Nine McGill researchers awarded Canada Research Chairs

$5.4 million to be shared by three newly named, six renewed CRCs

Nine McGill University researchers are among the 134 Canada Research Chairs (CRC) announced by the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology) and the Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Minister of National Revenue and Minister of State (Agriculture) , at an event held today at McGill University ’s new Life Sciences Complex.

The event featured one of McGill’s three new chairholders, Andrew Reader, whose work focuses on developing advanced brain imaging techniques that will greatly aid research into brain disorders and their treatment. Thomas Szkopek and Sven Wassman hold McGill’s two other new CRCs. Szkopek’s research involves applying physics at the nanoscale level to create new electronic devices. Wassmann’s work aims to understand how the body’s endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) naturally help fight cardiovascular diseases.

The $5.4 million awarded to McGill for the three new chairs and renewal of six others includes $642,272from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for research infrastructure in support of four of the projects.

“We are grateful for the CRC Program which has allowed Canadian universities to play a leading role in research and innovation, an essential element in developing a strong economy and society,” said Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University. “We congratulate our CRC recipients and welcome the significant advances to science their research will generate.”

“The Canada Research Chairs program means McGill has been able to attract or repatriate exceptional researchers from abroad,” said Denis Thérien, McGill’s Vice-Principal (Research and International Relations). “This translates into offering our students exposure to some of the world’s finest researchers and augments the talent pool of investigators who make McGill the research leader that it is, on a global scale”.

Minister Goodyear and Minister Blackburn announced today an investment of $120.4million to fund 134 Canada Research Chairs from 37 universities across the country. The CFI is contributing $6.6million to support research infrastructure that will facilitate the work being performed by 42 of the chairholders.

The Government of Canada created the Canada Research Chairs Program in 2000 to establish 2,000 research professorships across the country, with the aim of making Canada one of the world's top five countries for research and development.

McGill’s latest Canada Research Chairs are:

Reader, Andrew J.
Canada Research Chair in Positron Emission Tomography Imaging
Health, Tier 2, $500,000, NEW
(CFI funding of $120,000)

Szkopek, Thomas
Canada Research Chair in Nanoscale Electronics
Natural Sciences and Engineering, Tier 2, $500,000, NEW
(CFI funding of $183,068)

Wassmann, Sven
Canada Research Chair in Vascular Biology
Health, Tier 2, $500,000, NEW
(CFI funding of $140,000)

Cook, Erik P.
Canada Research Chair in the Physiology of Visual Perception
Health, Tier 2, $500,000, renewal

Fagotto, François
Canada Research Chair in Vertebrate Embryonic Development
Health, Tier 2, $500,000, renewal

Muller, William J.
Canada Research Chair in Molecular Oncology
Health, Tier 1, $1,400,000, renewal

Peterson, Garry D.
Canada Research Chair in Social-Ecological Modelling
Natural Sciences and Engineering, Tier 2, $500,000, renewal

Steinhauer, Karsten
Canada Research Chair in Neurocognition of Language
Health, Tier 2, $500,000, renewal

Whyte, Lyle G.
Canada Research Chair in Environmental Microbiology
Natural Sciences and Engineering, Tier 2, $500,000
(CFI funding of $199,404)