Science Stand-Up Comedy Night Online
On Thursday October 22th Transcripts, in collaboration with Dnatured and the Biochem Department, is hosting an online Science Stand-Up Comedy Night. See the poster for details. 
Nana Lee’s article on Virtual Connections published in University Affairs, Fall 2020
Hot off the press: Nana Lee’s article on Virtual Connections published in the print edition of Canada’s national University Affairs, Fall 2020.
Message from the Chair
Hello all,
Welcome to the new graduate students!
I would like to start by congratulating and welcoming all who have signed on to our graduate program for 2020-21. I realize that this is a strange time to be starting graduate school but I would like to say on behalf of the entire department, that we’re delighted you’re here. Normally we would all be off at our departmental retreat at this time however […]
Departmental News
Message from the Chair, Justin Nodwell.
Hello all,
I hope that your returns (partial or otherwise) to lab work have gone as smoothly as possible. None of the ‘new normal’ is perfect and there are some nagging problems that are still being worked on at our various locations. But I think we all agree that it is good and necessary to have this work going again.
In the mean time here […]
New Method to Detect Protein-Protein Interactions Developed by the Stagljar Lab
In a new publication that was published in Nature Communications, the Stagljar lab describe a new technique, called Split Intein-Mediated Protein Ligation (SIMPL), where two test proteins are fused to two halves of intein, a protein that promotes “protein splicing”. When the two test proteins interact, the intein protein activates a splicing reaction, resulting in the fusion of the two test proteins. This technique can help to detect […]
Lewis Kay Elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences
Our esteemed colleague Lewis Kay has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences for his remarkable work on multidimensional NMR.
http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/2020-nas-election.html
This is an enormous accomplishment and a rarity for scientists outside the United States (or inside the United States for that matter).
Biochemistry Seminars are Online
Yesterday the Department had its first ever online student seminar. Nick Ostan from the Moraes lab presented his work on Lactoferin, LbpA and LbpB. This was followed by Richard Liu from the Kahr lab who spoke to us about structural studies on VPS16B and VPS33B. Despite a few technical difficulties, it was a success by all accounts.
Update of the Departmental Activities During the Covid19 Pandemic
Message from the Chair:
The Advisory Committee to the Chair (ACC) is now meeting on a weekly basis to discuss how to manage various student needs during this disruption.
The Department is purchasing an institutional subscription that will allow multiple, simultaneous Zoom meetings. Until then I encourage faculty to sign up individually and use this platform for lab meetings as Zoom is offering its services for free. Please contact Ayesha Glover if […]
New potential anti-cancer compounds discovered by the Stagljar lab
In the latest issue of Nature Chemical Biology, the Stagljar lab used the mammalian membrane two-hybrid drug screening (MaMTH-DS), a technique that they previously pioneered, to identify new compounds that inhibit the activity of oncoproteins that cause breast cancer. In this case they found four compounds that inhibit the dimerization of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which is commonly mutated in non-small-cell lung cancers that have become […]
Alex Palazzo wins award for excellence in graduate teaching
Alex Palazzo was awarded a 2019-2020 Faculty of Medicine Graduate Teaching Award for Mid-Career Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentorship.
Professor Palazzo was one of two recipients honoured with the faculty teaching award in this category, to recognize and celebrate outstanding contributions to graduate education. Candidates are nominated by their Graduate Unit through a student (or recent graduate) – initiated process and the awards are adjudicated by the Faculty of […]
How bacterial invaders are sensed in the gut
A new paper in the latest issue of Science describes how the bacterial-sensing proteins, NOD1/2, are recruited to the membranes of our gut cells for them to function to initiate a proper immune response. This involves the addition of a lipid, palmitoyl, to NOD1/2 by the palmitoyl-transferase ZDHHC5. Importantly variants of NOD2 that are associated with Crohn’s disease are unable to be palmitoylated. This work involved an international collaboration […]
Angus McQuibban awarded major funding for anti-neurodegenerative diseases drug discovery by AI
Professor G. Angus McQuibban has just been awarded a $2.3-million Genome Canada grant.
The GAPP grant in a partnership with Cyclica and Rosetta Therapeutics (founded by Professors Angus McQuibban and Peter Lewis) will support drug discovery related to treating people with the long-term neurodegenerative diseases and will involve the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning. (full story here)