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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/

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…

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,…

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…

The sequence now available allows access to all the genes of this plant – over 36,000 – and their position along the eleven chromosomes. This knowledge will greatly facilitate the identification of genes responsible for traits such as disease resistance and fruit quality. Capital for both food security and economic development of over 400 million…

This conference celebrates twelve years of achievements in genomics research in Canada due to the efforts of Genome Canada and the regional Genome Centres, and commemorates the ten-year anniversary of the Gairdner Foundation’s  “Year of the Genome”, where eight prominent genome scientists received the International Award for their exceptional contributions to genomics research.   Travel…