University of Alberta: Peter Lougheed/CIHR New Investigator Award

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Peter Lougheed/CIHR New Investigator Award: Canada's Premier Young Researcher

Feature Article

Medical Genetics professor Dr Bruce Rannala is one of three scholars in Canada who received the 2001 Peter Lougheed/CIHR New Investigator Award. Rannala is one of only a few population geneticists in Canada, a fact that might have put him in the running for the award. Essentially, he is a hybrid, a cross between a biologist and a mathematician. Together, the disciplines create a population geneticist. "Now that so much genetic data is being produced, sorting out the random associations between genes and diseases and the real associations has become important," said Rannala. Mathematical techniques are now used extensively in genetics, with laws of probability being used to predict the appearance of specific traits in offspring.

Original: ExpressNews

The Peter Lougheed/CIHR New Investigator Award: Canada's Premier Young Researcher is granted to Canada's brightest young health sciences researchers at the beginning of their careers. The five-year award provides an important incentive for young researchers to pursue their work in Canada. The award is co-funded by the Peter Lougheed Medical Research Foundation.

Recipients of the award who have been affiliated with the University of Alberta include:

2006
Dr Nicole Letourneau, Nursing
Nicole Letourneau received an MSc and a PhD, both in Nursing, from the University of Alberta, in 1994 and 1998 respectively. She is currently a professor at the University of New Brunswick, where she is continuing her research on the health and development of vulnerable infants, children, and youth. Development can be severely affected by the children's environment. Letourneau, as part of her research, led a clinical trial to evaluate the effect of home-based peer support on mothers' interactions with their infant children, the children's health outcomes, and postpartum depression.

2001
Dr Deborah Burshtyn, Medical Microbiology and Immunology
Deborah Burshtyn is an associate professor in the University of Alberta's Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology. She studies how cells and the immune system interact, especially cytoxic T cells that recognize and destroy infected cells. Burshtyn hopes that through investigating the intracellular events that occur when inhibitory receptors are engaged, she will be able to gain insight into treating diseases such as autoimmune disorders that are caused by deregulation of the immune system.

2001
Dr Bruce Rannala
Bruce Rannala is a professor and Associate Director of Bioinformatics in the Genome Center and Section of Evolution and Ecology at the University of California, Davis. He was formerly a member of the faculty of the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Alberta. He is a cross between a biologist and a mathematician as his research deals with mathematical and statistical problems in human genetics, population genetics, and evolution.