Team Science Dec 2007 by teamscience eamscience

TODAY

TeamScience Faculty of Science | McGill University | 853 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2T6

December 2007

Changing the World s I begin my third year as Dean here at the Faculty of Science, In the past few years alone, Faculty researchers linked growing the air is filled with excited anticipation—not only because the income inequality to extinction of plant and animal species, while campus is buzzing away with activity after a relatively quiet Psychology professor and Alfred P. Sloan Fellow Karim Nader, whose summer, but because the University has launched the most ambitious recent memory consolidation discovery may help post-traumatic stress fundraising campaign in Canadian university history and we are all disorder sufferers tune down unpleasant memories, is taking his honoured to be part of it.When I say “we,” I mean it in the most research to an even higher level, as you will read in the following inclusive sense pages. Excellence possible. From our is indeed an distinguished ingrained quality department chairs here at the and professors, to Faculty of our bright and Science. But as hardworking our Principal, undergraduates, to Heather Munroeour dedicated Blum, pointed out support staff and at our campaign you—our imporlaunch in midtant alumni, October, a proud patrons and past is no guaranfriends—we are tee of a proud or all key pieces that relevant future. form our prestiThe Faculty is gious Faculty. preparing to meet It is no idle the challenges of boast to say that the future by layMcGill’s scientists ing the necessary have had a progroundwork found impact on today.That is why Dean of Science Martin Grant (centre) with (from left to right): science students Maxime Chevalier Boisvert, Anna King, our world. Indeed, we have launched Aviroop Biswas, Undergraduate Research Officer Victor Chisholm, Victoria Timmermanis and Susan Westfall the planet would be a crucial campaign to a very different place had our Faculty never existed. From John raise a minimum of $61.7-million for our most important academic William Dawson, the first Canadian-born scientist of worldwide and research priorities.These include endowed chairs in a variety of renown, to physicist and Nobel laureate Ernest Rutherford, to chemist areas related to green science, neuroscience, psychology, women’s and Nobel prizewinner Rudolph Marcus, McGill scientists have been health, outreach, and of course, student support for both graduates and leaders, not followers.The challenge we face is ensuring that we undergraduates. As great as our history has been, the Faculty is today at enhance our established world-class position. I hope this special the cusp of even greater things. I ask for your support to help us seize newsletter will give you a sense of the ambitious projects we are now the opportunity while we have the chance. undertaking to secure the Faculty’s world leadership role, and of the crucial need for support as we begin the public phase of the University’s five-year capital campaign. OWEN EGAN

HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAK

John William Dawson, McGill's Principal from 1855 to 1893, was the first Canadian-born scientist to H Iachieve STORY M A K E Rrecognition. S H I S T OARfounding Y M A K member ERS HISTORY worldwide MA K Efirst R S president H I S T O of R YtheMRoyal A K ESociety R S H Iof S Canada, T O R Y he MAKERS and also H Iwas STO R Ya president M A K E R of S both H I S the T O American R Y M A Kand E R the S HISTORY British associations for the Advancement of Science, MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS the only person to have done so.

As a physics professor in the Faculty of Science, Ernest Rutherford was the first to conclude that M A K E R S H I S T Oatoms R Y Mcould A K Ebe R Stransformed H I S T O Rand Y M A Keach E R Satom HISTORY MAK that H I S T O R Y M A K E potentially R S H I S Tcarried O R Y aMtremendous A K E R S Hamount I S T O RofYenergy. MAKERS HIST him the M A K E R S H I S T OHis R Ygroundbreaking M A K E R S H idea I S T earned ORY M AK E RNobel S HISTORY MAK Prize for Chemistry in 1908.

MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HIST HISTORY MAKERS MAKERS HISTORY HISTORY MAKERS MAKERS HISTORY

HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HIST

HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAK

Written in the Star s

Science patron Lorne Trottier and renowned astrophysicist Vicky Kaspi talk about growing up with a passion for science, their commitment to M cGill, and more

CLAUDIO CALLIGARIS

Lorne Trottier’s modest office in Dorval is a testament to his dedication to science, dating to when he was a boy in Montreal building crystal radios and flying model airplanes. On a credenza behind Trottier’s desk sits a model of the Saturn V rocket that launched men on a mission to the moon in 1969.The walls are hung with photos of various galaxies, nebulae, and other sensational interstellar matter, including a collage from the 1980 Carl Sagan television series, Cosmos.“That’s an old one,”Trottier sheepishly admits. Trottier has welcomed many guests to his Dorval-based video graphics company Matrox Electronic Systems, which he cofounded in 1976, but today he has a special visitor. Professor Vicky Kaspi, McGill’s Lorne Trottier Chair in Astrophysics and Cosmology, and Canada Research Chair in Observational Astrophysics—and an internationally respected expert on neutron stars, the dense, fast-spinning remnants left after the collapse of more massive stars—is looking at a poster of what appears to be a huge billowing pair of red gaseous clouds. “That’s Eta Carinae,” she says.While Kaspi explains that Eta Carinae is a luminous hypergiant star (estimates of its mass range from 100 to 150 times the mass of the Sun) Trottier points out that some astronomers have predicted that the star may become a supernova in 10,000 to 20,000 years, wondering aloud how this event, some 7,500 lightyears away, might affect the Earth. Trottier, who donated not only the endowed chair currently held by Kaspi but has also supported McGill to the tune of some $22-million since he graduated in 1970, is clearly knowledgeable in the science projects he funds and is eager to sit down and talk with Kaspi, who has just added the UrgelArchambault Award from the Association francophone pour le savoir to her list of achievements and awards. Faculty of Science Communications Office Michael Woloschuk met with Trottier and Kaspi in October, to discuss their passion for science. Below is a transcript of the interview.

Vicky, w h e n did yo u g e t int e r e s t e d in a s t r o no my ? VK:There were a few little things that directed me.When I was nine

or 10 years old, I read a book that had a big impact on me. It was called A Wrinkle in Time. It’s a kid’s book, but I remember loving it and thinking about it constantly. And I have to admit I liked Star Trek. I was a big fan. I took it very seriously—they went on missions to do interesting things. I just thought it was wonderful. And I always liked science and math in school, and I always knew I’d do something in science. I just didn’t know what: I loved astronomy, but I also loved lots of different things in science. I could have gone in many different directions, but I met my PhD supervisor and he had a good project and I just took off from there. LT: I feel much the same way.When I was in high school, I had to

wrestle with what I wanted to do. Science in general interested me, but at some point somebody asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said “scientist.” But then I realized I had to choose which direction. VK:Yeah, it’s tough choosing.There are days—now I love what I’m

doing, I just love it—but I also wish I had more time to understand other things as well. I don’t have any regrets, but if tomorrow you said, “sorry you can’t do that anymore,” I would probably… I find neuroscience very interesting. L or ne , w h at wa s yo u r init ia l t h in k in g in g iving ba ck to t h e Fa cu lt y of S cie nc e? LT: My interest in astronomy goes back a long time. It’s not something

I picked up yesterday—it was kind of natural for me. One of the broad objectives I have in philanthropy is to support scientific knowledge of education at many different levels. And McGill has a special place in there because I went to McGill. Supporting astrophysics research is like being a patron of the arts.You don’t have to be an artist to support the arts. And I’m a patron of science, I guess. It’s been fantastic. As an amateur, I think I have a pretty reasonable knowledge, perhaps more than the average person. But my interest in science covers all aspects.The symposia are an example.The first one was on energy and climate change and then we did the origin of the universe and this time it was the origin of life. All these origin questions are all very, very deep fascinating questions for me. I enjoy reading about it, I enjoy keeping up to date with the latest discoveries on a macro level. And if I can support these things and encourage other people to develop their interests or their careers, it’s great. I’ve had a passion for science all my life. Partly because I have a deep interest in it, and partly because I make a good living from a part of technology, electronics, so it’s good to encourage others to develop that interest as well. It’s what motivates.

ERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MA

Canada’s first female nuclear physicist Harriet Andrew G. McNaughton, a McGill MSc graduate, Brooks worked with Ernest Rutherford and also went on to invent the cathode ray direction finder— ERS HISTORY MAKERS H I S T Othe R Yearly M Adiscoverers K E R S H Iof ST O R Yand M the A K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R S H I S Tthe O Rdirect Y M Aforerunner K E R S Hof I Sradar. T O RMcNaughton Y M A K E R later S H sold ISTORY MA among radon O R Y M A K E R S H I S T O R Y first M A researcher K E R S H Ito S attempt T O R Y to MA K E R S HitsI S T O R Y M A K E R S H I S T O R Y M A Kthe E R patent S H I Sfor T Oone R Ydollar M A to K Ethe R SNational HISTO RY MAKERS HIS determine Research atomic ofACanada. ERS HISTORY MAKERS H I S T Omass. R Y M A K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R S H I S TCouncil ORY M KERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MA

ORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HIS

ORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HIS ERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MA

Vi c ky, ho w do peop le li ke Lor n e i n flu e nce the work yo u’re d oi n g ? VK: Obviously, it’s wonderful. I mean, resources are everything and you

want to do world-class research but that means you have to compete on a world scale. In my area, that means competing with Harvard and CalTech, and we need resources to do it.You can have all the ideas in the world, and that’s one thing we have—lots of ideas—but we need the people who pursue them to go to conferences and talk about them. So Lorne helping us out is just tremendous. We’ve picked some very carefully chosen areas in which we want to excel. And in Canada certainly—I don’t want to boast too much—but there’s a lot of evidence that we’re the best in Canada. And in certain areas, I think we are world leaders.There’s people in our department— I see people like Peter Grütter and Robert Brandenberger who are doing work, interesting work, that is world-class.You can go anywhere in the world and say, “These scientists work in my department” and people say “Wow.” LT: Last summer,Vicky hosted the biggest gathering of specialists in neutron stars.Two hundred of the world’s top scientists and a couple of Nobel prizewinners came here, and she was the one who organized that, so it just shows how we can attract the best here at McGill.Vicky’s very well-known and people seek her out. How important a r e Mc G i ll st u de n t s, pa rticularly un de r g r a d s i n t h e depa rtm ent ’s big p i c t u r e ? VK:At McGill I have to say, the students are excellent.When I came from

the States I came from M.I.T., and I wondered if I would see the same calibre of students—and I actually find that the students here are better. Why? In terms of intellect, of course, there are smart people everywhere. But it’s more an attitude. Maybe it’s just unique to the department I’m in, but at McGill students come in and they’re enthusiastic, they’re excited— where I was before, the students were a little more cynical. When I started here I was the only woman in the department and I thought I’d have trouble attracting students. But actually, I couldn’t keep them out because people really love astronomy, or at least I find that it’s such a great attractor of students. I was really blown away by their tremendous enthusiasm and work ethic. It’s just a different culture, putting together a team. Since we study neutron stars across the spectrum, we use x-ray telescopes, optical telescopes, and these require a team.We work as a team, we have group meetings, and we have this great rapport. And I don’t know if it’s just because we don’t have the same competitiveness but we work well as a group. And part of it is, I can have a bigger team here, I can afford to have many more students. In the States, you know, you have resources, but not enough to have a big healthy group.

LT:Youth and enthusiasm are always good things, especially if they are

channelled in the right direction. I can tell you that McGill gets some pretty bright students. I experienced that first-hand when I went to McGill in the sixties. It was actually a bit of a rude awakening for me, in the sense that when I was in high school here in Montreal, we didn’t have CEGEPs as we do now, and I came straight from Grade 11 to McGill. I had been the top student in my class and my high school for the past couple of years before graduating, but when I came here it was quite a shock.There were some brilliant guys here and it took me a while to get up to speed. VK: And I have to say that when I started

in the physics program at McGill, I never worked so hard. It was a shock. I’ve had undergraduates working with me who end up writing papers that get published in journals and they are thrilled. I mean, this is just a dream come true for them, and they ask really good questions.That’s the other thing, in other countries they do research in institutes, but here they ask you tough questions—they think about things from a direction you never imagined. Vicky, w h e r e do yo u wa nt to s e e yo u r r e s e a r ch g o ne x t ? VK:Well, lots of places and it depends on

what day you ask me, but right now there’s a new NASA mission that will be launched in 2011 and I’m starting to get involved in that. It’s called NuSTAR. I had actually proposed to the Canadian Space Agency that we build part of it, but that didn’t go anywhere. LT: It’s one of the things that’s interesting in

the age that we are living in right now. Carl Sagan called it the Golden Age, and right now we’re at a stage when new technology is allowing scientists to build better instruments and aim them at things that have never been looked at before. If you build an instrument like that and put it out there, you will make discoveries.There’s no question about it.You will make lots of discoveries. T h a nk yo u f or yo u r t im e a nd t h e oppor t u nit y to ta l k .

KERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY

Nuclear physicist and former McGill Principal Wilder Penfield, Professor of Neurology and Robert Edward Bell invented the direct timing Neurosurgery, revolutionized our understanding K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R Smethod HISTO Y M A K E nuclear R S H I processes S T O R Y down M A K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R S H I Sof T the O R human Y MAK E R SThe H pioneering I S T O R Y clinician M A K E Rand S HISTORY forRmeasuring brain. S T O R Y M A K E R S H I S T O R Yto M A K E R Sof a H billionth I S T O R of Y aMsecond, A K E Rand S Hthe I S T O R Y M A K E R S H I S T O R Y M Aneuroscientist K E R S H I S Twas O Rcelebrated Y M A K Enationally R S H I S and TORY MAKERS a fraction radioactivity. proton K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R Sdiscovery H I S T Oof RY MAK E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R S H I Sinternationally T O R Y M A Kfor E Rwhat S H the I S TGlobe O R Y and M AMail K E called RS HISTORY his "almost miraculous" achievements.

STORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS

STORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS KERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY

Faculty and Alumni News

K u do s

Now in its 10th printing at 150,000 copies, This Is Your Brain on Music, by McGill psychology professor Daniel Levitin, is a runaway bestseller. Here’s what rock legend Sting had to say about it:

Charles Gale, James McGill Professor in the Department of Physics, was

Gordon Sumner, aka Sting

OWEN EGAN

S ti n g ’s Go t Music on t h e Br a i n

Daniel Levitin

Music seems to have an almost willful, evasive quality, defying simple explanation, so that the more we find out, the more there is to know, leaving its power and mystery intact, however much we may dig and delve. Daniel’s book is an eloquent and poetic exploration of this paradox.There may be no simple answer or end in sight, but the ride is nonetheless a thrilling one, especially in the company of a writer who is both an accomplished musician, a hard nosed scientist, and someone who can still look upon the universe with a sense of wonder.

Hon orary Do ctor at e for M c G i ll A st r o nau t

At McGill’s fall convocation ceremonies in November, Canadian astronaut and McGill alumnus Dr. David Williams, BSc’76, MSc’83, MDCM’83, was given an honorary Doctor of Science for his many achievements since graduation. Former ER director at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Dr.Williams became the seventh Canadian astronaut to venture into space, when he blasted off with the space shuttle Columbia in 1998 as the crew’s medical officer. Later, NASA appointed him director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He was the first non-American to hold a senior management position with the space agency. Dr. Williams continues to give back to his alma mater. Most recently, he suggested that the Canadian Space Agency sponsor a university-wide contest at McGill, for students to design a special patch for the Endeavour mission to the International Space Station this past August. Dave Williams

elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in October for his distinguished contributions to the study of medium- and high-energy nuclear collisions. Gale, whose research deals primarily with the theoretical study of strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions of temperature and density. He will be presented with an official certificate and rosette pin during the association’s 2008 annual meeting in Boston. A paper on the use of water in organic chemistry by McGill chemist and Canada Research Chair in Green Chemistry Chao-Jun (C.J.) Li has been named by the American Chemical Society (ACS) as one of its top five “hot papers.” Li’s article was named because it was among the five most cited papers published by the society over the last two years. Li’s achievement is even more remarkable given that some 12,000 ACS papers were published in this period. The 2007 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research was presented to McGill alumni Ralph M. Steinman, BSc’63, for his discovery of dendritic cells, the preeminent component of the immune system that initiates and regulates the body’s response to foreign antigens. Currently the Henry G. Kunkel Professor and Senior Physician with Rockefeller University, Steinman has opened up novel therapeutic avenues for combating cancer and pathogens. Since 1962, a total of 71 Lasker Award recipients have gone on to win the Nobel Prize, most within two years of receiving the Lasker. Among those sharing the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Al Gore and his UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are McGill’s very own Nigel Roulet, director of the McGill School of Environment and James McGill Professor of Geography and Mohan Munasinghe, PhD’73, a Sri Lankan scientist. Roulet was a contributing author to the climate change panel report, and Munansinghe is vice-chairman of the award-winning climate change panel. McGill University physics professor Vicky Kaspi’s outstanding contribution to the world of astrophysics has been recognized with the prestigious Urgel-Archambault Award from the Association francophone pour le savoir. In 2005, Kaspi and her team discovered the fastest-rotating pulsar known to science and more than 20 pulsars in a single star cluster in the Milky Way. Both findings yielded important new information about the nature of one of the most mysterious forms of matter in the universe. Created in 1953, in honour of Urgel Archambault, the founder and first director of l’École Polytechnique de Montréal, the prize is awarded annually in recognition of outstanding work in the advancement of physics, mathematics, engineering or computer science.The Urgel-Archambault Award represents only the most recent of Kaspi’s many accolades. She was recently awarded the Rutherford Memorial Medal in Physics by the Royal Society of Canada, and has also received the Canadian Association of Physicists Herzberg Medal, the prestigious NSERC Steacie Prize, and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Young Explorer Prize.

HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAK

Roger Daley, a McGill meteorologist, was the principal By merging neurology and psychology, Brenda Milner constructor of the Canadian numerical weather is credited with creating the field of cognitive neuroH I S T O R Y M A K E R S H forecasting I S T O R Y system. M A K E His R S numerical HISTOR Y M A K E of R StheH I S T O R Y M A K E R S H I S T O science. R Y M AMilner KERS ISTO RY MA K Ethe R SNational HISTORY MAK descriptions hasHbeen inducted into M A K E R S H I S T O R Y M atmosphere A K E R S H or I Svariations TORY M K E Rform S Hthe I S Tbasis ORY S H I S TofOSciences R Y M A(USA), K E R the S HAmerican ISTORY M A K Eof RS HIST ofAthem of M A K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E RAcademy Academy the ofELondon the H I S T O R Y M A K E R S H virtually I S T O R all Y forecasting M A K E R S and H I long-term S T O R Y climate M A K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R S H I S T O Arts R Y and M ASciences, KERS H I SRoyal T O R Society Y MAK R S H Iand STO RY MAK simulations in use everywhere in the world to this day. Royal Society of Canada. MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HIST

MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HIST

HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAK

Faculty and Alumni News

Re s earch Co nfer e n c e Showc a se s U n de r g r a ds

With a range of research projects running from the psychology of terrorism to the biology of proteins, the Faculty of Science’s Third Annual Undergraduate Research Conference (URC) enlightened and entertained hundreds of visitors during Homecoming 2007 this past October.

Research is fast becoming a pillar of a McGill undergraduate education. The Faculty of Science’s Office for Undergraduate Research, which organizes the conference plans to increase the number of undergraduate students involved in research. This will expose them to the role of scholarly exploration in the undergraduate experience. “The conference is also important because it shows to the community what our undergraduates are capable of and what they do achieve,” said Undergraduate Research Officer Victor Chisholm. “This year, alumni passed by the posters all day long and were very impressed. Some remarked at how it appeared that some of the presentations were at either Master’s or PhD levels and were amazed that this research was being accomplished by undergraduates.”

OWEN EGAN

This year, 56 students from across the Faculty of Science participated, showcasing 47 research projects in five categories: Biological Sciences, Earth System Science, Mathematical and Computational Sciences, Medical Sciences and Psychology and Physical Sciences.

Arthur Guez, left, presents to professors Bruce Shepherd and Gonzalo Cosa at the Third Annual Science Undergraduate Research Conference

The conference was capped off by the awarding of prizes to the top two posters in each category, and by a keynote address by Dr. Jonathan Foley, Director of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) at the University of Wisconsin, where he is also the Gaylord Nelson Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences.

Food for Thought… D EAN ’ S B REAKFAST

Garry Peterson, Canada Research Chair and assistant professor cross-appointed between the Department of Geography and the McGill School of the Environment, gives a brief yet fascinating talk at the annual Dean’s Breakfast at McGill’s Faculty Club during Homecoming celebrations this past October. More than 100 alumni, donors and friends turned up for a hearty breakfast followed by a series of talks by select faculty members.

AT S OUP

AND

S CIENCE

OWEN EGAN

THE

CLAUDIO CALLIGARIS

Hundreds of students filled the lecture room at the Redpath Museum over the lunch hour for a week this past September to hear 26 professors give short presentations on their particular fields of research, after which students and faculty mingled over free lunch.This increasingly popular event, Soup and Science, offers students a chance to find out about hot new research, and to get involved in it as well. In the photo above, Professor Jason Young from the Department of Biochemistry discusses his research with an undergraduate.

ERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MA

Rudolph Arthur Marcus devised a theory that Psychology Professor Ronald Melzack changed the explains such phenomena as photosynthesis, face of pain forever, first with his Gate Control E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R S Helectrically I S T O R Y conducting M A K E R Spolymers, H I S T Oand R Y corrosion— M A K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R S H I S T Theory ORY M A Klater E R StheHMcGill I S T OPain R Y Questionnaire, MAKERS HISTORY MA and ORY MAKERS HISTORY M K E as R Smany H I Sother T O Rchemical Y M A Kreactions. E R S H I In S T1992 O R Y M A K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K which E R S remains H I S T O aR widely Y M Aused K E Rclinical S H I Stool T Oto RY MAKERS HIS evaluate asAwell inRChemistry patients E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R S Hhe I Swas T O awarded R Y M A the K E Nobel R S H Prize ISTO Y M A K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R S H I S T pain O R Yin M A K E Raround S H I Sthe T Oworld. RY MAKERS HISTORY MA

ORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HIS

Scientist Takes Memory Research to New Heights Psychology professor K ari m Na der says his memory reconsolidation discoveries can be used to treat drug addiction, chronic pain, and more

We have shown that, if you block these memories in animals that have arlier this year, Forbes named McGill psychology professor Karim taken drugs hundreds of times, then you can stop the cravings for drugs. Nader one of “10 People Who Could Change the World” for his And in the history of the field, there’s been no other demonstration of groundbreaking research on memory reconsolidation. Now, the treatment causing long-term change, or cessation of drug-taking. And 40-year-old Alfred P. Sloan Fellow and William Dawson Chair is poised to deliver on that promise, saying that other psychopathological disorders, that’s just amazing, right?” When Nader returns to his lab from sabbatical next year he will such epilepsy, obsessive-compulsive disorders or even addiction, can be begin a five-year research program that he alleviated through his revolutionary treatment. believes will show that his revolutionary “This is not just about memory—it’s a memory reconsolidation treatment has breakthrough in how the brain wires and beneficial results not only in addicts of rewires itself,” said Nader. all kinds, but on those afflicted by obsesThe experiments that won Nader sive-compulsive disorders, or experiencinternational renown suggest that daming chronic pain, epilepsy or major aging memories can be stripped of their depression. potency by administering a common The Cairo-born psychologist is blood pressure drug, propranolol, as a working hard to ensure that his research traumatic event is being recollected.The advances to the next level, and is tourtreatment, which has proven effective in ing the world to discuss his work, includpost-traumatic stress disorder sufferers, ing a recent conference at the Cold does not erase memories, but simply Spring Harbor Lab’s prestigious Banbury removes the emotional baggage associatCenter. He is also working with fellow ed with the memory. Karim Nader, seated, surrounded by members of the Nader Lab at the Department of Psychology McGill psychology professor Jeffrey Mogil on “I’ve been working with manipulating applying his research to chronic pain sufferers. memories to beneficial effect—but it has a more beneficial effect than I “I want to push this up another level,” says Nader. “All this stuff had originally thought,” Nader explained.“You know, the wiring in our works on animals.The drug stuff works.The pain stuff works.There brain undergoes changes in drug cravings, and that’s the same kind of has been a reasonable amount of research done on this, so we want to wiring that works in memory reconsolidation. Among the things we’re take from there.” looking at now is blocking drug cravings in cocaine users, for example. OWEN EGAN

The Imperial Oil Foundation is helping put the wow back into elementary and high school education with its $800,000 gift that will fund McGill’s Winners of Wonderment (WOW) Lab, designed to assist teachers in generating excitement and enhanced learning in mathematics and sciences. The Imperial Oil investment will help equip the WOW Lab with audiovisual, computer and other equipment.A joint project of McGill’s faculties of Science and Education, the lab is led by Dr. Brian Alters,Tomlinson Chair in Science Education and William Dawson Scholar. “McGill’s top-flight faculty has a well-deserved reputation for thinking outside the box, and the WOW Lab is a testament to that spirit of innovation and inter-faculty cooperation,” said Principal and Vice-Chancellor Heather Munroe-Blum. At its unveiling this past September, lab members showcased their ability to illuminate even the most difficult science concepts to a group of Montreal high school students that included a live display of buoyancy involving a McGill professor submerged in over 400 gallons of water—and later in the WOW Lab— a demonstration of superconductivity, with a levitating train.

OWEN EGAN

New Lab WOWs ’Em

Professor Brian Alters, cross-appointed in the faculties of Science and Education, is known for his ability to illuminate science’s most difficult concepts

KERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY

McGill alumnus Bernard Belleau carried out fundamental Nuclear chemist Leo Yaffe pioneered research into the peaceful application of nuclear technology, research on the chemistry of several groups of drugs K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R Sdeveloping H I S T O Rpractical Y M A Kapplications E R S H I S TofOnuclear R Y M A K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R S H I Seffective T O R Y in Mcombating AKERS H ISTORY A K E RHis S highly HISTORY infections andMcancer. S T O R Y M A K E R S H I S T O R Yradiation, M A K Eincluding R S H I S intense T O R Y sources M A K EofR cobalt-60 S H I S T O R Y M A K E R S H I S T O R Y M Acreative K E R S work H I SinT the O R 1980s Y M Aled K EtoR the S Hdiscovery ISTORY M A the KERS of 3TC, K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R SforHthe I S Ttreatment O R Y M of A Kcancer, E R S and H I Sradioactive T O R Y Mtracers A K E R S H I S T O R Y M A K E R S H I Sfirst T Oanti-HIV R Y M Acompound K E R S H drug. I S T O3TC R Y remains M A K EaRcornerstone S HISTORY for medical diagnosis and research. of combination HIV/AIDS infection therapies.

STORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS HISTORY MAKERS