Oxford first into the Pool
McGill - Oxford Collaboration: Call for Applications
Long-standing relationships made brain partnership a logical step
When Brain@McGill was reaching out to partners, it didn’t have to reach very far.
“If there is one name that crops up in neuroscience even more than ours, it is that of the University of Oxford,” says Claudio Cuello, the chair of pharmacology at McGill and a former Oxford professor. “I was delighted to play a role in making Oxford our first research partner in the Brain@McGill.”
After opening overtures by Cuello to his former colleagues, McGill principal Heather Munroe-Blum visited the famous university and the partnership quickly followed. The initial exchange is expected to last three years and costs are being shared 50-50.
McGill’s share is underwritten by a donation from Arnold Steinberg who had just become the new chancellor of McGill when he was tapped for $300,000.
“It was only my second day,” he says.”But I was honoured to start by playing a role in bringing about this partnership.”
Key areas will be brain imaging, stroke and dementia. (See first funded projects). The new alliance is expected to accelerate advances in shared areas such as Alzheimer’s disease and stroke by broadening the scope of research and applying different methods to similar problems.
An exchange program for graduate and postgrad students is expected in 2011 as well as visiting positions for faculty.
“The partnership will bring together world-class research expertise in one of the great challenges of this century: understanding how the brain works,” said the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, Dr John Hood. “By working together, we can increase the scope of our research and teaching and look forward to new advances in a wide range of conditions, from autism to Alzheimer’s.”
Read more: http://www.neuroscience.ox.ac.uk/