It’s all too familiar: researchers announce the discovery of a new drug that eradicates disease in animals. Then, a few years later, the drug bombs in human trials. Now, two medical ethicists argue that this pattern of boom and bust may be related to the way researchers predict outcomes of their work in early stages of drug development.
First global map suggests climate change will have greatest impact on the populations least responsible for causing the problem - those in the low-latitude hot regions of the world, places like Central South America, the Arabian Peninsula and much of Africa.
If you want to improve the way you eat, the best way to do so is to both make an action plan and visualize yourself carrying it out, according to McGill researchers.
Chemistry researchers at McGill University have taken a key step towards making a cheap, portable, paper-based filter coated with silver nanoparticles to be used in emergency situations such as floods, tsunamis and earthquakes.
Cyanobacteria in mosses on the ground were recently shown to supply nitrogen to the Boreal forest, but until now cyanobacteria have not been studied in coastal forests or in canopies (tree-tops). By collecting mosses on the forest floor and then at 15 and 30 metres up into the forest canopy, Lindo was able to show both that the cyanobacteria are more abundant in mosses high above the ground, and that they “fix” twice as much nitrogen as those associated with mosses on the forest floor.
Researchers from McGill University’s Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre (GCRC), the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC), the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School have discovered a gene signature that can accurately predict which breast cancer patients are at risk of relapse, thereby sparing those who are not from the burdens associated with unnecessary treatment.
Playing online can mean more than killing time, thanks to a new game developed by a team of bioinformaticians at McGill University. Now, players can contribute in a fun way to genetic research.
A better understanding of how we use acoustic cues to stress new information and put old information in the background may help computer programmers produce more realistic-sounding speech. Dr. Michael Wagner, a researcher in McGill’s Department of Linguistics, has compared the way French- and English-speakers evaluate poetry, as a way of finding evidence for a systematic difference in how the two languages use these cues.
According to research presented at a recent symposium at McGill, seeing meat appears to make human beings significantly less aggressive.
Which are the best pieces of pork, what their texture is, how moist they are – the secrets pigs keep from even the most skilled butchers – are about to be revealed, thanks to a sophisticated new technique that has been developed by McGill University researchers in conjunction with Agriculture Canada and the pork industry.
Dr. David Nabarro, Assistant Secretary-General at the United Nations and co-ordinator of the Secretary-General’s High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis, will deliver the keynote address at the opening evening of the Third McGill Conference on Global Food Security on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 5 p.m., at Centre Mont-Royal, 2200 Mansfield St. in Montreal.
Four world-famous science communicators will discuss various aspects of pseudoscience and will provide guidance for separating sense from nonsense at the Sixth Annual Trottier Symposium, which takes place Oct. 18 and 19, 2010 at McGill.
Researchers used Einstein’s famous E=mc2 equation and the Large Hadron Collider to recreate a miniature version of the event at the origins of our Universe, and the first findings from their work were published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Air pollution has already been linked to a range of health problems. Now, a ground-breaking new study suggests pollution from traffic may put women at risk for another deadly disease.
What do reasonable accommodation, aboriginal rights, immigration laws, and ethics and cultural education have in common? They are all examples of how societies grapple with the diversity of their population, and they are but a few of the hot-button issues to be debated at the second Echenberg Family Conference on Human Rights, the Global Conference on Human Rights and Diverse Societies, to be held Oct 7-9 in Montreal, Canada, hosted by The McGill University Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism.
As part of McGill’s “RaDiCAL” project (Rare Disease Consortium for Autosomal Loci), collaborators in Qatar conducted field research with three patients from biologically interrelated Bedouin families, and sent samples to Canada for analysis by GA JOE – a high-tech genome analyzing machine.
Conductive polymers are plastic materials with high electrical conductivity that promise to revolutionize a wide range of products including TV displays, solar cells, and biomedical sensors. A team of McGill University researchers have now reported how to visualize and study the process of energy transport along one single conductive polymer molecule at a time, a key step towards bringing these exciting new applications to market.
Proteins are made up of a chain of amino acids, and scientists have known since the 1980s that first one in the chain determines the lifetime of a protein. McGill researchers have finally discovered how the cell identifies this first amino acid – and caught it on camera.
McGill researchers pioneer anesthetics via videoconferencing.
Water management and malnutrition are the two key threats to food security that will be discussed at the Third McGill Conference on Global Food Security, to be held Oct. 19-21, 2010, in Montreal.
A team of McGill chemists have discovered that a technique known as photoacoustic infrared spectroscopy could be used to identify the composition of pigments used in art work that is decades or even centuries old. Pigments give artist’s materials colour, and they emit sounds when light is shone on them.
Breakthrough discovery enables nanoscale manipulation of the piezoelectric effect.
A kinase is a type of enzyme the body uses to regulate the functions of the proteins required for cell growth and maintenance, and researchers have discovered that one in particular plays a key role in developing prostate cancer. “It’s known as Mnk, and although it appears not to be essential for normal cell maintenance, it’s important for cancer growth” said Dr. Luc Furic, at McGill University.
Often causing no symptoms in carriers of the disease, worldwide tuberculosis (TB) infects eight to ten million people every year, kills two million, and it is highly contagious as it is spread through coughing and sneezing. “It’s a global health disaster waiting to happen, even here in Canada, but this new paradigm in TB research may offer an immediate opportunity to improve vaccination and treatment initiatives,” explains Dr. Maziar Divangahi of McGill University
Men who had a history of asthma or eczema generally had a lower risk of developing cancer, according to a study carried out by researchers at INRS–Institut Armand-Frappier, the Research Centre of the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, and McGill University.
An international team of researchers led by McGill’s Dr. Dmitrii Perepichka and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique’s has effectively discovered a way to order the molecules in the PEDOT, the single most industrially important conducting polymer.
Researchers at McGill’s department of natural resources, the National Research Council of Canada, the University of Toronto and the SETI Institute have discovered that methane-eating bacteria survive in a highly unique spring located on Axel Heiberg Island in Canada’s extreme North.
In a major cancer-research breakthrough, researchers at the McGill University, Department of Biochemistry have discovered that a small segment of a protein that interacts with RNA can control the normal expression of genes – including those that are active in cancer.
Ethics experts call for refocus of scientific and ethical review.
Physicists at McGill University have developed a system for measuring the energy involved in adding electrons to semi-conductor nanocrystals, also known as quantum dots – a technology that may revolutionize computing and other areas of science.
Neurological research and clinical care received a significant boost today as Imperial College London and McGill University of Montreal entered an agreement enabling them to work more closely together in this field.
A new study by researchers from McGill University and the University of British Columbia shows that mice, like humans, express pain through facial expressions.
The Burnier International Ocular Pathology Society is holding a Scientific Colloquium in Montreal today to mark the tenth anniversary of the McGill University Health Centre’s Henry C. Witelson Ocular Pathology Laboratory.
McGill Biologist Dr. Frédéric Guichard says marine life can communicate over thousands of kilometres, calling into question current fishery management and marine preservation practices.
New research led by McGill Biochemist Dr. William Muller helps explain why breast-milk cells lose their structure, causing them to clump up in strange ways (see photos) and sometimes become cancer tumors.
Biology research shows general health spending offers far better return in most affected areas.
On March 30, 2010, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will begin colliding subatomic particles at previously unattainable energies, and McGill students will be onsite eagerly awaiting the results. The LHC tests will open a new era of discovery about the basic nature of the Universe, and McGill faculty, post-doctorates and graduate students are on-site in Switzerland making important contributions to the research.
McGill University researcher and international collaborators genetically manipulate a rat to create the ideal model for studying Alzheimer’s disease in humans.
Researchers discover that a modified protein plays a key role in memory processes.
McGill researchers create DNA nanotubes able to carry and selectively release materials.
McGill University is pleased to announce that the Canada Council for the Arts has awarded a Killam Research Fellowship to Dr. Victoria Kaspi for her astrophysics research.
Three strong earthquakes rocked Chile this morning, just as the country was swearing in a new president. Expert Andrew Hynes of McGill University is available for interviews.
Dr. Marc McKee, of McGill’s Faculty of Dentistry and the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, is collaborating closely with Enobia Pharma Inc, a Quebec biotech company, to develop innovative treatments for serious genetic bone diseases. McKee’s research looks into the reasons why calcium-phosphate mineral fails to crystallize properly to form strong bones and teeth.
Following an intense study of agricultural ecosystems near Montreal, a new tool that enables the simultaneous analysis and management of a wide range of ecological services has been developed. Environmental management typically focuses on nature’s resources like food, wildlife and timber, but can miss hidden ecosystem services such as water purification, climate moderation and the regulation of nutrient cycling.
A new nanotech catalyst developed by McGill University Chemists Chao-Jun Li, Audrey Moores and their colleagues offers industry an opportunity to reduce the use of expensive and toxic heavy metals.
People with Parkinson’s disease suffer social difficulties simply because of the way they talk, a McGill University researcher has discovered. Marc Pell, at McGill’s School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, has learned that many people develop negative impressions about individuals with Parkinson’s disease, based solely on how they communicate. These perceptions limit opportunities for social interaction and full participation in society for those with the disease, reducing their quality of life.
Malaria causes more than two million deaths each year, but an expert multinational team battling the global spread of drug-resistant parasites has made a breakthrough in the search for better treatment. Better understanding of the make-up of these parasites and the way they reproduce has enabled an international team, led by John Dalton, a biochemist in McGill’s Institute of Parasitology, to identify a plan of attack for the development of urgently needed new treatments.
McGill University has offered congratulations to Willard Boyle, an award-winning 1950 PhD graduate in physics, who has won a share of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics.
Leading experts from international agencies, NGOs, the food industry and academia will meet at McGill University, in Montreal, Oct. 5-7 to discuss the increasing challenges relating to food security in the world. The 2nd McGill Conference on Global Food Security will focus on the effects of the global economic crisis on food supply and production.
Startling new statistics on the worldwide prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias are being released today as countries across the globe join together in recognition of World Alzheimer's Day. McGill University has experts available for phone interviews.
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