News

Mountain Pine Beetle Genome Decoded by UBC Researchers

March 27, 2013

The genome of the mountain pine beetle – the insect that has devastated B.C.’s lodgepole pine forests – has been decoded by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre.

This is a first for the mountain pine beetle and only the second beetle genome ever sequenced. The first was the red flour beetle, a pest of stored grains. The genome is described in a study published Tuesday in the journal Genome Biology.

“We know a lot about what the beetles do,” says Christopher Keeling, a research associate in Prof. Joerg...

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Genome British Columbia Award for Scientific Excellence

March 5, 2013

LifeSciences BC is a not-for-profit industry association that supports and represents the greater life sciences community of British Columbia through leadership, adovacy and promotion of world-class science and industry. The 2013 LifeSciences British Columbia awards will be presented on April 4, 2013 at the Faces of Innovation gala, a celebration of 15 years of the LifeSciences BC Awards. Dr. B. Brett Finlay, a leader in the community who has transformed the life sciences sector, will be awarded the Genome British Columbia Award for Scientific Excellence.

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A Mussel's Stickiness Inspires Invention of an Adhesive Gel for Blood Vessels

December 10, 2012

A University of British Columbia researcher has helped create a gel – based on the mussel’s knack for clinging to rocks, piers and boat hulls – that can be painted onto the walls of blood vessels and stay put, forming a protective barrier with potentially life-saving implications.

The gel, co-invented by Assistant Professor Christian Kastrup while he was a postdoctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is similar to the amino acid that enables mussels to resist the power of churning water. The variant that Kastrup and his collaborators created, described today...

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UBC inventor of self-propelled coagulant wins grant from Grand Challenges Canada

November 27, 2012

Christian Kastrup, an Assistant Professor in the Michael Smith Laboratories and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has won a grant from Grand Challenges Canada to develop a low-cost, easily-administered treatment for post-partum bleeding for use in low-income countries.

Dr. Kastrup’s idea involves nano-sized coagulant particles that are surrounded by a water-sensitive propellant, which releases gas and energy when it comes into contact with blood. The resulting reaction drives the particles at a high velocity (more than 10 cm/sec) upstream against the flow of...

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Eau de Whale

September 26, 2012

Article in the October 2012 issue of National Geographic:

Ambergris is the unlikeliest of perfume ingredients. The nuggets start forming as a slurry in the guts of sperm whales around stomach irritants like squid beaks, then are ejected into the ocean. (Once thought to be spewed, they're now believed to be excreted.) The scent is said to be dunglike at first but grows musky after exposure to seawater and air. For centuries perfumers have capitalized on the ability of amergris, which is collected along shorelines, to amplify fragrances and fix them to the skin. But the sea...

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UBC researchers seek to engage students in STEM careers

September 5, 2012

Outreach programs that offer a taste of real-world science and pair secondary students with enthusiastic young researchers are key to promoting careers in science and technology, according to University of British Columbia researchers.

In a paper published this week in PLoS Computational Biology, UBC researchers document their work on the Genomics Field Trip Program hosted at the Michael Smith Laboratories (MSL). Joanne Fox, Jennifer McQueen and Jody Wright outline the benefits of research-based field trips, offering a blueprint for designing science outreach programs....

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Terry Snutch receives Neuropathic Pain Research Award

June 13, 2012

Fifth Annual Awards Competition Dedicated to Independent Pain Research

KIRKLAND, QC, June 12, 2012 /CNW/ - Pfizer Canada is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2011 Neuropathic Pain Research Awards, an annual grant competition for independent research in the areas of basic biomedical, clinical and health service and systems sciences.

"For the past five years, the Neuropathic Pain Research Awards have supported Canadian medical innovation and research in neuropathic pain," says Lorella Garofalo, Director, Medical Affairs, Pfizer Canada....

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