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Everyday tales of trauma

Posted by Hannah

A young woman who lost half her blood in a terrifying car crash, and lived. A man with a fractured skull from a simple fall on his stairs. A crack team of nurses, surgeons and specialists on call 24/7. Welcome to the daily drama of the region’s trauma HQ. It was late on a Thursday afternoon in early December last year. Santanna and her mother-in-law had just finished installing a set of holiday flower arrangements at a client’s house in King Township, near Nobleton, Ont. The pair planned to fit in one more client visit before Santanna met her husband … Read more…

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The numbers don’t lie

Posted by Hannah

The day before Barry Shiffman was to fly from Toronto to Russia to begin serving on the Violin Jury of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, the 44-year-old learned he had prostate cancer. “I was floored by the diagnosis. I sat for in the lobby of Sunnybrook for two-and-a-half hours thinking, ‘What is happening?’” recalls Barry, who is the associate dean of the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music, and father of two. “But once you get over the insanity, the realization, that you have cancer, then you think, ‘I am so lucky. It could have easily been missed’,” … Read more…

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Despite Canadian government woes, neuroscience should win out

Posted by Hannah

MONTREAL — When Canada’s Conservative government presented its 2011 budget in late March, the fiscal plan didn’t contain too many surprises for science funding. Like previous budgets, the proposal offered modest increases to the country’s national research agencies and replenished the coffers of Genome Canada, its genomics and proteomics outfit. But the budget also contained a flashy and unprecedented new move: a multimillion-dollar earmark for neuroscience research. Under the Conservatives’ proposed scheme, the government would contribute up to C$100 million ($105 million) over several years to the Canada Brain Research Fund, a public-private partnership led by the Brain Canada Foundation … Read more…

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Canadian research shift makes waves

Posted by Hannah

NRC Agency’s focus on industry-driven projects raises concerns that basic science will suffer. Published in Nature, 19 April 2011. Canada’s largest research entity has a new focus — and some disaffected scientists. On 1 April, the National Research Council (NRC), made up of more than 20 institutes and programmes with a total annual budget larger than Can$1 billion (US$1 billion), switched to a funding strategy that downplays basic research in favour of programmes designed to attract industry partners and generate revenue. Some researchers suggest that the shift is politically driven, because it brings the agency into philosophical alignment with the governing Conservative … Read more…

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Think small

Posted by Hannah

The Canadian forestry industry could hinge on the most abundant nanomaterial on earth. A pale grey slurry roils about in a waist-high blue plastic drum at the centre of a garage-like space at the National Research Council’s Biotechnology Research Institute in Montreal. It looks a little like slush, but when it is dried it more closely resembles one of the fine white powders chefs stock in their kitchens. For the handful of chemists hovering about the room, it’s the stuff dreams are made of. For Canada’s faltering forestry industry, it is a beacon of optimism. Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) is nature’s … Read more…