U of S Awarded $9.4 M for Seven New Research Chairs and Equipment

Posted November 12, 2004


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Friday, November 12, 2004
2004-11-19-OTHER

U of S Awarded $9.4 M for Seven New Research Chairs and Equipment

Today the University of Saskatchewan was awarded $9.4 million over the next
seven years for seven new Canada Research Chairs and associated equipment.

The new Chair holders, announced today by Prime Minister Paul Martin, will
conduct research into anxiety and depression and more effective public
health programs for Aboriginal peoples. They will study new ways to protect
crops against disease, develop fabrication techniques to build microscopic
devices, and enhance our knowledge of the effects of the sun upon Earth's
atmosphere and climate.

The total amount includes $7.1 million for the Chairs, as well as $2.3
million for research equipment to be provided by federal and provincial
funding partners.

"These latest chair holders demonstrate the broad range and depth of
research endeavor at the U of S," said U of S President Peter MacKinnon. "We
welcome these accomplished individuals to our research community."

The new Chair holders, who assume their positions from July 2004 to March
2005, are:

- Sylvia Abonyi -- Canada Research Chair in Aboriginal Health

For Canada's Aboriginal peoples, the legacy of colonization has been one of
cultural devastation: loss of language, traditions, identity and pride. One
of the consequences has been much higher rates of chronic diseases like
diabetes, as well as various addictions. Public health programs aimed at
easing these problems are doomed to failure unless the contribution of
culture to health is better understood and taken into account.

Abonyi, joins the U of S College of Medicine from the University of Regina,
will work with partners in the Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation
Research Unit and with northern Saskatchewan Aboriginal communities and
organizations to develop a model of population health that includes a better
understanding of the role of culture.

- Sven Achenbach -- Canada Research Chair in Micro and Nano Device
Fabrication

In the world of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanostructures, a
human hair is enormous. Devices with features measured in millionths or even
billionths of a metre open revolutionary possibilities in applications from
medical diagnostics to wireless communications.

Achenbach, joining the U of S College of Engineering from the German
national laboratory Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, will work to develop
synchrotron-based fabrication techniques for these next generation
technologies and strive to implement them at the Canadian Light Source on
the U of S campus.

- Lawrence Brawley - Canada Research Chair in Physical Activity in Health
Promotion and Disease Prevention

Physical inactivity carries a high price, including life-threatening
conditions like obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Statistics show that 56 per cent of Canadian adults 20 and older were
inactive in 2000-01, a problem that grows more acute as our country ages.

Brawley joins the U of S College of Kinesiology from the University of
Waterloo. He is interested in how some older adults manage to embrace
physical activity in their daily routines and achieve a better quality of
life, while others struggle to stick with it. Understanding these successful
strategies could help us all remain more healthy and productive throughout
our lives.

- Dean Chapman -- Canada Research Chair in X-ray Imaging

Little has changed in 100 years, when Wilhelm Roentgen placed his wife's
hand on a photographic plate and exposed it to a new source of light -
X-rays - recording the "shadow" of bones and flesh and revolutionizing our
understanding of the inner workings of the body.

Chapman, a professor in the U of S College of Medicine, is using synchrotron
X-rays to power the next revolution in medical imaging, one that promises to
produce exquisitely clear pictures not only of bone, but of soft tissue like
lungs and cartilage in joints - materials extremely difficult to image by
any other means. The techniques open windows that could help doctors
diagnose diseases like cancer and arthritis earlier, allowing more effective
treatment.

- Lisa Kalynchuk -- Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Neuroscience

Anxiety and depression have a staggering impact on society, affecting one in
five people at some point in their lives from childhood to old age. The
World Health Organization estimates these mental illnesses will be second
only to cardiovascular disease in terms of burden to human health around the
world by 2020.

Kalynchuk joins the U of S College of Arts and Science from Dalhousie
University in Halifax. She will use animal models to study the largely
unknown neurobiological mechanisms that produce depression, anxiety and
panic. Understanding these mechanisms will aid the development of new
drug treatments that work more quickly and have fewer side effects.

- Soledade Pedras -- Canada Research Chair in Bioorganic and Agricultural
Chemistry

Plants and their pests fight a chemical war out in the fields, a dance of
attack and counter-attack between plants' complex immune systems and disease
organisms that produce substances to neutralize the plants' defenses.

Working with canola and mustard models, U of S chemistry professor Soledade
Pedras strives to identify and understand this molecular attack and parry.
This knowledge could form the basis of new, targeted and environmentally
friendly crop protection products.

- Jean-Pierre St.- Maurice -- Canada Research Chair in Environmental
Sciences

High above our heads the auroras dance when a wind of charged particles born
deep in the fires of the sun slams into the Earth's magnetic field. This
space weather affects satellites, power grids, pipelines, and even climate
and weather changes on the ground.

St.-Maurice joins the U of S Dept. of Physics and Engineering Physics from
the University of Western Ontario. He will work to expand our knowledge of
the ionosphere - 100 km to 500 km above the Earth - with a new
high-frequency radar installation at Rankin Inlet in Nunavut. He will also
establish a virtual centre for the causes and effects of climate change to
engage researchers from numerous disciplines across campus.

With the addition of the seven new Chairs, the U of S has now been awarded
nearly $27.6 million to support 26 Chairs, as well as nearly $5.1 million in
related CFI and partner infrastructure funding.

Nationally, an investment of $194 million for 194 new Chairs was announced
today.

"We're proud that the funding announced today will support research by
Canada's leading scholarly and scientific minds," said Prime Minister
Martin. "From health care, to the environment, to building stronger
communities, the work of these Canada Research Chairs will have a direct
impact on the lives of Canadians and help position Canada as a world leader
in the 21st century economy."

For profiles of U of S Chair holders, visit http://www.usask.ca/crc or the
national Canada Research Chairs website at http://www.chairs.gc.ca.

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For more information, contact:

Michael Robin
Research Communications Officer
Office of the Vice-President Research
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-2427
michael.robin@usask.ca
http://www.usask.ca/research/