McGill, UQAC and Saguenay-area partnership
Over the decades, McGill University researchers have collaborated with many scientists from the Saguenay region. Read on for highlights of front-running collaborations concerning everything from milk to aluminum production to fertility to genetics research.
Quebec heritage
The latest collaborative venture between McGill University and the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi is perhaps its most accessible: www.panorama-quebec.com. The new website serves as a gateway between the world and Quebec. The site examines everything from language to culture to tourism. Panorama sur le Québec was created by UQAC's École de langue française et de culture québécoise and McGill's Quebec Studies Program and French Languages Program, in conjunction with the Association internationale des études québécoises. Contact: Hervé de Fontenay, director, McGill French Language Programs, 514-398-7484; Damien Ferland, director, UQAC, Service de formation continue, 418-545-5011 ext. 5374.
Population research
Gérard Bouchard at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi and Charles Scriver of McGill University demonstrated the importance of population research (demography, history, genealogy and genetics) in the discovery of genes predisposing to human diseases. Bouchard, Scriver and colleagues established the Institut interuniversitaire de recherches sur les populations (IREP), a consortium that includes McGill and the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, which develops and maintains a computerized database (BALSAC) on the populations of the North-East Quebec regions. The group researches the prevention of diseases related to single-locus genes that segregate at high frequency in families with origins in the Saguenay-Lac St-Jean and Charlevoix. Charles Scriver, an emeritus professor at McGill University and a Canadian Medical Hall of Fame inductee, is also known for his efforts in disease prevention. Scriver's study on the prevalence of rickets in Quebec children led to the addition of vitamin D in milk throughout Canada. Gérard Bouchard, IREP director since its inception, has received many prestigious prizes for his historical and demographic treatises on New World populations. Contact: Charles Scriver, 514-412-4417; Gérard Bouchard, 418-545-5517.
Metals research
Professor John Gruzleski, dean of the Faculty of Engineering, along with professors Nigel Fitzpatrick and Roderick Guthrie, director of the McGill Metals Processing Centre, have established many links with the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi over 30 years. Gruzleski helped establish a UQAC chair in aluminum studies, while the three researchers have variously collaborated on many UQAC-McGill studies that have examined aspects of aluminum use or production. The McGill researchers also joined Alcan, Quebec's aluminum powerhouse, on multiple research projects. Investigations conducted by Guthrie have focused, notably, on the processing of molten aluminum used in soft drink cans. Contact: John Gruzleski, 514-398-7251.
French in business places
North America's first educational website to improve French use in the business place, http://francais-affaires.com, was developed by McGill's Languages and Translation Department, the Quebec Chamber of Commerce and the École de langue française et de culture québécoise of the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. Launched in 1999, the website was created to provide tools to help office workers sharpen language skills.
Research on trees
McGill plant science professor Pierre Dutilleul and Professor Hubert Morin, of UQAC's Département des sciences fondamentales, have collaborated on various forms of tree research since 1998. They recently examined a new outbreak of Quebec's eastern spruce budworm. Both researchers are part of GREF, the Groupe de recherche en écologie forestière, a consortium of tree scientists. Contact: Hubert Morin, 418-545-5011 ext. 5062; Pierre Dutilleul, 514-398-7870.
Fertility and long-distance pregnancies
Seang-Lin Tan, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), has collaborated with Patricia Fisch, director of the Infertility Clinic at the Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Chicoutimi (CSSS), since 1997. Tan, who also directs the McGill University Reproductive Centre, has helped train physicians and nurses to perform ovarian stimulation and egg collection. Harvested eggs are airlifted to the MUHC for fertilization and later returned as embryos to Chicoutimi for implantation. The world's first airlifted in vitro fertilization pregnancy occurred in 1998 under Tan and Fisch, when a Saguenay-area woman gave birth to healthy twins. Contact: Seang-Lin Tan, MUHC, 514-934-1934 ext. 34501.
Tuberculosis in Quebec
The Université du Québec à Chicoutimi has recruited some of McGill University's top scientists to take part in its BALSAC project. BALSAC is an information bank on the genetic make-up and history of Quebec's population. Launched in 1972, the project has so far charted the familial histories of the Saguenay and Charlevoix populations. One recent McGill collaboration involves Paul Brassard, a clinician-scientist and expert in infectious disease control. He has teamed up with UQAC demographer Hélène Vézina to investigate tuberculosis patterns. It's an atypical BALSAC project because tuberculosis is not a genetic disease. The study's objective is to determine how an infection unfolds in a human population. High-quality records from BALSAC provide excellent definition of the founding population of some 8,500 immigrants who arrived from France in the 17th century. For seven or eight generations, this population expanded and dispersed in a rural context. From the bacteriological evidence of the present-day distribution of the infection, the two scientists generated genealogies of cases and have tentatively described population movements across the province. Contact: Hélène Vézina, 418-545-5011 ext. 6571; Paul Brassard, 514-934-1934 ext. 36910. Learn more on the BALSAC project at www.uqac.ca/balsac or contact Gérard Bouchard, BALSAC project director, at 418-545-5517.
Mental health and youth
Tomas Paus, a professor at McGill's Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, examines the function and structure of the human brain and its development. He helped launch the Saguenay Youth Study with area scientists, thanks to a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Key investigators include Zdenka Pausova (Université de Montréal), Michel Perron and Suzanne Veillette of the Groupe ÉCOBES (CEGEP de Jonquière), as well as researchers Louis Richer (UQAC), Jean Mathieu (Hôpital de Jonquière) and Daniel Gaudet (Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Chicoutimi). The group has just collected over 100 complete datasets of high school students (12- to 18-year-olds). Tests ranged from magnetic resonance images of the brain and abdomen to cardiovascular fitness, cognitive and academic abilities. The group aims to collect data from 1,000 subjects over the next four years. DNA samples and questionnaires of parents will also be collected. Contact: Tomas Paus, 514-398-8481.
Asthma and genetic research
Tom Hudson, a native of the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region and director of the McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre, has many scientific partnerships in the Saguenay region. His principal collaborators are Daniel Gaudet, director of the Clinical Research Unit at the Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Chicoutimi (CSSS), in regard to genetic studies of diabetes and atherosclerosis, and Professor Catherine Laprise, of UQAC's Département de sciences fondamentales, with whom he examines the genetics of asthma. Hudson was involved in the identification of single gene disorders that are more frequent in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean: spastic ataxia (ARSACS), Leigh Syndrome, French Canadian type (LSFC), and myotonic dystrophy. Identification of these genes has enabled physicians to provide carrier testing in family members and improved prenatal diagnosis. Gaudet, Laprise and Hudson are founders of a Saguenay-based initiative called ECOGENE-21, which is developing community-based approaches needed for the transfer of genetic knowledge to society. Contact: Catherine Laprise, 418-541-1234 ext. 3070; Tom Hudson, 514-398-3311 ext. 00385; Daniel Gaudet, 418-541-1077.
Volcanic formations
John Stix, a professor at McGill's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, is investigating land and submarine calderas with Wulf Mueller, an earth sciences professor at Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. Calderas are large volcanic depressions that are formed by huge, cataclysmic eruptions. The link between caldera formation and the origins of the deposits remains poorly understood. The scientists aim to show that the size and location may be determined by how and when the caldera formed. Contact: Wulf Mueller, 514-545-5011 ext. 5013; John Stix, 514-398-5391.
Crop research
How can farmers improve their crop yields? A group of Canadian university researchers, in partnership with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Canadian Space Agency, continue to examine the question. Ian Strachan, an expert in greenhouse gas emissions and a professor of micrometeorology in McGill's Department of Natural Resource Sciences, recently teamed up with Driss Haboudane, of UQAC's Department of Social Sciences. They completed remote sensing of agricultural surfaces or, simply put, measured how crop growth can be predicted or enhanced through effective management of soil characteristics, nutrient input and weather conditions. Contact: Driss Haboudane, 418-545-5011 ext. 5673; Ian Strachan, 514-398-7935.
Milk production
Kevin Wade, a professor in McGill's Department of Animal Science, provides research findings to help farmers optimize their milk production. As director of McGill's Dairy Information Systems Group, he specializes in the computer systems that improve dairy cattle management. He works closely with the Programme d'analyse des troupeaux laitiers du Québec (PATLQ), which estimates there are over 350 dairy cow herds in the Saguenay region alone. Contact: Kevin Wade, 514-398-7973.
Musical matches
McGill and Saguenay-area musicians are the latest to make a notable pairing. The McGill Baroque Orchestra and the Ensemble baroque du Conservatoire de musique du Saguenay teamed up for a performance in Chicoutimi on November 9. The pairing was natural, given that violinist Guylaine Grégoire (who led her orchestra for the match), cellist David Ellis and flutist Louise Bouchard are all McGill graduates and professors at the Conservatoire de musique du Saguenay. The McGill Baroque Orchestra, for its part, is directed by Hank Knox, a professor in the Faculty of Music's Department of Performance. A future collaboration will see the Ensemble baroque du Conservatoire de musique du Saguenay, comprised of student-musicians aged 11 to 23, visit McGill for a master class on November 18, 2004. Contact: Hank Knox, 514-398-4535 ext. 00230; Guylaine Grégoire, 418-698-3505.
Intestinal diseases
Alain Bitton, of the McGill University Health Centre, directs the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research Group with two researchers from the Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Chicoutimi: Annick Boulard, gastroenterologist, and Daniel Gaudet, Director of University Research. The purpose of this project is to analyze genetic variants likely to cause inflammatory bowel diseases. The study of these complex genetic diseases could eventually bring hope of a cure for such diseases. Contact: Alain Bitton, 514-934-1934 ext. 31616.
Biosensors and biochips
Directed by Maryam Tabrizian of McGill University, the purpose of the International Centre for Biosensors and Biochips is to develop "biorecognition systems" to study the interactions between biomaterials and biological materials and develop tools for monitoring several biological phenomena. Dr. Daniel Gaudet, Director University Research at the Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Chicoutimi, is among the ICBB's researchers. Contact: Dr. Daniel Gaudet, 418-541-1077; Maryam Tabrizian, 514-398-8129.
Improving computers
McGill computer science professor Denis Thérien and François Lemieux, of the UQAC's Département d'informatique et de mathématique, are collaborating on the application of algebraic and logical ideas to the better understanding of the activity of computing (memory to software troubleshooting). Contact: Francois Lemieux, 418-545-5011 ext. 2419; Denis Therien, 514-398-7071 ext. 00126.
Plant extracts
McGill plant science professor Philippe Seguin, in collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, conducts research on the management, physiology and ecology of field crops with a focus on forages. Seguin examines how plant extracts can be produced from leguminous crops to provide medical or health benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease. The goal of the research is to help Eastern Quebec and Saguenay-area farmers develop a new use or market for legumes. Contact: Philippe Seguin, 514-398-7855 ext. 7851.
