Page 8 - Eureka! Spring 2007

Another rung on the lADDER hibernating organs
News briefs DeRosa, BSc/99, PhD/03, investigates the ery and Development of Emerging appli- f you have ever frozen a tomato, you know that it will Given the freedom to try out new ideas, Abd El Halim Student news
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Maria
Her Laboratory for Aptamer Discov-
use of short stretches of nucleic acid,
cations Research (LADDER) also received
an infusion of funds when the Canada
known as aptamers, as receptors for bio-
sensors and as building blocks for other
Foundation for Innovation Leader Op-
bionanotechnology applications. Her
simply hibernating and not.
the research infrastructure component
self, its cells ripped apart by ice crystals. The same thing
innovative research earned her the John portunity Fund for infrastructure and Ithaw out as a mushy, imperfect version of its fresh looked at squirrels in all stages of hibernation rather than
Charles Polanyi Award and investments of the Ontario Research Fund each can happen to an organ destined for transplant, which is “Hibernation isn’t a constant state or a case of on or off.
from the Canada Foundation for Innova- invested $120,000. Carleton will use the why, although packed on ice, it can’t be frozen. Without a Genes are changing throughout,” says Abd El Halim.
tion and the Ontario Research Fund. investment to create a state-of-the-art technique for longer term preservation, a kidney, heart Since squirrels build up fat to live off during the winter,
In October 2006, DeRosa became facility to support DeRosa’s research. or lung needs to reach a patient within hours of removal lipid metabolism is key to survival. By extracting RNA
the first Carleton professor to receive from the donor. and proteins from heart tissue, Abd El Halim found
the Polanyi Award, established by the Read more about DeRosa’s research specific points in hibernation when
Government of Ontario 20 years ago to online, in the spring 2006 archive at With each NSERC award, I’ve tried to learn changes to metabolism were dramatic.
honour outstanding researchers in the eureka.carleton.ca something new. To understand material you learn, He examined messenger RNA and
early stages of their career. protein changes during early and late
you really need to be in the lab. hibernation, identifying a transcription
factor produced in those stages that is
carleton’s best and brightest the graduate Tarek Abd El Halim, a fourth-year Biochemistry student, necessary for all the changes that follow.
the annual carleton University teaching and Research thinks there might be a way to preserve organs for trans- For his findings, Abd El Halim, with secondary author
Achievement Awards honour the best and brightest faculty. Dr. Matthias Neufang, Assistant plant at a low temperature—maybe for years—and he’s Melanie Bouffard, was awarded best research/poster
congratulations to susan Aitken, Assistant Professor in the Professor and Graduate Director in looking at hibernating squirrels for clues. award at the national Annual Chemistry and Biochemistry
Department of Biology, on her teaching award and to steve the School of Mathematics and Statis- “Many of the same genes and proteins that change in Graduate Research Conference at Concordia University,
cook, Assistant Professor of Environmental science and tics, was appointed Associate Dean of a squirrel during hibernation are found in humans,” he where he competed against more than 70 graduate students.
Biology, and Professor Pudupadi (sundar) sundararajan, Programs and Planning in the Faculty says. “If we know what metabolic changes occur when a “People see squirrels everywhere, but I was one of the
(NsERc) Industrial Research chair of Morphology of smart of Graduate Studies and Research. squirrel’s heart goes from 300 to 5 beats a minute in low first people to see this specific gene sequence in the squir-
Materials and composites, on their research awards.
He chairs the Faculty’s Programs temperatures, we can apply that to organ preservation.” rel’s genome,” says Abd El Halim. “That’s a pretty exciting
The recipient of three Natural Sciences and Engineering
New NsERc group chair and Planning Committee responsible Research Council undergraduate student research awards, way to spend the summer.”
for course changes and new gradu-
Dr. Jörg-Rüdiger sack, already the Natural sciences and Engineer- ate programs, monitors the business Abd El Halim has spent his summers working in Carleton Lead astray
ing Research council of canada (NsERc) Industrial Research chair practices and supporting information research laboratories, first with Associate Professor Bill
in Applied Parallel Processing in the school of computer science, systems, and assists managing the Willmore (see story on page 4) and recently with Ken Sto- the annual Varian lecture, established in 1991 by an
has also been appointed by NsERc as group chair for its Math- Faculty’s role in the periodic review rey, Canada Research Chair in Molecular Physiology. endowment from Varian canada and sponsored by the De-
ematical, statistical and computational sciences committees for of graduate programs for the Ontario “Tarek is one of those rare students that you only have partment of chemistry, presented Dr. Bill shotyk, Professor
a three-year term, and as a member of the committee on Grants Council on Graduate Studies. to point in the right direction and then just hold his coat,” at the University of heidelberg and Director of its Institute
and scholarships. Neufang, who joined Carleton in 2002, co-directed the Ot- says Storey, a renowned researcher famous for his work of Environmental Geochemistry, on April 30. his lecture
As group chair, sack monitors the quality of peer review in tawa-Carleton Institute of Mathematics and Statistics and sat with frozen frogs. “A complete self starter and vora- “Pathways of lead and antimony from the atmosphere to
the hydrosphere: New insights from arctic ice, ombrotro-
the selection committees under his responsibility and acts as a on various committees having a direct impact on the opera- cious worker, Tarek benefited from a well-funded, fully phic bogs, forest soils, streams and lakes, and groundwa-
constructive critic. he represents their opinions and concerns to tions of the university’s graduate studies programs. equipped lab and from a supervisor who knew enough ters” examined the migration of lead from human activities
the committee on Grants and scholarships where he makes rec- “Dr. Neufang’s well-rounded knowledge of the operations not to get in his way.” in the Great lakes-st. lawrence region.
ommendations on program allocations, existing programs and and aspects of program planning and delivery will improve our
changes, advises on international dimensions of activities and programs and move us towards our goal of becoming one of
policy issues, monitors the peer review process, and periodically Canada’s premier graduate universities,” says John Shepherd,
reviews the jurisdiction of selection committees. BA/70, BMus/72, Dean of Graduate Studies and Research.

Get in the game

igures released in January show that Carleton is challenging new stream in computer game development
F making the grade with Ontario prospective stu- to meet the demand, starting in fall 2007.
dents. The Ontario Universities Application Centre data “Students graduating from the computer game
showed that high school students are clamouring to get development stream will typically aim for a career in
into our Bachelor of Computer Science degree program— the fast-growing computer game industry. However,
first choice applications soared to 119 per cent over last the stream also contains all of our core software
year, largely in response to the addition of a computer engineering subjects, so students can also apply for
game development stream. software engineering positions in any other sector of the
The computer game industry doubles in size every IT industry,” says Associate Director Michel Barbeau. With research experience in cell death and proliferation, Tarek Abd El Halim is interested in pursuing a medical career with a focus on cancer research. “
two years. The School of Computer Science has created a Doctors can help the community they work in, but research can have an impact around the world,” says Abd El Halim, who interviewed for a unique MD/PhD
program that would allow him to be both a clinician and researcher.

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