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Researchers at SFU surpass national success rate
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David Baillie, 604.268.6590/291.4597, dave_baillie@sfu.ca
Melanie O'Neill, 604.291.5608, maoneill@sfu.ca
Michel Vetterli, 604.291.5488, vetterli@sfu.ca
David Baillie, 604.268.6590/291.4597, dave_baillie@sfu.ca
Melanie O'Neill, 604.291.5608, maoneill@sfu.ca
Michel Vetterli, 604.291.5488, vetterli@sfu.ca
June 9, 2005
How did humans and worms become genetic relatives? How do molecules in the human eye control biological function? How do subatomic particles acquire mass?
A new round of federal research funding is helping about 250 Simon Fraser University researchers to pursue such groundbreaking queries. SFU's success rate in NSERC's (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's) latest Discovery research grant and related grant competitions was 79 percent compared to the national average of 74.9 percent. The $11.6 million package of grants to SFU supports primary research.
David Baillie, a Canada Research Chair in genomics and a professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, is receiving $422,500 over five years. The funding enables Baillie to continue studying how DNA programs the growth of multi-cellular organisms from a single cell into a complex being with hair, the brain, skin and other tissues. Baillie has so far isolated mutations in more than 500 genes in C. elegans (worms) that have counterparts in humans, and are essential to the development and survival of complex multi-cellular organisms.
Melanie O'Neill, an assistant professor of chemistry and a relative newcomer to SFU, has been awarded $273,000 over three years. The funding enables O'Neill to continue investigating a window that the human eye provides into how certain molecules use light to regulate gene expression. O'Neill is one of a few scientists researching how humans use light to synchronize their circadian rhythm (metabolic and behavioural patterns) with the outside world.
Michel Vetterli, a SFU physics professor and a scientist at TRIUMF (Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics), is receiving $176,000. The funding enables Vetterli to help an international group of scientists develop a worldwide network of high-performance computing centres for the ATLAS experiment at Cern, Switzerland.
Through ATLAS, scientists worldwide will study the collision of protons at the highest energy ever achieved in a laboratory. “Discoveries at ATLAS will allow physicists to understand how subatomic particles acquire mass,” says Vetterli. “The knowledge gained will impact predictions about whether the Universe will continue to expand forever or re-collapse into a 'big crunch.'”
-30-
(electronic photo available)
Websites:
www.sfu.ca/mbb/mbb/faculty/baillie/baillie.html
www.sfu.ca/physics/faculty/vetterli.html
A new round of federal research funding is helping about 250 Simon Fraser University researchers to pursue such groundbreaking queries. SFU's success rate in NSERC's (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's) latest Discovery research grant and related grant competitions was 79 percent compared to the national average of 74.9 percent. The $11.6 million package of grants to SFU supports primary research.
David Baillie, a Canada Research Chair in genomics and a professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, is receiving $422,500 over five years. The funding enables Baillie to continue studying how DNA programs the growth of multi-cellular organisms from a single cell into a complex being with hair, the brain, skin and other tissues. Baillie has so far isolated mutations in more than 500 genes in C. elegans (worms) that have counterparts in humans, and are essential to the development and survival of complex multi-cellular organisms.
Melanie O'Neill, an assistant professor of chemistry and a relative newcomer to SFU, has been awarded $273,000 over three years. The funding enables O'Neill to continue investigating a window that the human eye provides into how certain molecules use light to regulate gene expression. O'Neill is one of a few scientists researching how humans use light to synchronize their circadian rhythm (metabolic and behavioural patterns) with the outside world.
Michel Vetterli, a SFU physics professor and a scientist at TRIUMF (Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics), is receiving $176,000. The funding enables Vetterli to help an international group of scientists develop a worldwide network of high-performance computing centres for the ATLAS experiment at Cern, Switzerland.
Through ATLAS, scientists worldwide will study the collision of protons at the highest energy ever achieved in a laboratory. “Discoveries at ATLAS will allow physicists to understand how subatomic particles acquire mass,” says Vetterli. “The knowledge gained will impact predictions about whether the Universe will continue to expand forever or re-collapse into a 'big crunch.'”
-30-
(electronic photo available)
Websites:
www.sfu.ca/mbb/mbb/faculty/baillie/baillie.html
www.sfu.ca/physics/faculty/vetterli.html