January 14, 2026 | Ruth Morgan, the 2024-25 TISPP visiting fellow, argues that trust between science and society depends on sustained, open dialogue. She highlights that knowledge is disruptive and uncertain, and that progress starts with asking better questions especially in an era of misinformation.
January 14, 2026 | Rees Kassen, Academic Director for McGill's new Sustainability Park and the director of TISPP. His article traces today’s tension around the post‑WWII “social contract” for publicly funded basic research (shaped by Vannevar Bush’s Science: The Endless Frontier). He argues the contract is straining as governments demand faster, more visible returns, even though long-run payoffs (like mRNA vaccines) show why basic research matters.
January 14, 2026 | Barbara Koremenos, the 23-24 McConnell Visiting Scholar at McGill's Max Bell School of Public Policy, argues that international scientific collaboration can build trust and help solve global problems, even amid geopolitical rivalry. She focuses on stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) research that represents a new frontier akin to the Antarctic Treaty in its ability to foster international scientific collaboration.
November 17, 2025 | A co-authored article by Jennifer Welsh, based on an international conference organized at McGill in December 2024 on IDP participation, has been published in the Journal of Refugee Studies. The article, titled "IDP perspectives on IDP participation," shares key arguments from the workshop.

Join D2R and the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute (GCI) for an event in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Women's History Month, in collaboration with Fondation du cancer du sein du Québec and the association Audace au féminin.
The McGill University Research Centre for Complex Traits, the Wainberg Centre for Viral Diseases and the McGill Infectious Diseases and Immunity in Global Health Program are joined to host a Symposium on Advances in Viral Diseases: From Mechanisms to Therapies.
From October 20–24, 2025, the Computational and Data Systems Initiative, in partnership with Quantitative Life Sciences-McGill initiative in Computational Medicine and the D2R-HeDS Platform (Health Data Science), will host an RNA-seq Bootcamp. This hands-on workshop series will equip participants with both the theoretical foundations and practical skills needed for RNA-seq data analysis.
Montreal, September 24, 2025 – Moderna, in partnership with RNA Canada, has awarded three prizes this year to RNA researchers in Canada for their outstanding contribution to the field. D2R is proud to announce that Professor Maria Vera Ugalde has received the Discovery of the Year Award for her seminal 2024 publication in Nature Communications (Alecki et al.,). This award recognizes groundbreaking RNA discoveries made by Canadian researchers (either as a group or individually) during the past year.

Update | The DNA to RNA (D2R) website has a new section dedicated to Training. From Master's to Postdoctoral, this space provides graduate students at all levels with access to workshops, events, and resources aligned with D2R’s interdisciplinary mission. Topics include RNA therapeutics, genomic medicine, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), commercialization, data science, and career development beyond academia.

That's a wrap for the 2025 edition of IMPRESS—the Indigenous Mentorship and Paid Research Experience for Summer Students, presented by Branches, McGill's Community Outreach Program at Enrolment Services!
This year's program culminated in the IMPRESS Research Day, where 24 student-interns presented their summer's work to family, friends, faculty and community members. The celebration also featured a communal lunch and a traditional hoop dancing performance.

Long dismissed as “junk,” viral fragments buried in human DNA may help regulate our genes, according to a new international study co-led by Guillaume Bourque, professor in McGill’s Department of Human Genetics, D2R-funded researcher and member of the D2R Research Steering Committee and Executive (RSC). The findings offer new insights into what makes us human, 25 years after the human genome was first mapped.
Protecting the internally displaced: Sovereignty, agency and the localization of international norms

Last week, we welcomed neuroscientists Liisa Galea (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) and Robert-Paul Juster (Université de Montréal) for SEX CELLS!, a vital conversation on implementing Sex- and Gender-Based Analysis Plus (SGBA+) in health research.

Prion diseases came to public attention during the 1980s and ’90s, when Mad Cow Disease was in the news. While transmission to humans from infected beef has largely been eliminated, other forms of these devastating diseases are unfortunately still around, like Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease (CJD). In fact, according to the US Centers for Disease Control, cases of CJD have been on the rise in the last two decades.

