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In a stunning technical feat, an international team of scientists has sequenced the genome of an archaic Siberian girl 31 times over, using a new method that amplifies single strands of DNA. The sequencing is so complete that researchers have as sharp a picture of this ancient genome as they would of a living person’s,…

Michel Labrecque and Al. will present the GenoRem project : Environmental genomics of willows and microorganisms applied to the decontamination of abandoned industrial sites, at the 9th International Phyto Society Conference hosted by the Hasselt University in Belgium from September 11th to 14th, 2012.   For more information: http://www.uhasselt.be/Phytotechnologies Télécharger le document

Vitamin B12 is essential to human health. However, some people have inherited conditions that leave them unable to process vitamin B12. As a result they are prone to serious health problems, including developmental delay, psychosis, stroke and dementia. An international research team recently discovered a new genetic disease related to vitamin B12 deficiency by identifying…

Call it CSI: Singapore. But unlike the Crime Scene Investigators from the popular TV series, these detectives are hired to look for evidence of rogue wood from stores increasingly worried about being duped by a global trade in illegal timber now worth billions.   They take wood samples into their lab and put them through…

A team of researchers led by Prof. Barry Posner of McGill University’s Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism have now, for the first time, been able to show that in order to assure the ongoing supply of amino acids needed for new protein synthesis, growth factors also stimulate a coordinated or regulated increase in protein breakdown…

Philip Awadalla, Scientific Director of CARTaGENE, received the 2012 Joe-Doupe Young Investigator Award from the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation. This award recognizes outstanding research accomplishments in the first eight years of an investigator’s independent career. Congratulations! To learn more on the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation, http://www.csci-scrc.ca/

We invite you to read Biotechnology Focus article on Genomics Trends in Canada. A shift has recently begun to unfold in genomics. After a decade of basic research and discoveries, emphasis is now being placed on innovation in applied research, a phenomenon that is evident throughout the Western world. Two factors explain this shift. First,…

Researchers at the University of Montreal and its affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine and CHUM hospitals have linked some cases of Essential Tremor (ET) to a specific genetic problem. ET is the most common movement disorder, becoming increasingly frequent with increasing age, which is characterized by an involuntary shaking movement (tremor) that occurs with motion, particularly when…

One of the mysteries of blindness has been solved. A team of international scientists in collaboration with the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC) identified a new gene responsible for Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), a devastating genetic form of blindness in newborns. What makes this discovery so exceptional is that this…

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Genome Canada and Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions are partnering in a $600,000 project that will help protect consumers from Listeriosis, a serious foodborne illness.   The project aims to map the genome of Listeria bacteria so that more rapid tests can be developed. Current test methods take at least five…