Canada Foundation for Innovation – Details, episodes & analysis

This podcast is only available in French.

A researcher at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre explores ways to improve drugs

Stéphane Laporte, a researcher at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, became interested in pharmacological research when he noticed just how often drugs were associated with harmful side effects. In his lab at the Centre for Translational Biology, Laporte and his team are working to understand how pharmaceutical drugs work on the body in order to find ways to minimize unwanted side effects.

READ: Research institute puts Canada at the forefront of health care

This podcast is only available in French.

One of the co-founders of LensVector talks about the origins of their molecular lens.

Tigran Galstian, professor in the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Optics at Université Laval and co-founder of LensVector, explains the invention of a molecular lens that could, among other things, improve our cellphones.

Tigran Galstian received the David E. Mitchell Award of Distinction at the Ernest C. Manning Innovation Awards ceremony on October 22, 2014.

This podcast is only available in French.

A researcher at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre studies the link between genetics and cardiovascular disease.

In the 1980s, when Jacques Genest was starting out in the Faculty of Medicine, cardiovascular disease was the leading cause of death among Canadians. Dr. Genest and his team built on advances in molecular genetics to discover multiple genes that predispose people to early cardiovascular disease and tested many drugs to fight them. At the McConnell Centre for Innovative Medicine of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Dr. Genest continues to study familial hypercholesterolemia using genetic screening to identify other family members at risk of this asymptomatic disease and give them medical treatments to mitigate the danger.

READ: Research institute puts Canada at the forefront of health care

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Ian Clark, professor of Earth sciences at the University of Ottawa, explains how radiocarbon dating using an accelerator mass spectrometer can help resolve significant issues surrounding contaminated environments.

This podcast is part of an in-depth report on the Advanced Research Complex.

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Constantin Polychronakos has devoted his career to studying the genetics of juvenile diabetes and treating children afflicted with the disease. As head of the Child Health and Human Development Program at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, he is working towards new interventions to replace the need for painful daily insulin injections.

READ: Research institute puts Canada at the forefront of health care

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Basil Petrof heads the Program for Translational Research in Respiratory Diseases at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. His research group participated in a clinical trial that proved the efficacy of a new therapy that burns away the muscle tissue in the lungs of asthmatic patients to help open their airways. It’s this kind of cutting-edge discovery that Petrof expects will move more rapidly from concept to proven treatment thanks to the new facilities at the RI-MUHC.

READ: Research institute puts Canada at the forefront of health care

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PhD student in Oceanography at the Université Laval, Jordan Grigor, discusses his research on the Arctic arrow worm, known as the tiger of the plankton. He also gives a glimpse into life aboard the CCGS Amundsen, Canada's only dedicated Arctic research vessel.

Image credit: Cyril Aubry

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The University of Victoria’s Verena Tunnicliffe recalls the open hostility she faced when she first began boarding research ships to conduct her oceanographic studies. In one instance, the cook refused to sail, saying it was either him or her. Guess who walked that plank? Tunnicliffe persevered, despite the male-dominated nautical culture, to answer fundamental questions about deep sea ecosystems off the west coast. She was one of the lead researchers who used CFI-funds to build VENUS, a system of interconnected underwater cables that beam real-time measurements from the sea floor to onshore computers. Such on-demand access has opened the field for many female researchers who would otherwise have had to choose between a career in science and raising a family. In this podcast, Tunnicliffe takes us to the deepest, darkest corners of the ocean where some of the creepiest experiments have occurred. Her story begins in the 1980s as one of the only woman on board a research ship at sea in the Pacific Ocean where she experienced a few dark moments.

This podcast is part of an International Women’s Day podcast series called Groundbreakers.