Pictured, left to right: Dr. Siegfried Kasper, Professor of Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna; Dr. Lakshmi Yatham, President-Elect of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry; Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, Nobel Laureate (2009); and Dr. Raymond Lam, Local Organizing Committee chair for the World Congress of Biological Psychiatry, which took place in Vancouver in June. Image source: Dr. Lakshmi Yatham.
Congratulations
- New CCNA funding to support UBC researchers.
- Ryan Falck (PI: Dr. Teresa Liu-Ambrose) received the 2019 Charles M. Tipton Student Award from the American College of Sports Medicine.
- Former postdoctoral fellow Dr. Brianne Kent (PI: Dr. Haakon Nygaard) was appointed as a member of the CIHR Governing Council.
- Alexander Terpstra (PI: Dr. Rebecca Todd) was awarded a Vanier Canada Graduate Fellowship.
- Maria-Elizabeth Baeva (PI: Dr. Wilf Jefferies) was awarded a Frederick Banting & Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship.
- Parker Holman (PI: Dr. Joanne Weinberg) received the 2019 Kenneth Warren Merit Award at the 2019 FASD Study Group annual meeting.
- Christine Fontaine (PI: Dr. Brian Christie) has won the University of Victoria’s President’s Fellowship in Research-Enriched Teaching award.
- Dr. Matthew Farrer will be named an endowed chair of the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at University of Florida Health in Parkinson’s disease research and will serve as a professor of neurology and director of the Clinical Genomics Program, part of the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute.
- New member Dr. Annie Vogel Ciernia was awarded a Tier II Canada Research Chair. Dr. Ciernia will officially open her lab in the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health on July 2.
- Dr. Weihong Song’s Tier I Canada Research Chair was renewed this month as well.
- Drs. Kiran Soma, Catharine Rankin, and Liisa Galea were Discovery Grant recipients in the most recent round of funding announcements from NSERC.
- Drs. Luke Clark and Rebecca Todd received promotions to Professor.
- Dr. Ruth Grunau received a Distinguished Career Award from the International Association for the Study of Pain at the 12th International Symposium on Pediatric Pain.
- Dr. Erin Michalak recognized for CREST.BD and work in patient engagement.
- Dr. Brian MacVicar was elected Councilor with the Society for Neuroscience.
- Dr. Jehannine Austin received the 2019 Sam Lal Award from the Graham Boeckh Foundation.
New collaboration links Canadian and Chinese brain researchers
Twitter highlights
Heading for Singapore! Really excited for this trip – we’ll be developing the next roadmap for mental health in our #APEC Digital Hub @DrRaymondLam @jillkathleenm @PubliVate pic.twitter.com/4MpXFonSrC
— Erin Michalak (@erin_michalak) June 24, 2019
RankinLab trainees waiting for the return of the Worm Show at #worm2019 pic.twitter.com/MKqfFf0ePv
— Catharine Rankin (@wormslearn) June 24, 2019
Just some of the trainees from the David Strangway Building rm. 430! Members of @UBC_BRAIN_Lab and @ACDResearch pic.twitter.com/jOzccndJEJ
— UBC BRAIN Lab (@UBC_BRAIN_Lab) June 20, 2019
I enjoyed speaking with Professors Judy Illes and Judith G. Hall about their scholarship yesterday. The breadth of expertise at UBC on ethics in healthcare is impressive. pic.twitter.com/kfJGJPfGNX
— Santa J. Ono (@ubcprez) June 15, 2019
So busy @UBCMicroImmuno @ImmunoBC that I almost couldn’t get to my student @ubcpathology @DMCBrainHealth Emily Kamma presenting our novel model of progressive MS – thanks to @mssociety for pilot support to help #EndMS pic.twitter.com/bVTdEmJMNg
— Jacquie Quandt (@jacquiequandt) June 10, 2019
Tim Murphy @vangreenmouse talking about In Vivo Imaging using optogenetic tools to understand brain circuit structure and function following stroke – pic.twitter.com/0XzihEjT6K
— Neurophotonics (@Neurophotonics) June 7, 2019
Media
- Edwin Leong’s foundation funds health-care programs for seniors and children (The Globe and Mail, May 31)
- New discoveries towards understanding the genetic causes of the autism spectrum disorder (Michael Smith Labs, June 3)
- Global collaborations are changing conditions for women in STEM (The Conversation, June 3)
- 15 Things to Start Doing at 50 That’ll Save Your Brain at 80 (Reader’s Digest, June 3)
- Home exercise program reduces rate of falling in at-risk seniors (VCHRI, June 4)
- Deaths from falls are soaring — here’s how to prevent them (MarketWatch, June 5)
- When Life Gives You Parkinson’s podcast: Meet the woman who can smell Parkinson’s (Global News, June 5)
- Scientists edge closer to root causes of multiple sclerosis (UBC Faculty of Medicine, June 6)
- Research looking for new ways to test Alzheimer’s (The Thunderbird, June 7)
- Exome Sequencing in Multiple Sclerosis Families Identifies 12 Candidate Genes and Nominates Biological Pathways for the Genesis of Disease (Science in the City, June 10)
- Is the video game industry ready for pop-culture saturation? (Los Angeles Times, June 10)
- Q&A with Dr. Liisa Galea, Editor-in-Chief of Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology (Elsevier, June 11)
- How DBS is restoring lives like Steve’s (VGH Hospital Foundation, June 13)
- Earlier, more intense exercise improves recovery for stroke patients (VCHRI, June 13)
- Nanoscale Surveillance of the Brain by Microglia via cAMP-Regulated Filopodia (Science in the City, June 17)
- New tool helps working adults spot and manage concussions (DMCBH, June 17)
- Revealed: The remote-controlled ‘pacemaker’ in the spine that could help to tackle chronic backache (The Daily Mail, June 17)
- Do Devices that Monitor or Zap the Brain Live Up to Their Claims? (The Scientist, June 18)
- Gold Leaf Prize Winner Dr. Erin Michalak Reflects On The Power Of Community-Based Participatory Research (MSFHR, June 18)
- Deer meat from contaminated Quebec farm released for human consumption (CBC News, June 22)
- Babies can learn link between language and ethnicity, study suggests (UBC News, June 25)
Did we miss something? Do you have a story tip? We want to hear from you! Send your research highlights, upcoming publications, trainee successes, and funding and awards news to emily.wight@brain.ubc.ca.
