Pictured (from left to right): McGill/Mac representatives Ingrid Chiraz and Andrew Churchill; grad students: Jasmine Muszik, Mehtab Singh, Aylish Marshall; JAC representatives Sean Hughes and Karim Jaffer

By Kathy MacLean

In the dynamic landscape of scientific inquiry, effective communication is not merely an option; it's a necessity. Bridging the gap between complex research and broader audiences fosters understanding, sparks curiosity, and drives positive change.

** French to follow **

This message is sent on behalf of Serge Bergeron, Senior Director, Budget and Finance , Analysis, Planning and Budget and Lara Pereira, Controller, Financial Services

Dear Colleagues,

The overhead recovery fee currently being charged on actual revenues earned in non-1A unrestricted funds will remain at 7.5% in FY2025. This is unchanged from FY2024. The process for collecting and recording of this fee will continue to occur on a quarterly basis.

This year, PhD student, Asia Vighi will be the graduate instructor for the undergraduate team competing at iGem. Vighi is a Vadasz scholar in the Faculty and also presented recently for SED Talks at the Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering Design (TISED). She is taking over from Jean-Alexandre Bureau, who instructed the winning team last year. She likes working with undergraduates.

Dan Voicu (BEng’26), co-lead of the 2023 McGill iGEM team, described last year’s experience as busy! Students formed the team at the end of 2022 and spent the first two months of 2023 ideating their proposal. Then – around their regular course loads – they worked in the lab until the end of the semester. During the summer months, they implemented plans to raise money, contacting stakeholders that a small finance sub team had brainstormed. Throughout, they held workshops with the Montréal biotech community as well as a two-day conference.

With mixed feelings of pride and sadness, the Faculty of Law heartily congratulates Professor Geneviève Saumier on her appointment as dean of the Faculté de droit, Université de Montréal. She will begin a five-year term on 1 August 2024.

I am pleased to begin this issue celebrating a great achievement. McGill’s iGEM team, which is made up of a large number of students from the Department of Bioengineering, won the 2023 iGEM Global Challenge. It’s the first time ever that this global prize has been won by a Canadian university, and the first time in 10 years that it has been won by a university in North America. A big congratulations to our students, and to our professors and grad students who mentored and supported the team!