NSERC's Discovery Grants Program

Fifteen researchers from McGill’s Macdonald Campus have been awarded funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grants program. As NSERC’s largest and longest-standing funding program, Discovery Grants support long-term, curiosity-driven research and provide researchers with the flexibility to pursue bold ideas and emerging opportunities. The projects highlighted below reflect the breadth and excellence of research at Macdonald Campus, spanning agriculture, food systems, environmental sciences, natural resource management, plant and animal sciences, human nutrition, bioresource engineering, and parasitology.

1. Quantitative Dynamics of Co-Produced Ecosystem Services: A Mechanistic Framework for Understanding the Resilience of Working Landscapes, Elena Michele Bennett, Natural Resources Sciences

2. Genome spatial organization and transcriptional control in trypanosomes, Igor Cestari, Institute of Parasitology

3. Microbe-to-plant signals affecting plant structuring of the phytomicrobiome, Donald L. Smith, Plant Science

4. Smart Genetic Approaches Targeting the miR156/SPL Module to Improve Agronomic Traits in Small Grain Cereals, Jaswinder Singh, Plant Science

5. Genome integrity and embryo cell programming, Vilceu Bordignon, Animal Science

6. Synergies between Pseudomonas-derived antimicrobial metabolites in the rhizosphere for controlling bacterial plant diseases, Martin Filion, Plant Science

7. Good way gadgets: braiding wildlife knowledges in support of conservation and local food systems, Murray Mitchell Humphries, Natural Resources Sciences

8. Development of a Whole Plant Chamber-Narrow LED monitoring system for plant growth, Mark Gregory Lefsrud, Bioresource Engineering

9. Genome structural variation and gene regulation discovery in crop wild relatives, Martina Viktoria Stromvik, Plant Science

10. Next-generation Earth Observation: Innovation in global monitoring, hazard assessment, and AI integration, Jeffrey A. Cardille, Natural Resources Sciences

11. A Pan-Helminth Cell Atlas to Decode the Evolution and Control of Parasitic Worms, Sarah Buddenborg, Institute of Parasitology

12. Development of active and intelligent packaging materials from low-value biomass for waste reduction, Yixiang Wang, Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry

13. Discovery of Extracellular Vesicle-Mediated Host-Parasite Communication in Plasmodium falciparum Placental Malaria, Melisa Gualdron Lopez, Institute of Parasitology

14. Cellular Adaptation Mechanisms in Plasmodium falciparum: Integrating pH Dynamics, Membrane Trafficking, and Intercellular Communication, Petra Carol Helga Rohrbach, Institute of Parasitology

15. Investigation of the protective effects of polyphenols and probiotics on polychlorinated biphenyl-induced inflammation and oxidative stress, Stan Kubow, Human Nutrition, School of Human Nutrition