Henry Friesen is an internationally renowned endocrinologist best known for the discovery of human prolactin. Prolactin is a hormone that stimulates lactation in mammary glands and plays an important role in infertility and reproductive disorders. He was president of the former Medical Research Council of Canada from 1991 until 2000 when it became the Canadian…
Julien van Grevenynghe, PhD
Department of Infectious diseases, immunity, cancer and epidemiology, INRS – Institut Armand-Frappier and the Université du Québec Autophagy regulates CD8 T-cell killing activity during chronic HIV-1 infection Autophagy, a natural self-destructive process in cells, eliminates some viruses from cells, and also plays a role in shaping functions of T cells, a primary part of the…
Adena Scheer, MD
Department of Surgery, St Michael’s Hospital, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, and the University of Toronto Cross-cultural communications in breast cancer treatment Among minorities, disparities in breast cancer treatments have been demonstrated across the developed world and have been associated with worse cancer outcomes. In Canada we have the highest rate of foreign-born individuals among…
Gareth Lim, PhD
CRCHUM, Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal Evaluating the therapeutic potential of 14-3-3ζ for the treatment of obesity Approximately 25% of Canadians are either overweight or obese. Current therapies have only modest success in reducing body weight, and surprisingly, none directly target fat cells, which are key in the development of obesity.
Catherine Larochelle, MD PhD
CRCHUM, Department of Neurosciences, Université de Montréal Molecular mechanisms underlying T lymphocytes interactions with oligodendrocytes in neuroinflammation In multiple sclerosis (MS), there is an abnormal response of immune cells against cells of the brain and spinal cord. Oligodendrocytes, the myelin-producing cells that support and insulate neurons, are injured by the inflammatory response, leaving neurons vulnerable.…
Jennifer Gordon, PhD
Department of Psychology, University of Regina HPA axis dysregulation in the etiology of perimenopausal depression Women are 2-4 times more likely to develop depression during perimenopause, the menopause transition phase, than at any other time in their lives. Dr Gordon proposes that increased estrogen fluctuation during this phase may trigger dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)…
Florian Bentzinger, PhD
Department of Pharmacology-Physiology, Université de Sherbrooke Niche regulation of muscle stem cell specification Dr Bentzinger’s group studies the role of regulatory signals in the microenvironment where skeletal muscle stem cells (MuSCs) reside. Understanding how this so-called “stem cell niche” controls MuSCs and how these instructive mechanisms become disrupted in aging and disease, could help in…
Imogen R Coe, PhD
Imogen Coe, Founding Dean of the Faculty of Science at Ryerson University, is internationally recognized for her research in the cell biology and biochemistry of membrane transport proteins. Dr Coe received a Banting Research Foundation grant in 1998, while at York University, to study the influence of steroid hormones on the uptake of a class…
Funding the first clinical trials of heparin
The Banting Research Foundation funded the first clinical trials of heparin in 1935. Heparin is a powerful anticoagulant that is widely used in open-heart and organ transplant surgery to prevent the formation of blood clots. It was purified in the early 1930s in Toronto under the direction of Dr Charles H Best. It was then…
Adolfo J. de Bold, OC PhD FRSC
Adolfo de Bold is a cardiovascular researcher, best known for his discovery of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF), a polypeptide hormone secreted by heart muscle cells. He was funded by the Banting Research Foundation in 1980 for his studies on storage granules in atrial heart cells. The resulting discovery and isolation of atrial natriuretic factor changed…