafer Ali-Khan, EmeritusProfessor, passed away peacefullysurrounded by his family in Christchurch,New Zealand. A memorial will be held, inpresence of his daughter Sarah, tocelebrate his life, to share stories, andremember a life lived to the fullest. Thememorial will take place on Friday June
9th 2017 at 2:00pm in the SheldonConference Room (D4) at the Duff (3775University Street). In lieu of flowers pleaseconsider donating to the LakeshoreGeneral Hospital Foundation and specifyKidney Dialysis Unit. Kindly RSVP bysending a reply to Lana [email protected]. Please sharethis invitation with anybody who would beinterested in attending the memorial. Kudos to our Colleagues Dr Martin Richerand Dr Greg Matlashewski that bothreceived 5-year CIHR project grantsrespectively entitled “The impact of host-pathogen interactions on cell-mediatedimmunity” and “The genetic basis forLeishmania attenuation”. Great job, keepon the good work! Please join me in congratulating Ms.Suzana Kafadar who recently acceptedthe position of Associate Director of ourAdministrative Excellence Center (AEC#2). Suzana, thank you for accepting to
Medical Building, McGill University,3775 Rue University, Montréal, QCH3A 2B4). We hope that you will beable to join us to share stories, andraise our glasses to toast our dearZafer.
This invitation may be forwarded toanyone who you know would like toattend the celebration of Dr. Ali-Khan's life.
RSVP by June 7thto: [email protected]
Mental Health AwarenessWorkshop
MIMM members are invited to aMental Health Awareness workshoptaking place on June 14th 2:00pm-3:30pm in room 5001 of the BrownBuidling (3600 McTavish St.). Evelyn Rodinos, psychologist, will beleading this workshop. Participants
supervise our AEC and stay associated toour Department. We wish you greatsuccess for this new challenge in yourcareer. Some news about our Departmental
office. On June 19th, Ms. Elisa Torres willbe back in the position of Secretary thatwas held by Ms. Irene Laforteza (sickleave) and Ms. Syed Fiza Edroos duringElisa’s maternity leave. Elisa, we are allvery happy to welcome you back to ourDepartment. On behalf of all MIMMers, Iwould like to thank Irene who kindlyreplaced Elisa during her leave fromMIMM. As for Fiza, she will stay with usuntil at least the end of the Summer. Finally, I would like to wish everybody awonderful Summer. Please take the timeto enjoy the warm weather, unwind, andspend some relaxing time with family andfriends. Hope to see you all refreshed andready to tackle another academic year,next Fall. All the best, take care, Ben
PUBLICATIONS
Dhariwal A, Chong J, Habib S, King IL,Agellon LB and Xia J.(2017). MicrobiomeAnalyst: a web-basedtool for comprehensive statistical, visualand meta-analysis of microbiome data.Nucleic Acids Research. LAU, PETER C. K. Quality Living throughChemurgy and Green Chemistry.Germany: SPRINGER-VERLAG BERLINAN, 2017. Print.
Meli AP, Fontes G, Leung Soo C and KingIL. (2017). T follicular helper cell-derived
will learn to identify students indistress, initiate helping dialogues,and mobilize campus resources.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Awards WinnnersCongratulations to the followingoutstanding individuals:
Ms. Jordana Serero forwinning the E.G.D. MurrayPrize in MicrobiologyMs. Jahanara Rajwani forwinning the Major Hiram MillsMedalMr. Ryan Pardy for winning theW. Yaphe Award (M.Sc. level)Ms. Kaitlin Anstett for winningthe W. Yaphe Award (PhDlevel)
FRQNT Team GrantCongratulations to Drs. SamanthaGruenheid, Lyle Whyte, LawrenceGoodridge and Roger Levesquebeing awarded the FRQNT teamgrant entitled Novel antibiotics fromthe artic soil microbiome.
IL-4 is required for IgE production duringintestinal helminth infection. Journal ofImmunology.
Mirzaei, MK., and Maurice, CF. (2017)Ménage à trois in the human gut:interactions between host, bacteria andphages. Nature Reviews Microbiology,doi: 10.1038/nrmicro.2017.30.
NEW MEMBERS JOINING THEDEPARTMENT
Two new members will be joining theMaurice Lab this summer: LiviaSant’Ana and Will Jogia. Livia is a PhD student from Brazilcoming to pursue some of her workon the interactions between the gutmicrobiota, the inflammasome, andobesity. Will is a NSERC fundedundergraduate student who will beworking on characterizing thephysiology of gut bacterial isolates.
FACE OF THE MONTH
Face of the Month: TomRinger
You are.... I started in the department in 1995
CIHR project grantsCongratulations to Dr. Martin Richerand Dr. Greg Matlashewski forreceiving a 5-year CIHR projectgrants :
“The impact of host-pathogeninteractions on cell-mediatedimmunity” - Dr. Martin Richer“The genetic basis forLeishmania attenuation” -Dr. Greg Matlashewski
Fellowships awarded to FélixLaRoche-Johnston
We are pleased to announce thesuccessful recipient of the prestigiousCGSD scholarship, Félix LaRoche-Johnston, from Dr. Benoit Cousineau'sLaboratory. The CGSD scholarshipawards $35,000 a year for a period of 3years.
as a glasswasher and autoclavehelper and now I run the Bio Bar,Glass washing and autoclavingfacilities.
What do you like about thedepartment? I enjoy helping different people on adaily basis. This includes, the peopleI work with, the PIs, sales reps,work-study students and thestudents that work in the researchlabs.
How are you involved in thedepartment? I run the Bio Bar, Glass washing andautoclaving facilities. I also deal withthe McGill tradesmen, Wastemanagement program and EHS asI’m part of the Department SafetyCommittee. I’m also the DepartmentRadiation Safety Officer.
What is your passion? Try to learn something new everyday. I do have a passion with Hockey andFootball both CFL and NFL. The last8 years I have been playing darts; it’snot a very competitive league but alot of fun. The group of people thereand my co-workers here have helpme in a lot of life changes which I’mvery grateful for.
Felix has also won 2additional fellowships:
PhD Fellowship from Fonds deRecherche du Québec - Nature etTechnologies (FRQNT)PhD Fellowship from Fonds deRecherche du Québec - Santé(FRQS)
Congratulations Félix!
Awards and Scholarshipgranted to Ryan Pardy
Congratulations to Ryan Pardy, from Dr.Martin Richer's lab, for receiving thefollowing awards last month:
Poster award at the 30th AnnualSpring Meeting of the CanadianSociety for Immunology in BanffPoster award 6th AnnualSymposium on Cytokines inInflammation, Ageing, Cancer andObesity in Eastman, QCDoctoral Training Scholarship fromthe Fonds de Recherche SantéQuébec (FRQS)
Congratulations Ryan!
Jobs Available!Still looking for a job? Visit the postingsavailable online or have a look at the jobbinder located in Room 511 of the DuffMedical Building.
SERVICES
Duff Biobar UpdatesThe Biobar stocks useful lab suppliesincluding Kleenex, bleach, gloves, andpaper towels at competitive prices. BioBaroperating hours are from Monday toFriday: 8:00 -12:00 & 1:00 -3:30. More information.
Connect with us!Like our official Facebook page and followus on Twitter for regular updates!
Microbial Crafts Team is going toNew Orleans!
In November 2016, McGillMicrobiology and ImmunologyStudents’ Association (MISA) tookpart in the Get Smart AboutAntibiotics Week overseen by theSmall World Initiative and theCenters for Disease Control andPrevention (CDC). The students'goal was to raise awareness aboutantibiotic resistance by sellingMicrobial Crafts (MiCrafts), whichwere handcrafted and designed byabout 15 McGill students andprofessors.
SWI invited six students behindMiCrafts to present their lab researchrelated to antibiotics discovery and todeliver the MiCrafts at the annualSWI Symposium of AmericanSociety for Microbiology Microbe2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana onJune 1st. The six MIMMundergraduate students are:
Tzu-Wei (Joy) TsengJennifer HittiEmma HignettAlicia JiaOwen Dunkley
Bushra Khan
MIMM's Microbial Crafts Team wasfeatured on the Small World Initiativeblog.
Want to contribute an item to the MIMM Bites? Here’s where to send it: [email protected] Check out the latest updates on our website: www.mcgill.ca/microimm
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