Research from McGill University suggests that people who are vulnerable to developing alcoholism exhibit a distinctive brain response when drinking alcohol, according to a new study by Prof. Marco Leyton, of McGill University’s Department of Psychiatry. Compared to people at low risk for alcohol-use problems, those at high risk showed a greater dopamine response in a brain pathway that increases desire for rewards. These findings, published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, could help shed light on why some people are more at risk of suffering from alcoholism and could mark an important step toward the development of treatment options.

McGill is looking into a recent phishing attack that targeted the McGill community. Phishing is an attempt to acquire an individual’s personal information by masquerading as a legitimate or trustworthy entity. In this most recent case, an email sent to McGill staff and students starting July 11 directed users to a website that looked very much like the Minerva website and asked them to supply their McGill username and McGill password and/or their McGill ID and PIN.

Researchers at McGill University have discovered a new way to join materials together using ultrasound. Ultrasound – sound so high it cannot be heard – is normally used to smash particles apart in water. In a recent study, the team of researchers, led by McGill professor Jake Barralet, from the faculties of Dentistry and Medicine, found that if particles were coated with phosphate, they could instead bond together into strong agglomerates, about the size of grains of sand. Their results are published in the journal Advanced Materials.

Only 11% of drugs that enter clinical trials in humans are ultimately found safe and effective enough to receive regulatory approval.

The Economist issued its first-ever global EMBA rankings, placing the McGill-HEC Montreal EMBA program 29th in the world.

Cystic fibrosis is caused by a mutation in the gene that encodes a particular protein, known as the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (or CFTR). Although this discovery was made 25 years ago and the lives of those with the disease have been extended, there is still no effective cure for the disease. Now new information about the nature of the most common form of mutation in the CFTR gene, gathered by a research team led by Dr. Gergely Lukacs of the Department of Physiology at McGill University, offers exciting new avenues for improving the treatment of the disease.