Annual Report 2003

I - Objectives:

• to train students at an advanced level in all of the life science disciplines relevant to the host-parasite relationship
• to advance knowledge in the life science disciplines relevant to the host-parasite relationship
• to undertake research aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality caused by parasitic infections in animals and humans
• to communicate our findings to the scientific community and to the general public
• to contribute our expertise to the broader mission of the University through our teaching, research and service in the life sciences in the Faculties of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Medicine, and Science, and particularly as related to biotechnology and the environment

II - Highlights:

• Prof Prichard was appointed to a James McGill Chair from January 2003-2010.
• Dr Jardim was awarded a CIHR New Investigator Salary Award for 2003-2008.
• Prof Prichard was re-appointed as the McGill/Canadian Pacific Professor of Biotechnology and continues as Director of the Graduate Certificate in Biotechnology program.
• Prof Prichard was the inaugural recipient of the Roy C. Anderson Memorial Lectureship, University of Guelph, delivered in December 2002.
• Prof Spithill led a successful new Centre grant application to the FQRNT Regroupements Stratégiques programme in 2003; this award is $2.28m for 2003-2009. These funds have created a new inter-institutional and inter-departmental Centre with five Institutions across Québec: McGill University, Université Laval, Université de Montréal-St Hyacinthe, Institut Armand Frappier and the Laboratoire de Santé Publique du Québec. The Centre is a focal point for research and training in Parasitology in Québec.
• The Institute was delighted to receive a donation of $29,345 from the Dr Louis G. Johnson Foundation for a Pathogen-free Cabinet for our animal facilities
• The Institute was also delighted to receive the generous donation of a portrait of our founding Director, Prof Tom Cameron, from his family (Ms Adrienne Boniface and Dr Tom Grenfell)
• Six students completed their requirements for higher degrees in the past academic year (3 PhD and 3 MSc). Each of these graduates has found a position in academia, research, in business or have gone on to other academic studies.
• Prof Prichard is leading an application to MEQ to establish a new Program: MSc (Applied) in Biotechnology: the outcome of the application is expected in Fall 2003.
• Prof Prichard led a successful application to Vitesse Re-skilling Canada to establish a Pilot course in Bioprocessing.
• Researchers at the Institute have maintained a high level of research funding from NSERC, CIHR, FQRNT/FCAR, WHO, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, other agencies and the private sector (total held in 2002-03: $1.416m).
• Prof Spithill led a major CFI4 application ($9.6m) to renovate several animal facilities at Macdonald Campus. The outcome will be known in Winter 2004.
• Prof Prichard continues to serve as an expert advisor to WHO on four Committees: Leader of the Product Development Team for Diagnosis of Ivermectin Resistance in Onchocerca volvulus; the Expert Advisory Committee for the Onchocerciasis Control Program; the Drug Development and Research Committee of the Tropical Diseases Unit; the Development Team for Moxidectin in Human Use.
• Assoc Prof Ribeiro was appointed to the NSERC Cell Biology Grant Selection Committee
• Assoc Prof Chadee was appointed to the CIHR Experimental Medicine Peer Review Committee
• Assoc Prof Scott returned full time to the Institute after serving as Associate Director of the McGill School of Environment and Interim Director.
• Assoc Prof Georges returned to the Institute part-time in Fall 2002- Spring 2003 and full time from Spring 2003.
• A search continues for a new Bioinformatician to join the Institute and support our teaching in this important, rapidly developing field and to develop our research in genomics and proteomics
• Substantial renovations continue at the Institute to create a new space to receive our substantial range of complex equipment funded by CFI in 2002.

III - Planning & Performance:

A — Student Population

Undergraduate
Not relevant to unit.

Graduate

In terms of admissions, 13 students were accepted into the program, all 13 registered and thus the retention rate for thesis students was 100%. The number of full-time thesis students was 32 (cf. 30 in 2001-02). The Institute is proud to host an international student body. Fourteen students were Canadian citizens; 3 students were from the USA. The remaining 15 students are from China, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Iran, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Romania and Taiwan. One visiting student was from Australia. Four postdoctoral fellows were registered in the Institute (as per 2001-02). Fourteen students registered in the Graduate Certificate in Biotechnology (cf. 15 students in 2001-02).

B — Teaching and Learning

All Professors participate in teaching. Teaching commitments of the faculty of the Institute of Parasitology are divided into four categories (staff member-C: denotes coordinator/lecturer; L-denotes contributing lecturer):

(i) Graduate courses for our thesis students

ENVR 585 Readings in Environment PARA 600: Thesis Proposal for M.Sc. PARA 606: Parasitology Seminar PARA 607: Parasitology Research Seminar PARA 635: Cell Biology and Infection PARA 655: Host-Parasite Interactions PARA 700: Thesis Proposal for Ph.D. PARA 710: Parasitology Ph.D. Seminar 1 PARA 711: Parasitology Ph.D. Seminar 2

(JS-L) (JS-C) JS-C) (JS-C) (KC-C, AJ-L) JS-C, GF-L, RP-L, MS-L, KC-L, TS-L (JS-C) (JS-C) (JS-C)

(ii) Graduate teaching within the Graduate Certificate in Biotechnology:

BTEC 501: Bioinformatics BIOT 505: Selected Topics in Biotechnology BTEC 620: Biotechnology Laboratory 1 BTEC 621: Biotechnology Management BTEC 691: Biotechnology Practicum

(RB-C) (RP-C, KC-L, AJ-L) (PR-C) (EG-C, RP-L) (EG-C)

(iii) Undergraduate teaching in the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences:

FDSC 211: Biochemistry AEBI 202: Cellular Biology ABEN 217: Hydrology and Drainage AEMA 306: Mathematical Methods in Ecology WILD 410: Wildlife Ecology PARA 410: Environment and Infection PARA 438: Immunology

(AJ-C) (RB-C, PR-L) (GF-L) (MS-C) (MS-C) (JS-C) (GF-C)

(iv) Undergraduate and graduate teaching in the Faculties of Medicine and Science:

MIMM 386: Laboratory in Microbiology and Immunology MIMM 413: Parasitology PHGY 531: Topics in Applied Immunology PHGY 552: Cellular and Molecular Physiology

(AJ-L) (GF-L; PR-L; TS-L) (GF-L) (GF-L)

Prof Prichard is leading an application to MEQ to establish a new Biotechnology Program, the MSc (Applied) in Biotechnology. New Core courses for this M.Sc (A) include four "Research Project"courses and the "Biotechnology Ethics and Society". This latter course will be offered jointly with the Faculty of Law. With Ms Guanhua Wang, Dr Jardim is developing a new laboratory course in Proteomics which will form a Core course for the new M.Sc (A). This Course is anticipated to be delivered in Winter 2004 pending the outcome of the application in Fall 2003.

The creation of the M.Sc. (Applied) in Biotechnology was approved by McGill and is currently being considered at MEQ: it is anticipated to start in Winter 2004. This Program will have a considerable laboratory component and will offer a major Stage for the participants. Coordination of the new Course will require additional teaching faculty and is anticipated to be supported by a new academic staff member and teaching assistants, as well as a coordinator for the internships which will be part of the Program.

Prof Prichard led a successful application to Vitesse Re-skilling Canada Inc to establish a Pilot course in Bioprocessing in 2003. Prof Prichard will continue to further develop this Bioprocessing course.

Numerical data from Course evaluations are forwarded to Student Affairs and placed in the library for each term.

A Graduate Student Annual Progress Report mechanism was implemented within the unit in 2002, as reported last year. The aim of this Report is to encourage better communication between graduate students and academic staff and assist the Director in addressing any issues that may arise. This initiative arose in response to the survey of graduate students in 2001 that identified better feedback and communication as an area for improvement. This Report is now an annual feature of our graduate assessment process.

C — Student Success

Undergraduates

This is not relevant to the Institute. Although we coordinate certain undergraduate subjects, we do not have an Undergraduate Program. Our focus is on Graduate Programs.

Graduate students - M.Sc. and Ph.D.

Institute students had several successes. Sean Forrester was recognized on the Dean's Honours List. Amy Junnila won an NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship. Srinivas Kammanadiminti won the J.W. McConnell McGill Major Fellowship. Celia Caballero and Ana Contreras won a CONACYT Studentship to support their PhD studies. Catherine Ivory won the Lynden Laird Lyster Memorial Fellowship for her PhD studies. Five students won Travel Awards to attend international meetings (Joel Karwatsky, Omar Alqawi, Joe Nabhan, Darcy Moncada, Srinivas Kammanadiminti). Jeff Eng won the Murray Fallis Prize for best student presentation in Parasitology at the Canadian Society of Zoology Annual Meeting in Waterloo, ON.

D — Research

Research at the Institute of Parasitology is focused on protozoan and helminth diseases of people and animals. Two main research themes are studied: pathogenesis/host defense mechanisms and the molecular basis of drug resistance/drug target discovery. All research laboratories have projects oriented toward better chemotherapy, increasing knowledge of the immunology, pathogenesis or epidemiology of the host-parasite relationship, vaccine discovery or understanding the nutrition-parasite-immunity complex. In addition, complementary projects on drug resistance in cancer cells are pursued.

All of the tenured/ tenure-track academic staff hold research grants from NSERC and share the FQRNT Centre grant; several staff have grants from CIHR or WHO, in addition to research support from other Foundations and the private sector. Prof Spithill holds a Canada Research Chair in Immunoparasitology. The following new grants are notable:

CIHR New Investigator Salary Award

Dr Jardim was awarded a CIHR New Investigator Salary Award for 2003-2008: this is a very competitive award and Dr Jardim is to be congratulated on this prestigious recognition by his peers.

Donation from the Dr Louis G. Johnson Foundation

The Institute was delighted to receive a donation of $29,345 from the Dr Louis G. Johnson Foundation to allow us to purchase a Pathogen-free Cabinet for our small animal facility. This Cabinet will greatly facilitate the research of over 40 staff and students at Macdonald Campus. The Cabinet will allow us to do experiments under closely controlled conditions and will assist us to train students in animal experimentation at the highest level.

Centre for Host-Parasite Interactions

Centre de recherche sur les interactions Hôte-parasite

Prof Spithill was awarded a Regroupements Stratégiques Centre grant to create a new "Centre for Host-Parasite Interactions" (see www.mcgill.ca/chpi/) in collaboration with colleagues from the McGill Centre for Host Resistance, McGill Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, Biology and Chemistry, Université Laval, Université de Montréal-St Hyacinthe, Institut Armand Frappier and the Laboratoire de Santé Publique du Québec. This award, funded by the Fonds Québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies (FQRNT), is designed to bring groups of scientists together to create new research and training synergies in areas of importance for Québec. The new Centre will provide high quality training in Parasitology for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and will promote Québec research and expertise nationally and internationally. The funding is for $2.28m for 2003-2009. Prof Spithill will be the Director of the new Centre.

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Founding Members of the Centre

McGill University
Institute of Parasitology

Terry Spithill (Director), Robin Beech, Kris Chadee, Gaetan Faubert , Elias Georges, Armando Jardim, Roger Prichard, Paula Ribeiro, Marilyn Scott, Jim Smith

Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Greg Matlashewski, Martin Olivier

School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition

Kris Koski

Centre for the Study of Host Resistance
Department of Medicine

Mary Stevenson, Brian Ward

Department of Biology

Joe Dent

Department of Chemistry

Scott Bohle

INRS-Institut Armand Frappier

Albert Descoteaux

Institut national de santé publique

Hugues Charest

Université Laval

Marc Ouellette, Barbara Papadopoulou, Sachiko Sato

Université de Montréal

Alain Villeneuve, Gilles Fecteau

Management of the Centre

The Centre management structure is simple to maximize efficiency: membership is drawn from across a number of institutions in the Centre. Prof Spithill Chairs the Steering Committee which comprises Profs Chadee, Ouellette, Stevenson and Descoteaux. Dr David Brake (Manager Veterinary Medicine Biological Development, Veterinary Medicine R&D, Pfizer Animal Health, Pfizer Inc. Groton, CT, USA) has kindly agreed to join the Committee as an independent external member. Dr Brake has extensive experience in molecular parasitology and immunology: he will attend the Annual Meetings of the Centre and contribute his broad knowledge to the life of the Centre. We are fortunate to be able to draw upon Dr Brake's experience.

The Steering Committee is responsible for the management of the Centre, will advise the Director on policy and strategic issues that will arise over the life of the Centre, will decide on budget matters and the expenditure within the Centre, will assist with the organization of the Annual Scientific Meetings, will decide on international invitees, will establish the criteria for assessment of traveling fellowship applications, will promote interactions between Centre members and industry and will establish procedures to promote sharing of equipment and infrastructure available within the Centre. All Centre members will be consulted on broad issues that affect the operation of the Centre.

In consultation with Dean Buszard, Dr Spithill will proceed to appoint a Board to advise on the further development and administration of the Centre.

Other comments

Total research operating support from competitive funding sources amounted to $1.416m for 2002/2003, an average of $157,381 per tenure-track faculty member. Total infrastructure support from non-Faculty sources amounted to $109,352. This is an excellent level of research support and is a clear vote of confidence in the quality of the Institute's research.

Our research programs provide excellent training opportunities for graduate students and post doctoral fellows with 32 students and 4 postdoctoral fellows currently studying at the Institute. The research output resulted in 22 publications in refereed international journals, 43 conference presentations, 4 patent applications and active collaborations with industry. This compares with 19 publications, 27 conference presentations and 1 patent in 2001-02. Seven undergraduate students were employed at the Institute in the summer of 2002 to receive research training. The Institute represents an exciting environment for cutting edge molecular biology, immunology, proteomics and population-based research in the life sciences.

The list of publications can be found in Appendix III. Details of individual research grants, contracts and research topics can be found in Appendix IV (Activity Reports).

Renovation of our equipment room facilities is continuing following the large CFI award to Prof Prichard in 2002. Renovations are expected to be completed by end of Winter 2004. The CFI4 application led by Prof Spithill is aimed at obtaining funds to upgrade our existing animal facilities on Campus: if successful, this will dramatically improve our research capability and outputs.

E - Academic Staff

The list of academic staff as of June 1, 2003 is shown in Appendix IV. Dr Scott returned to the Institute full time in January 2003 after serving as interim Director of the MSE in 2002. Dr Elias Georges was on a one year full leave of absence, commencing Fall 2001, to continue his involvement in the McGill spin-off company Aurelium BioPharma. He returned to the Institute part-time in Fall 2002- Winter 2003 and full time from Spring 2003. We are continuing our search for a new Professor in Bioinformatics in 2003-04. This appointee will also become a member of the new McGill Centre for Bioinformatics. We thus plan to play a significant role in the development of a suite of complementary bioinformatics courses at McGill

F- Involvement in the Community

Institute faculty serve the academic and wider community in multiple ways. All staff serve on a variety of Faculty and McGill Committees, review Journal articles and PhD/MSc theses and organize conferences, as detailed in the Activity Reports. Some particular involvements are highlighted here.

Assoc Prof Chadee served on the Canadian Association for Gastroenterology (CAG) Research Committee; the CIHR Experimental Medicine Grant Review Panel Committee; Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada Research Grant Committee; Promotion Committee for candidates seeking evaluations for tenure or full professorship, University of Calgary and McMaster University

Dr Jardim served on the Tomlinson Doctoral Fellowships Committee. Dr Jardim and Prof Faubert served as judges for the Québec Association of Independent Schools Montreal Board of Trade Outstanding Student Competition, assessing scientific presentations by High School students.

Prof Faubert served on the Tenure Committee, Faculty of Medicine He was also involved in providing a short term stage for CEGEP students to experience a research laboratory environment. Prof Faubert also generously serves the wider Institute community with his considerable involvement in the renovation of the Institute facilities and building administration.

Assoc Prof Georges participated in seminars and presentations on behalf of McGill to promote the role of academics in the economic development of Québec and Canada.

Prof Prichard served in the following capacity: expert advisor to WHO on four Committees: the Expert Advisory Committee for the Onchocerciasis Control Program; the Drug Development and Research Committee of the Tropical Diseases Unit; Leader of the Product Development Team for Diagnosis of Ivermectin Resistance in Onchocerca volvulus; the Development Team for Moxidectin in Human Use; Senate Representative for Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Member of the McGill University Board of Governors, and serves on the following Board Committees: Executive Committee, Nominations Committee, Academic Salary Policy Sub-Committee, Investment Committee; Member of the Nominations Committee, Canadian Society of Zoologists; Member of the Awards Committee and Honorary Membership Committee, Canadian Society of Zoologists, Parasitology Section.

Assoc Prof Ribeiro served on the NSERC Cell Biology Grant Selection Committee.

Assoc Prof Scott was Councillor, Canadian Society of Zoologists; served on the International Science Planning Committee, Open Meeting of the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Research Community.

Dr Smith served as MAUT representative on the Staff Benefits Advisory Committee and Chaired the FAES Animal Care Committee. Dr Smith serves the University in many capacities.

Prof Spithill coordinated the FQRNT Centre application on behalf of the founding members; he also coordinated the major CFI4 application on behalf of the Departments in the FAES. He served on the Scientific Program Committee for the International Congress of Parasitology (ICOPA 10), Vancouver, August 2002. Prof Spithill was invited to examine 7 PhD theses and 1 MSc thesis from international Universities in Australia and Egypt in 2002-03.

IV - Evaluation of Performance Pertaining to Objectives:

Most of the core aspects relating to the performance of the Institute in the last year have been summarised in Section III above. Here, I offer some specific comments on our performance and some of the future challenges for the Institute.

Research

The Institute enjoyed tremendous success this year in attracting funding for our core research and infrastructure. The major success was the inter-Faculty and inter-institutional FQRNT Centre application which represents a collaborative initiative across Québec Institutions. The grant will support the existing advanced technology platforms, technical support for communal equipment, travel support for trainees, an annual meeting with invited speakers, trainee stipend support and personnel support for the Institute. The activities of the Centre will further highlight the research at the Institute.

We were delighted to learn that Dr Armando Jardim was successful with a CIHR New Investigator Salary Award (2003-2008). These are very competitive awards and represents clear recognition for Dr Jardim by his peers.

The Institute continued to be active in environmental studies, with Assoc Professor Scott playing a leading role as interim Director of MSE throughout 2002 and Professor Faubert involved in Canadian and international environmental research with industry and the Brace Research Institute.

Teaching

A major initiative at the Institute is the ongoing development of our teaching in Biotechnology. The new MSc (Applied) in Biotechnology and the Bioprocessing course for Vitesse Re-skilling Canada Inc involve development of new Courses, as discussed above.

University mission

In terms of our contribution to the broader mission of the University, the Institute continues to promote inter Faculty linkages by contributing to undergraduate teaching in the Faculties of Science and Medicine, particularly as related to parasitology, immunology, biotechnology, bioinformatics and the environment. It is evident that the Institute is consciously interdisciplinary in its approach to training and research. A significant portion of the research and teaching conducted by the Institute relates to the core mission of the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in that it is focused on the health of farm animals, safe food and the relationship between infectious disease and the environment. Another large component of the research and teaching of the Institute is directly related to human health and we collaborate closely with the Faculty of Medicine. Most of the members of the Institute have cross appointments in Medicine.

Future Challenges to Address

Support Staff: an ongoing issue for the Institute is the relative lack of administrative support staff which impacts on our performance in several areas of activity. Our teaching activities are increasing, and will continue to grow, but the administrative burden is falling on existing support staff. A continuing concern is the amount of research time lost by academic staff attending to grant accounting (Banner). We would like to appoint a Finance support person to assist the Director and academic staff in monitoring Institute and grant expenditures and with reporting: this would free up staff to focus on their research and teaching responsibilities.

On the technical side, the Institute is benefiting from a major influx of new CFI funds (>$4.5m) for infrastructure and renovations but, if we are to fully capture the benefits of this success, we need to appoint technical staff who will facilitate the use of complex, communal equipment. We have CFI funds to appoint two technical staff in 2003-04 who will support the use of high end equipment (FACSAria, Confocal Microscope) but further technical support would enhance our research outputs.

We would like to appoint a full time Laboratory Manager who would manage building issues/ repairs/ maintenance/renovations, manage the technicians supporting our complex equipment, coordinate the student training for new equipment, etc. This would free existing academic staff from infrastructure issues which are a drain on research productivity.

Recruitment: Biotechnology is a rapidly expanding field of increasing economic importance in Canada and the Institute is seeking to respond to this expansion by developing its research and training in this core area. A new appointee in Bioinformatics will particularly assist us in developing our bioinformatics teaching/ research and will teach in the MSc (Applied). However, this appointee will require provision of renovated laboratory and office space.

Renovations and space issues: a significant part of the recently won CFI funds is being used to renovate existing space in the basement to allow installation of a large range of high-end equipment. However, once this renovation is completed we will have exhausted the research and office space for staff available within the current walls of the Institute building.

As stated last year, we would like to expand our graduate and postdoctoral training program to provide additional training opportunities for students, particularly from developing countries. This is part of our core mandate to be a leader in graduate training and research in parasitic diseases and biotechnology and to undertake research aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality caused by parasitic infections in animals and humans. We are currently constrained by the lack of scholarship funds to support such students, particularly international students due to the fees involved. We estimate that we could accommodate about 12 more students or postdoctoral fellows in the Institute in our existing laboratory space. However, a major constraint is our ability to provide quality office space for our students: we would like to reconfigure our student office areas to enhance the use of these areas and provide a higher quality environment for our students.

Renovation of our Animal Facilities and increasing the technical support for animal research is a priority for the Institute and Faculty. The CFI4 application, if successful, will address this issue. The Faculty also needs to forward plan for the retirement of the Senior Technician (Mr Bingham) in 2007 by initiating the training of a new hire to take responsibility for the Animal Facilities.

Fund raising:we have started to prepare an Alumni list to allow us to begin to reach out to our Alumni for support: this will be an ongoing activity in 2003-04. We are continuing to seek philanthropic support to provide scholarships/fellowships for students and postdoctoral fellows, to allow us to expand our research space and to support improvements to our Animal Facilities. This support will assist the Institute to fulfill its mandate in teaching, graduate training and research in parasitic diseases and biotechnology in the years ahead.

Appendix II: Honours , Awards, Prizes

Dr Armando Jardim
CIHR New Investigator Salary Award, 2003-2008.

Prof Prichard
James McGill Chair, January 2003-2010
Inaugural recipient of the Roy C. Anderson Memorial Lectureship, University of Guelph, December 2002
Re-appointed as the McGill/Canadian Pacific Professor of Biotechnology

Prof Spithill
Tier I Canada Research Chair in Immunoparasitology, 2002- 2009