It is with great sadness that we announce the untimely passing of Emeritus Professor Denis F.R. Gilson, following a relatively short period of hospitalization. He was a close colleague of many of us in the Department of Chemistry at McGill and throughout the university. Prof. Gilson was educated initially in the U.K. at University College London, where he obtained a B.Sc. degree in Chemistry in 1957. He then moved to Canada to embark upon his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry at the University of British Columbia (1957–62). He completed his Ph.D.

By Chris Chipello, McGill Newsroom

Could a cheap molecule used to disinfect swimming pools provide the key to creating a new form of DNA nanomaterials?

Yasser Gidi from the Cosa group received in February 16th the NSERC Gilles Brassard Doctoral Prize for Interdisciplinary Research. He has developed a novel single-molecule platform that makes it possible to observe and study proteins that allow life-threatening viruses such as hepatitis C and HIV to reproduce, often mutating into forms that are resistant to known drug therapies. Gidi is effectively creating "movies" of individual biological machines in action, with the goal of understanding how the viruses reproduce and how they respond to drugs.

Need a card to go with that perfect gift for that special someone this Valentine’s Day? Do they love chemistry related puns? Then McGill Chemistry Department recent graduate Nick Uhlig has you covered. The Li lab alum has recently made available several charming Valentine’s Day cards through the online marketplace Redbubble. “I wanted to do it for a long time and kept saving up the ideas, but really only got to it after graduating.” says Uhlig, who now works as a medicinal chemist at Gilead Sciences’ in Edmonton, Alberta.

Yevgen Nazarenko (photo), Uday Kurien, Oleg Nepotchatykh and Rodrigo Rangel-Alvarado, with Prof Ariya have published a paper that demonstrates a substantial influence of snow on car exhaust pollution. In particular, the results showed that snow acts as a sink for toxic organic pollutants and nanosized particles from car exhausts. The article is published in Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts and has attracted much attention, now classified "hot" on the Journal website.

Gold nanoparticles have unusual optical, electronic and chemical properties, which scientists are seeking to put to use in a range of new technologies, from nanoelectronics to cancer treatments.

During the fall 2015 semester, students enrolled in the Green Chemistry course (CHEM 462) were involved in a unique initiative. They entirely created their very own journal composed of reports and critiques inspired by the 12 principles of green chemistry. An editorial board composed of students in the course was cast and defined teh scope for this new publication. Students each wrote an article, submitted it to the editors, peer evaluted each other's work and finally presented their final work.